Simon Sneer

Simon Sneer is a fictional character in the animated series "The Raccoons". He is the long-lost brother of Cyril Sneer, the series' main antagonist. His first and only known appearance was in the episode "Simon Says" of 1988. It turns out that Simon Sneer in that episode was Simon's childhood friend Sid Leech.

Childhood

When Simon was a child, his best friend Sid Leech put a spider on his chair, causing Simon to be arachnophobic. Simon got even by placing a worm on Sid's.

Disappearance

Simon became captain of a ship that vanished at sea and never was seen again, allowing Cyril to use his share of the inheritance, which became half of the money that started Cyril's fortune. This will allow Simon to claim half of it when and if he reappears.

Return?

Cyril and his son Cedric receive the unexpected visit from a man who claims to be Simon. He says he was stranded on a desert island until he was able to leave on a boat he made with his own hands. While Cyril was unwilling to recognize him as Simon Sneer, Cedric was more than happy at finally meeting his uncle (whenever Cedric calls him like that, Cyril tells him not to do so). Cedric introduces "Uncle Simon" to his friends when one of them, Bert Raccoon, becomes suspicious of him and starts an investigation as the detective he wants to be. Bert goes to the Sneer Mansion to see Cyril's pig servants and asks them to see Simon's diary left there before his disappearance. They agree after Bert shows photos of the pigs doing something their boss wouldn't like. Bert learns about Simon's childhood trauma mentioned above. Meanwhile, Cyril attempts to catch the imposter by asking questions whose answers only the real Simon was expected to know. The scheme fails, as "Uncle Simon" answers them correctly. While the Sneers prepare for the trial that would decide if the Simon was really Simon or not, Bert finds an old fishing friend of Simon's called Fern and takes him to courtroom to testify. When "Simon" was in courtroom trying to prove to be Cyril's brother, Bert brings Fern, but to no avail, as he mistakes someone else for Simon. Bert then tries "Uncle Simon" by showing him a spider and he immediately says he got over his arachnophobia. All seemed to be lost until Fern produced a worm, to which "Uncle Simon" reveals himself to be afraid, thus allowing Bert to prove him as an imposter and explain how he knew so much about the Sneers.

The imposter is Simon's childhood friend Sid Leech, who was responsible for Simon's arachnophobia, and with whom Simon got even by scaring him with a worm. With the hoax exposed, Cyril was allowed to keep his fortune instead of sharing it with the imposter. When interrogated about what made Bert suspicious about Sid Leech, Bert said that when he shook hands with Sid, they didn't seem to be hands of someone who had built a boat all by himself as they were too smooth.