comic

Strong Bad Email #53

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"TEEN GIRL SQUAD!"

The origin of Teen Girl Squad! Brittany asks Strong Bad to make a comic about her friends.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Cheerleader, So and So, What's Her Face, The Ugly One, Birds (Teen Girl Squad), A Helicopter, Visor Robot, Arrow'd Guy, The Dinosaur

Places: Computer Room, The Field, The Graveyard, Snooty Independent Record Store (Easter egg)

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, December 2, 2002

Running Time: 1:43

Page Title: Compy 386!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Two, Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD

Transcript

STRONG BAD: In the United States alone, someone checks their email every three seconds. This is one of them.

{reading}

Can you make a comic about my friends?
Tey are totally obsessed with you.
Their names are Virginia, Joy,
Kristen, and Jennifer. I would really
appriciate it.

Thank You.

Brittany

{Strong Bad mumbles over the four girls' names instead of reading them. He also pronounces "Tey" as it is written and "appriciate" "a-preek-ee-ate".}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Well, I'd really appriciate {same as in the email} it if you proofread your emails before you sent them to me! So, a comic about your little friends, huh? Well, okay. I'll see what I can do!

{He gets out pencil and starts drawing something. Some music starts playing.}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: Teen Girl Squad! Cheerleader {screen shows Cheerleader, with "cheer!" next to her} So and So {fashion sense!} What's Her Face {unpopular!} The Ugly One {hygiene?}

{The four girls are standing in a nondescript field.}

CHEERLEADER: Hey gals, let's go get ready to LOOK SO GOOD!!!

SO AND SO: Word.

THE UGLY ONE: Word.

WHAT'S HER FACE: Word.

{The girls walk to the right. Some birds and clouds appear above them. A helicopter appears and attacks the birds, and Narrator Strong Bad makes helicopter shooting noises. The girls stop walking, and the scenery reverts to its original state.}

CHEERLEADER: Okay, now let's start LOOKING GOOD!!!

SO AND SO: A'ight.

THE UGLY ONE: A'ight.

WHAT'S HER FACE: A'ight.

{The Visor Robot zaps So and So's head with a laser.}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: VOIP!

{So and So's upper body becomes a black pile of ashes and a skull.}

CHEERLEADER: Kristen, you look burnt, or DEAD.

{The girls walk right some more.}

WHAT'S HER FACE: I miss Kristin...a.

{Screen now shows The Ugly One, with numerous arrows flying through the air behind her.}

THE UGLY ONE: I have a crush on EVERY BOY!!

{Zoom out. The Ugly One is pierced by the arrows. We see the Arrow'd Guy, with more arrows coming out of his mouth.}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: ARROWED!!!

THE UGLY ONE: OW! My skin!

{Cut to What's Her Face getting kicked by a dinosaur.}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: PUNT!

WHAT'S HER FACE: Dag, yo.

{Cheerleader stands next to the headstones for So and So, The Ugly One, and What's Her Face.}

CHEERLEADER: I look so good!!

STRONG BAD: {typing} Wow, Brittany! That turned out pretty good! I should maybe make some crappy xeroxes of that thing and sell it over at Bubs'. Or at least some snooty independent record store. {stops typing} Okay, so, that's it! No more Strong Bad Emails. Nah, I'm just kiddin'... maybe.

{The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

• When Strong Bad reads, "I would really appriciate it" the names of the girls can be clicked to bring up various shapes that are supposed to resemble states. When "Virginia" is clicked on, the actual map of the state of Virginia pops up.
• When the "Girls' States" appear, the top of each one can be clicked to show it in its underwear, just as in weird dream.
• When the headstones appear, click on What's Her Face's to have Strong Bad enter the comic.

{Strong Bad walks on from offsceen}

STRONG BAD: Whoa, hey there Cheerleader. You looking so good. You want to go take a ride with me up to Checker's...or Rally's...or uh, Sonic Burger? Whatever you guys got here.

• At the very end click on the words, "independent record store" to bring up a part showing the comic for sale an unknown record store, with a Teen Girl Squad Issue on a rack.

{Music is playing that is louder than the Customer and the Clerk.}

CUSTOMER: {voiced by Mike}: 'Sup, man?

CLERK: {voiced by Matt}: Hey, how ya doin'?

CUSTOMER: Pretty good.

CLERK: Good to see you back in.

CUSTOMER: Yeah, did you, uh... did you listen to this yet?

CLERK: You know, I have. Yeah. I wasn't into it. I couldn't get into it.

CUSTOMER: Huh. I thought... I was kinda hoping it'd be...

CLERK: Yeah, you know, they were—the whole thing's in 4/4, and...um...yeah. So, I just thought it wasn't for me. I liked their solo stuff better, you know?

CUSTOMER: Yeah. Well what about, uh, what about their guitars? D'ya think they're all, like, in tune? Like the...the frets?

CLERK: Yeah, the frets are in tune. The frets they're using are...are B-modal. But, uh, 'cuz they just have the same producer.

CUSTOMER: Albino.

CLERK: Albino.

CUSTOMER: Right.

CLERK: Yeah.

CUSTOMER: Yeah, I really liked their last album.

CLERK: Yeah, their old stuff is great! Have you ever seen them live?

CUSTOMER: Yeah. Yeah.

CLERK: I mean... I saw, I saw 'em... I saw 'em, like, twice... Actually, uhm, uh, last night, I saw them.

CUSTOMER: Yeah, I saw them... I saw them earlier this morning. Yeah.

CLERK: Oh.

CUSTOMER: Like, four times.

CLERK: Oh.

CUSTOMER: Yah. I mean I've been a big, I've been a bigger fan than you for a while, I mean...

CLERK: Yeah, well...

CUSTOMER: For a lot longer probably, too...

CLERK: Well, no no...

CUSTOMER: I mean, I dunno... Yeah.

Fun Facts

Trivia

• According to The Brothers Chaps in the DVD commentary, this email was actually sent to their email address and not Strong Bad's.
• Teen Girl Squad Issue 1 is almost identical to this email. The sections featuring Strong Bad at the Compy, along with the record store Easter egg, have simply been removed.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad makes a comic about Brittany and her friends."

Remarks

• When Strong Bad enters the comic, he doesn't have the blue notebook lines on him.

Inside References

• An Easter egg showing states in underwear was also present in weird dream.
• The tune that plays while Strong Bad is drawing the comic is similar to the A Jumping Jack Contest theme.

Real-World References

• The "independent record store" is probably a reference to how The Simpsons creator Matt Groening originally sold his Life in Hell comic strips at the record store he worked at.
• The song playing in the background of the record store bit is Sonic Youth's "Teenage Riot" from the album Daydream Nation.
• In the Easter egg, a number of albums are visible:
  • "Mudhoney" was a grunge band from the late '80s to the early '90s. A 45 for their single "You Stupid Asshole" is in the box labeled "Used 45s". One of Mudhoney's albums is in Mike Chapman's favorite albums list.
  • The Brothers Johnson was a funk band from the '70s. Their album "Winners" is visible.
  • The album on the far right is A Boy Named Charlie Brown by The Vince Guaraldi Trio. Another Charlie Brown-themed album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio is in Matt Chapman's favorite albums list.
• "Al Beno" is most likely a reference to Steve Albini, the famous producer, who was not actually associated with Daydream Nation, as well as a reference to albinism. It could also be a reference to the pronunciation of Albino in some versions of the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit": Albeeno instead of Albino. Steve Albini prefers the term "engineer" instead of "producer".
• Checkers, Rally's, and Sonic are all fast food chains that specialize in drive-in style dining. Checkers and Rally's are part of the same company after both chains merged operations in 1999, although the combined company continues to use both names.

Fast Forward

• The image of the Arrow'd Guy killing The Ugly One is later used for the 404'd page. In this case, The Ugly One says, "OW! my browser!"

DVD Version

• The State Easter eggs are still viewable using the angle button on your DVD remote, but the underwear one is not.
• The Strong Bad Easter egg near the end of the Teen Girl Squad cartoon is automatically enabled, no clicking required.
• To view the independent record store Easter egg, click on the hidden Strong Bad logo at the bottom left of the screen.
• The 45 of Mudhoney's "You Stupid Asshole" has its cover censored.
• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.
  • This commentary also extends into the Record Shop Easter egg.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

MIKE: Hi.

MATT: Hi there. It's Matt.

MIKE: {in a sing-song voice} It's Miiike. Hah-hah.

MATT: Ta-taste.

MIKE: All right.

MATT: Good taste. So, uh, little-known fact, that this email was actually sent to the Brothers Chaps' address, not Strong Bad, uh, and Strong Bad, stole it from us. You kno—

MIKE: He Shanghaied it.

MATT: He Shanghaied it, that's what I said last time.

MIKE: But we were—we had to redo the commentary. The original take of the commentary Matt said that we Shanghaied it.

MATT: Yeah. But then Mike cussed a swear later so we had to redo it.

MIKE: All right, that's enough, I'm outta here.

{door opening and closing}

MATT: Mike really just closed the door and is still sitting next to me.

MIKE: I'm gone, I'm in the next room!

MATT: All right, so, let's talk about, uh, Strong Bad's voice here. It sounds much more like Strong Bad at this point.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: When he's being the girls.

MIKE: Yeah, if you watch this and then go to your computer and watch, maybe Teen Girl Squad Episode 6...

MATT: They sound a lot—

MIKE: You'll notice a difference.

MATT: Yeah. And he's like, he calls—

MIKE: No mouth! No mouth!

MATT: And he calls So And So Kristen. She calls so and so Kristen.

MIKE: {simultaneously} Yeah, they've never been—do they even call themselves their... What's Her—oh, I think they—

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: —call her What's Her Face.

MATT: What's Her Face, you have to go to a junkyard.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Umm... {pause} and here comes an Easter egg. You get to see this for free on the DVD.

MIKE: That's right. Most people on the website have to click a gravestone over there to see this and...this is just how much we love you guys.

MATT: And this is Strong Bad referring to how we don't understand how those three fast-food chains can all exist and be so exactly alike. Especially—

MIKE: {simultaneously} I haven't seen a Rally in a long time. I don't know, I guess there's just not many in Atlanta.

MATT: Yeah. But Checkers and Rally's—

MIKE: {simultaneously} But there's not enough Sonics! The closest Sonic is, like, 20 miles away from us.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: I like their shakes.

MATT: {quickly} That caused a lot of concern.

Easter Egg Commentary Transcript

MIKE: So here we are in the independent record store we created in our apartment, uhhh, at about 5 AM—

MATT: {simultaneously} Yep.

MIKE: — the night we made this email.

MATT: Yep. Uh, that thing is, that thing that—the rack that the comics are in is just the bottom of a weird little CD rack I had.

MIKE: {simultaneously} Yeah, that's right.

MATT: But it looks kinda like some kind of magazine rack, doesn't it?

MIKE: It does.

MATT: We improvised. I used a—a marker, a magic marker. I improvise—

MIKE: {interrupting} And it looks like a cardboarded box was used to {Matt starts laughing} house the 45-, or 7-inch, records.

MATT: Yes. And there's, uh, over on the far left, you can just barely make out the beginnings of a comic—it is a legitimate comic book box that I have that has some comics in it.

MIKE: Oh yeah.

MATT: But I think we just cropped it out. {pause} You know, so we're just obviously making fun of college people and all their... If you walk up...we have Criminal Records here. Wax and Fax both. Any given day, you walk in there. Book Nook as well, that—they'll be talking about jazz. It won't be about indie rock, but they'll be ge- having nerdy nerdy conversations about jazz and trying to one-up each other. Like {Mimics Super Mario Bros. 1-Up sound effect}.

MIKE {Mimics Super Mario Bros. 1-Up sound effect as well}

MATT: You know, a one-up.

MIKE: Like a green mushroom.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Uhm... uh, over there on the far right is The Day of Bob and Lump, Issue... I think it's the Halloween Issue, I don't know which it i—bye.

Fun Facts

• "What's Her Face, you can go to a junkyard" is a reference to Issue 3.
• The green mushroom is a reference to the 1-up in the Mario series of video games.

External Links

• watch "comic"
• watch "comic" on YouTube
• watch "comic" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "comic"