Your friends

"Just givin' the fans what they want!"

Andrew writes in to tell Strong Bad that he likes it best when he harms his friends. So, naturally, Strong Bad goes out and harms his friends in numerous ways.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Mad, Bubs, Strong Sad, Marzipan, Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, The Cheat, Homsar, Coach Z, The King of Town

Places: Computer Room, Basement of the Brothers Strong, The Garage, Strong Sad's Room, The Field, Strong Badia, Coach Z's Locker Room

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, October 14, 2002

Running Time: 1:11

Page Title: COMPY 386

DVD:strongbad email.exe Disc One

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {Clears throat and sings at a high pitch} Emaiiiiil...

>WASSUP!
>
>YOU ARE AWESOME. I LIKE IT MOST WHEN
>YOU HARM YOUR FRIENDS.
>
>ANDREW

{Strong Bad pronounces "wassup" as "WAH-sup". He also reads in a loud monotone to reflect the caps lock being on.}

STRONG BAD: {types} Andrew, this is the best email I've ever received. Let's get to work! {gets up}

{cuts to Strong Bad's basement. Strong Mad is standing and watching TV. Strong Bad walks up to him.}

PERSON ON TV: Some type of TV show...

STRONG BAD: Hows about this!

{Quickly kicks Strong Mad in the shin and walks off. Strong Mad looks back at him in anger.}

{Cuts to garage. Bubs is there.}

BUBS: What the?

{Strong Bad hits him over the head with a Golden Record for "Everybody To The Limit".}

{Cut to Strong Sad's room. Strong Sad is lying in bed. Strong Bad whacks him continually with a wiffle bat.}

STRONG SAD: {whack} OW! {whack} OW! {whack} OW! {whack} OW!

{Cut to field-Marzipan is there. Strong Bad has a whole pile of circular saw blades and a bottle of sauce behind him.}

STRONG BAD: {holding a saw blade behind his back} Close your eyes and hold out your hands.

MARZIPAN: {closes eyes} I don't want to!

{Cut to another part of the field. Homestar Runner is there with Strong Bad, with a huge tub of lava. It says "HOT LAVA" on the side.}

STRONG BAD: Put your head in here.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: You got it!

{Cut to another part of the field, Strong Bad has taped The Cheat to Pom Pom. They both complain as Pom Pom tries to shake him off.}

{Cut to Strong Badia. Homsar is buried in the ground up to his neck and Strong Bad has put down a box that says "We Are the Scorpions!" The scorpions crawl around on Homsar.}

HOMSAR: AaAaAaAaAaAaA!!! I'm savin' the best for last!

{One scorpion goes into his mouth on the word "last". Cut to the locker room, where Strong Bad has given a bag of hot fries to Coach Z.}

COACH Z: Hey, thanks for the chippies, Strong Bad!

{Cut to Field again. Strong Bad whacks the King of Town with the Golden Record.}

{Cut to Compy}

STRONG BAD: Ahhh, just givin' the fans what they want! {types} You may notice I didn't do anything to the Poopsmith. I figure the guy shovels crap for a living so his tolerance for pain's gotta be through the roof. I was thinking about giving him a bath or something but, just the thought of that gave me the jibblies. {stops typing} Here they come again. The jibblie jibblies...

{The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

Future Stars

• Near the end, click on the word "Poopsmith" to bring up an image of a trading card of The Poopsmith.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• "Chippies" (or usually just "chips") is a Commonwealth term for French fries.

Trivia

Check out my hot "disappearing" sauce.

• The file name for the .swf for this Strong Bad Email has an "x" after the number. The .swf without the "x" is still viewable (and is considered a secret page), but has a few minor differences. The music stops early, and some things are missing from some scenes (like the disappearing hot sauce) that are in the version with the "x". Also, as Strong Bad gets up from the computer, his reflection is seen in midair.
• This is the first email to feature all twelve main characters, although the Poopsmith appeared only on a card. The first email to feature all twelve main characters in person was rock opera.
• It is also the first email to include the Poopsmith.
• This is the shortest Compy email, if Easter eggs are factored into length.
• This is the first appearance of the Jibblies.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Doing what he does best, Strong Bad just be's mean to his friends."

Remarks

• The record that Strong Bad breaks on Bubs's and the King of Town's heads reads "Everybody to the Limit". It is gold, which means it has sold over 500,000 copies.
• In the Homsar scene, Strong Bad is holding the same hot sauce bottle that was behind him with Marzipan.
• When Strong Bad hits Bubs and the King of Town with the "Everybody to the Limit" record, the glass cover on it breaks both times.
• Homsar's hat is smaller than usual in this email.
• Strong Mad's only weakness appears to be his knees, first seen in little animal.
• It doesn't seem to bother Strong Bad that the email is in all caps, as it did in sugarbob.
• The Poopsmith Easter egg is still clickable at the end of the email, even though it is half covered by The Paper.
• The way Bubs falls down is odd, as he appears as he does standing up turned sideways as opposed to lying down.
• Strong Bad never questions the assumption that all of the main characters are his friends.

Goofs

• The contrast stops affecting Strong Bad's reflection right as he starts to move away from the Compy. Interestingly enough, this does not occur in the secret version of the Flash file.
• At the beginning of the email, Strong Bad's eyelids are perfectly black and move off of his eyes.

Inside References

• Strong Bad asks Marzipan to hold out her hands despite them being invisible.
• Some Type of TV Show is a nondescript noun.

Real-World References

• "We are the Scorpions!" is a reference to the concert-opening cry of lead singer Klaus Meine of the German heavy metal band Scorpions, most well known for the song "Rock You Like a Hurricane".
• The poster in Strong Sad's room is of the Milwaukee band The Promise Ring.
• There seems to be a strong hint to the WWF/WWE. WWE's Vince McMahon constantly speaks about "giving the fans what they want" whenever unleashing gratuitous violence and lewdness on his show.
• In the Easter egg, The Poopsmith is depicted on a "Future Stars" card. Future Stars is a sports photography company that makes trading cards for children's sports teams.
• Strong Bad gives Coach Z Andy Capp's Hot Fries. Coach Z clearly says, "Thanks for the chippies!" Although they are somewhat spicy, it is unclear how giving Coach Z hot fries is a punishment, and even The Brothers Chaps admitted [#Commentary_Transcript in the commentary] that they don't know why it was used.
• In the Marzipan scene, the hot sauce bottle on top of the circular saw blades reads "Sauce". The label looks very much like that of the Crystal brand hot sauce.

Fast Forward

• Strong Bad mentions taping The Cheat to Pom Pom in lackey.
• Strong Bad gets the jibblies in bottom 10, after seeing the "creepy painting in Strong Mad's closet".
  • Later, in Jibblies 2, every main character gets the jibblies (excluding Homestar and Homsar).
• The hot sauce bottle and saw blades reappear in new hands.
• Strong Bad says "Andrew, this is the best email I've ever received", yet it was not shown in personal favorites.
• The Andy Capp's Hot Fries Strong Bad gives Coach Z are seen again in Kick-A-Ball, but this time with a picture of The Cheat on them and called "Cheat-Toes".
• The golden album that Strong Bad hits Bubs and the King of Town with resembles Bubs's Two-o Duo diamond-encrusted plantanium album in Baddest of the Bands.
• The background music that plays through the montage appears on Homestar Runner Original Soundtrack Volume 1 under the title "Harm Your Friends".

DVD Version

• The trading card Easter egg can still be viewed using the angle button on the DVD remote.
• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

MIKE: {attempting to sing like Strong Bad} Emaail— {stops} sing it, Matt. {tries again} Eeee—

MATT: No, Mike, I'm not going to do that again.

MIKE: Hey Matt, do Strong Bad's voice.

MATT: No.

MIKE: Do it. {imitating Strong Bad} Hey.

MATT: That was a good one.

MIKE: Thanks.

MATT: This was one, I think, Mike did almost entirely on his own. I had to go out of town again.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Um... we need to do some commentary on the ones where you went out of town, so it doesn't sound— I like that. "Some type of TV show."

MIKE: That's a wiffle ball bat. Some people think it's like a broomstick.

MATT: Was that The Promise Ring in the background, too?

MIKE: I think so, yeah.

MATT: A Promise Ring poster. Uh-oh!

MIKE: Pom Pom has a Cheat taped to him.

{unintelligible by both}

MATT: We are the Scorpions! Everybody, uh, wonders a lot why the Hot Fries are bad, like, and they think that sizzle— they think that's a sizzling noise when it's really just the shower.

MIKE: You know they've got Andy frie— uh, Andy Capp Steak Fries

MATT: Yeah, I've seen those.

MIKE: I saw those. I wanted to get them, but I was five cents short.

MATT: But, uh, I actually kind of like Andy Capp's Hot Fries—

MIKE: I do too.

MATT: —so I don't know why we used them as a punishment.

External Links

• watch "your friends"
• watch "your friends" on YouTube
• view the Flash file for "your friends"
• watch "your friends" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "your friends"
• view the alternate version of the Flash file