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HRWiki:Featured articles archive of weeks 27-52, 2006.

Week 52, 2006

Homestar Presents: Presents is the sixth Decemberween themed toon featured on the site, although it's only the fifth featuring any of the main characters after Decemberween In July. Homestar Runner, forgetting to set his alarm clock for A.M. instead of P.M. again, wakes up with only a few hours of Decemberween left and has to do some very last-minute Decemberween shopping. He visits Bubs who directs him to a filthy box with his aught-four crap in it to find some crappy gifts for all his friends. At the end of this toon is a clock that will display (based on your computer clock) the number of minutes left of Decemberween. (More...) watch

Week 51, 2006

That Time of Year is a holiday kids' book written by Leomard Sportsinterviews and reinterpreted by Strong Bad, celebrating the season of Decemberween. It is part of "Decemberween in July", a collection of Decemberween-themed cartoons that were released in July of 2004. This toon is in the same style as the Strong Bad Email "kids' book", which also featured Strong Bad rewriting and redrawing much of the book. (More...) watch

Week 50, 2006

Tangerine Dreams is The Cheat's iMac computer. He uses it to make Flash cartoons including The Cheat Theme Song, Everybody to the Limit, Main Page 15, and many more. It has also been used by Strong Bad to check his email in weird dream. Tangerine Dreams also appeared as a real live computer in Labor Dabor, in which it appears to be a Slot-Loading Tangerine iMac DV running Mac OS 9. The logo on Tangerine Dreams (the same logo as on the Tandy 400)—a rainbow-colored star with a bite taken out of its side—is a play on the old Apple logo, a rainbow apple with a bite missing. After using Tangerine dreams for many years, The Cheat was shown designing a new No Loafing Sign graphic with a new 5th Generation iMac in the email redesign. (More...)

Week 49, 2006

Homsar is perhaps the strangest and most enigmatic of all the main characters in the Homestar Runner universe, known for his odd way of speaking. He was originally created as a result of a typo in the email homsar, in which Vinnie C. asked, "If you hate homsar so much, why don't you kill him?" (Presumably, Vinnie had actually meant to type "Homestar".) Strong Bad promptly dropped a Heavy Lourde on Homsar and left him for dead. The Brothers Chaps later decided to keep Homsar as a main character, and they brought him back in an Easter egg in The House That Gave Sucky Treats and in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 5.0, where he thanked Marzipan for the flowers she sent him while he was in the hospital. Homsar occasionally makes brief appearances in various cartoons, but most of the time he appears only in Easter eggs (and has even been referred to as the "secret guy"). (More...)

Week 48, 2006

Hallrunner is one of the wide variety of top quality Videlectrix products. Dodge deadly bugs and tentacles while running through the endless dark hall! Make your choice on every obstacle you encounter on your way: FIGHT IT, TALK TO IT or JUMP IT! Your decision will affect your score, so choose wisely! If your score falls below zero, your Hallrunner becomes RED! All rendered in real time using state-of-the-art vector technology! (More...) play

Week 47, 2006

In Fall Float Parade, released November 21, 2005, Coach Z and Marzipan host the 4Tst Annual Fall Float Parade, in which the other residents of Free Country, USA participate. While Bubs enters a float that demeans Coach Z, Strong Mad absconds with Bubs' Concession Stand. Homestar Runner gets stuck on a float in a pile of sweatshirts, while Strong Sad gets stuck in a fake snowman and beaten senseless with nunchucks as part of Strong Bad's float. The King of Town and some of his subjects form a marching band, two Homsars drive by singing a song of Pennzoil, and Pom Pom simply carries a balloon shaped like himself. But chaos breaks out when The Cheat loses control of the Marshie balloon. (More...) watch

Week 46, 2006

Experimental Film is an animated music video directed by Strong Sad and The Cheat, created for the first single off They Might Be Giants' tenth studio album The Spine. It was released at approximately midnight, Atlanta time, on 13 July 2004—the release date of the album. This toon actually aired on MTV, making it the only Homestar Runner cartoon to ever be aired on television, despite TMBG's original intentions to create a seperate music video. (Choice quote: "I feel like if MTV and Homestar collided, the world might explode.") Much of the imagery, and especially the scenes of Strong Sad watching film sprocket holds go by, is likely a reference to one of the first great experimental films, The Man with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov. (More...) watch

Week 45, 2006

The Poopsmith is just a regular guy with a very crappy job. Literally. It's unclear whether "The Poopsmith" is his actual name, as it's used occasionally with an integral article, but often without. His body is peach-colored and egg-shaped, and he has small blue legs and feet, a white head, and an enormous underbite. He always wears a pair of large orange gloves stained with whatsit, and he is usually seen carrying a large shovel. The Poopsmith has taken a vow of silence and never officially speaks, nor does he seem to ever display any emotions or facial expressions. He does occasionally hold up signs to communicate, however. He is sometimes seen poking his shovel as a half-gesture, similar to how his Old-Timey incarnation, The Demon, uses his pitchfork. (More...)

Week 44, 2006

Halloween Potion-ma-jig was 2005's Halloween toon, and the second "choose-your-own-adventure" style toon, after The House That Gave Sucky Treats. After drawing ducks and bugs on Marzipan's Halloween Potion recipe, Homestar Runner is sent to the Spooky Woods to "figure out what those ingredients were and bring 'em back [to Marzipan's] before midnight." Homestar runs into several characters "mysteriously hanging out in the woods" and the viewer is given three choices each time. The combination of these choices triggers five possible endings. (More...) watch

Week 43, 2006

In the Halloween toons, the characters dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating. A lot of these costumes are icons or celebrities from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, leaving most of the characters unable to identify who a particular character is supposed to be. This is put quite frankly by The King of Town in Halloween Potion-ma-jig where he says, "I wish you'd dress up as something I could recognize! Pop culture... mumble grumble!" (More...)

Week 42, 2006

Teen Girl Squad Issue 10 is the "tenth issue-versary" of Teen Girl Squad, presented in "24 great-smelling colors". The toon revolves around The Ugly One's sweet someteen birthday bash. Many characters attend the party, including the girls themselves, minor characters from previous issues, and a few new characters. Unlike other toons, this issue uses a faster frame rate for the rotating scenes. This is also the first Teen Girl Squad to feature "real world" characters. (More...) watch

Week 41, 2006

The Screen Savers interview of January 24, 2005, featured The Brothers Chaps on the G4TechTV television program The Screen Savers. The interview took place over webcam and two phones. The Brothers Chaps, along with Puppet Homestar Runner, were interviewed by the show's host, Kevin Pereira, with whom they dicussed the origins and histories of Homestar Runner, Strong Bad Email and Teen Girl Squad. After returning from a commercial, Pereira introduced, again via webcam, the never-before-seen Puppet Strong Bad, who then answered questions from two callers. (More...)

Week 40, 2006

The King of Town is the de jure ruler of Free Country, USA. However, nobody wishes to acknowledge this; it's therefore possible that this character is a satire on the obsolescence of monarchy. He is not considered funny or cool by anyone. One of his main problems is that he is a glutton and will eat anything in front of him (except peas and whatsit). His favorite food is butter. He employs The Poopsmith and a few other characters. His age is known to be somewhere in his 60's. He also leads the K.O.T.H.S. Junior Varsity Marching Band during the Fall Float Parade. According to a message he left on Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2, he can play the guitar, and along with The Cheat, he has a cut a remix demo called "Not Talkin' About Butter". He also apparently has his very own "quite popular cartoon show" according to the email senior prom, but it was pre-empted in favor of a Strong Bad Email.

Week 39, 2006

The Homestarmy is a fighting force led by Colonel ("col-o-nel") Homestar Runner, who claims that membership is limited to the few who are sick and tired of playing second-fiddle to a two bit wrestle man and his yellow dog, and those who are ready to give their five bucks to the Homestarmy if it comes to that. But in reality, the Homestarmy is a rag-tag group of Free Country, USA's more disenfranchised citizens, united by Homestar's friendly influence, and their shared dislike of Strong Bad. In their first and greatest known campaign, they tried to invade Strong Badia, resulting in the fiasco known as The Battle of Strong Badia. The only casualty was Third-Style Private Bennedetto, a popcorn air-popper, wounded by a kick from Strong Bad. With Frank Bennedetto fully healed, the Homestarmy returned to their duties, ensuring that no one worked on Labor Day. (More...)

Week 38, 2006

Sometimes, the characters break the fourth wall by displaying awareness that they are in an Internet cartoon. Fourth wall breakages are common in Strong Bad Emails; Strong Bad often addresses the viewers, and references to his "email show" are made. Some of these supposed "fourth wall breaks" may be explained by assuming that Strong Bad has a live webcam show in which he answers e-mails, or that he is talking to an imaginary audience, but in other instances the characters actually refer to the fact that they are in cartoons, which is a real fourth wall break. (More...)

Week 37, 2006

Coach Z is the "coach" of Homestar Runner and the gang, though it is unclear just which sports he coaches. He has a strong Upper Midwestern accent which sometimes gets him into trouble. He almost never says anything negative to anyone, and he often offers more encouragement than is needed. When giving advice, he almost always starts with the phrase "You can't just rush into the score zone", which by now has pretty much lost its meaning. He wears a baseball cap and is famous for the large Z emblem around his waist, but nobody knows for sure whether his bright green color is his skin or a body suit. As Coach Z himself is not afraid to admit, he's got more than two problems. Despite being a coach, he doesn't know what a basketball is, as indicated in secret recipes. (More...)

Week 36, 2006

In highschool, the 140th Strong Bad Email, Patrick from Cowiche, WA, asks Strong Bad what he was like in high school. Strong Bad replies by sharing his memories, which he admits are not very photographic, suggesting that they are more like "doodle memories". He shares how in high school, he, Strong Mad, Homestar Runner, and Marzipan were a team of super sleuths who also played in a band just to be safe. Then he shows that in middle school, he, Coach Z, Strong Sad, and The Poopsmith were babies with enormous imaginations. And going even further back, he remembers Homestar Runner and Bubs as paramecia, and himself as a virus. Teenage Strong Bad was also later seen in alternate universe, suggesting that the new characters do live in another universe. (More...) watch

Week 35, 2006

TROGDOR! is a game released by Videlectrix on March 17, 2003, based on the character of Trogdor from the Strong Bad Email dragon. When it was first released, the game was accompanied by the short Arcade Game. This game is notably one of the most popular games on homestarrunner.com. Playing as Trogdor, the player must squish peasants to achieve burnination, at which point Trogdor can burninate cottages. Burninate all the cottages, and the player moves on to the next level. Meanwhile, for a challenge, knights patrol the area and archers will appear from time to time and shoot arrows. If Trogdor touches a knight, he will be SWORDED!; if he is hit by an arrow, he'll be ARROWED! (More...)

Week 34, 2006

Marshie (capital "M", and then "arshie", as he would put it) is the genuinely alarming mascot for Fluffy Puff Marshmallows. He serves as a caustic and slightly absurd satire of any number of mascots hawking products to children. Marshie is infamously — and intentionally — creepy. His commercials feature non-sequitur rantings, disturbing close-ups, inappropriate sound effects, faintly desperate pleas, and even a behind-the-scenes nervous breakdown. (More...)

Week 33, 2006

The Lappy 486 is Strong Bad's third and current computer, and is manufactured by Compy, Inc. Debuting in the Strong Bad Email "animal," it utilizes a more modern email client which includes a subject line, a reply panel, and the following easy-access buttons: Reply, Forward, Delete, Save, Computer, and Image. However, all of it disappears when Strong Bad clears the screen to continue typing. The Lappy features a "several" color monitor, five-minute battery life, 512K RAM, and weighs an "extremely portable" 42 pounds (19 kilograms). (More...)

Week 32, 2006

Bubs is the all around fix-it man. Running his own concession stand, Bubs is a sharp salesman who will sell almost anything, and has developed a habit for selling ridiculous items at a humorously high price. His facial configuration is puzzling; in Pumpkin Carve-nival, he appears to have a safety pin stuck through his face above an internal ear. He hangs out and talks with Coach Z and also reads back issues of Motor Trend magazine in his spare time. Bubs dances and attends night courses at Disco Tech. In Strong Bad's record book, he was solely declared "Cutest couple." Bubs once claimed he was able to fly until Strong Bad got him to say the word "Sbu." However, he said he was only able to hover a couple inches off the ground since he gained so much weight, so it wasn't too big of a loss.

Week 31, 2006

"Virus" is the 118th Strong Bad Email, released in mid-November 2004. The email brought a drastic end to the 78-email reign of the Compy 386 era, and set the stage to usher in the Lappy 486. What began as a routine email check for Strong Bad quickly exposed the vulnerabilities of the Compy's virus protection and Strong Bad's incompetence at being able to maintain it. The 423,827 viruses infected the greater Homestar Runner universe, causing great physical havoc leading to numerous fourth wall breakages.  (More...)  watch

Week 30, 2006

The word "crap" is a prominent part of the Homestar Runner universe. The word itself is often used as a substitute for vulgarity, and it often describes things that Strong Bad and other characters find stupid or offensive. In addition, Strong Bad has become infamous for the phrase "Holy crap!", an exclamation he frequently used early in his evolution, but not so much today. In fact, Strong Bad currently voices his displeasure openly whenever he receives an email signed with the word "crap". (More...)

Week 29, 2006, Day 7

The Museum is a section of homestarrunner.com where old material (the Sketchbook, Ice Cream, the Original Book, Super NES, Where My Hat Is At? and Old Flash Stuff) and formerly fan submissions are kept. One can go there directly by clicking on the H*R logo in the upper corner of any of the main pages, or by clicking on the 'museum' icon on the animated list that appears when one rolls over the bottom of some old toons. While the Old Flash Stuff has undergone around four or five major or minor updates, the Museum has only experienced one major change on or shortly before February 14, 2006.

Week 29, 2006, Day 6

The Email button on the main pages leads to the contact page for The Brothers Chaps. The envelopes link to The Brothers Chaps' email address, the Yahoo Store front customer service page and the FAQ. An Easter egg brings the viewer to the old header from Strong Bad's Message Bored, which in turn has its own Easter eggs. This Email page comes with several other references and inside jokes to the rest of the site.

Week 29, 2006, Day 5

The Store is where one can buy Homestar Runner merchandise. It is the main source of income for The Brothers Chaps, allowing HomestarRunner.com to remain ad-free. The new Store format replaced the Flash Store on May 23, 2005. Though it does not navigate with Flash, it has several Flash features with some surprises for a true fan. The footer has an Easter egg in it and changes based on the time of day and seasons. There are also different thank you messages that are played when a purchase is made.

Week 29, 2006, Day 4

The current Downloads page is an ATM-themed source for official Homestar Runner things such as Downloadable Icons, Wallpaper, Songs, Strong Bad Clock, Quotes Packs, and System Sounds. There is an Easter egg that unlocks a Homsar quotes pack. It was last updated on January 27, 2004, with the Do You Has? wallpaper.

Week 29, 2006, Day 3

The Character Videos is the current biography page for the main characters of the website. The menu features a stack of VHS tapes and a VCR. Each character introduces himself or herself to the viewers, except The Poopsmith and Pom Pom, wherein Homestar Runner himself makes the introduction. The Cheat's language has also been thoughtfully subtitled for the viewers.

Week 29, 2006, Day 2

The Scrolling Shooter Games Menu is the current game selection menu accessible from the main pages. It is styled similar to the vertical scrolling shooter arcade games from the early 1980s. The menu replaced the Handheld Games Menu on July 29, 2004. It marks first time The Cheat and Coach Z have appeared in 20X6 form. Curiously, despite using 20X6 characters, each power-up pill uses the initials of the normal characters, and the ships are also modeled after the modern-era characters.

Week 29, 2006, Day 1

The TV Time Toons Menu is current toons menu and one of the menus accessible from the main pages. All the toons are listed in a manner similar to a TV Guide ("TV time") booklet. The TV Time toons menu layout changed on June 22, 2004, and divided all the toons into eight categories. The old version had four categories (Toons, Shorts, Features, and Holiday); Strong Bad Email, Marzipan's Answering Machine, and Teen Girl Squad were in the Features section. Powered by The Cheat and Puppet Stuff were listed under Shorts. A cherished Easter egg on the menu is the Joy of Painting, where Marzipan is shown with a beard and afro.

Week 28, 2006

A monolith of muscle and hostility, Strong Mad is, as his name implies, strong and usually mad. His brothers are Strong Bad and Strong Sad, and he is the oldest of the three. He and The Cheat are "The next bosom buddies" according to a TV TIME cover, and though he often tries to help Strong Bad with his evil plans, he usually only messes up. He communicates mostly in simple sentences shouted in an uninflected roar. He seems to be a wrestler (or perhaps was one in the past), since he wears a blue spandex singlet with an "M" on it. He's a big lug, but with a big heart: though you wouldn't know it to look at him, Strong Mad has a soft side. In Where's The Cheat? he cries over an autographed picture of The Cheat, given to him by the little yellow guy. (More...)

Week 27, 2006

Podstar Runner is a collection of Homestar Runner cartoons transferable to a fifth generation iPod, in .m4v format. Originally, it was a collection of Strong Bad Emails. However, on March 6, 2006, Teen Girl Squad issues were added, called Teen Girl Squadcast. Everybody to the Limit was also released on April 12, 2006. On February 20, 2006, the podcast "Strong Bad Email" went to the #1 position on the "Top Podcasts" list on iTunes. The podcast "Strong Bad Emails & More!" still remains fairly high in the list to this day. (More...)