A Prickly Scary Short

File:A Prickly Scary Short.png

"All right, Rafferty, my maybe-cousin, maybe-nephew, maybe-at-risk-youth-outreach-program-mentee!"

Rafferty is given an opportunity to join the Halloween party.

Cast (in order of appearance): Homestar Runner, Rafferty, Muommy, The Sad Kids, Preshy, Strong Bad

See A Prickly Scary Short Costumes for more information on what Homestar Runner was wearing.

Places: The Field

Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Running Time: 2:06

Page Title: Everybody get blecthed up!

Transcript

{Opens on a yellow bush with "a prickly, scary short" written on it, as a beat plays and some wind rushes by. Cut to Homestar, talking to Rafferty.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: All right, Rafferty, my maybe-cousin, maybe-nephew, maybe-at-risk-youth-outreach-program-mentee!

RAFFERTY: {cheers indistinctly}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: If you wanna come to this year's Halloween party, you gotta have a good enough ghost story! Now take ya best shot!

RAFFERTY: Once upon a time, there was a head-a-less mommy.

{An image of a woman appears, and her head falls off with a pop.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Wait, a mummy {an image of a mummy appears} or mommy? {the mummy's wrappings fall off, leaving the same woman (with her head) as the previous image}

RAFFERTY: Muommy! {an image of the woman with a mummy head and left arm appears}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {sardonic} Great, that really clears things up.

RAFFERTY: {with the original image of the woman next to him} And there was a prickly, {pointed blades spawn from the woman's body} scary, {the woman's face distorts} scary {it further distorts, becoming cycloptic and green} mommy!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hold on. Are we talking about two different mommies? One head-a-less {the headless woman appears on the left side of the screen} and one prickly scary scary, {the "prickly scary scary" woman appears on the right; both slide upward} or just one mommy {the original woman appears} that is both headless and prickly scary scary? {The woman's head flies off, the blades reappear, and the cycloptic eye and mouth appear on the woman's torso}

RAFFERTY: And the other two persons...

{The Sad Kids walk up.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Wait, what other two persons?! Where did they come from?!

RAFFERTY: The other two persons getted gooey! {black goop falls on the Sad Kids}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: They getted gooey?!

{Rafferty is now lying on the ground, and points upward.}

RAFFERTY: And getted blechted up!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Blechted up, huh?

{Rafferty nods.}

RAFFERTY: The end.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Of course it is. Sorry, kid, but you're not comin' to this year's party. Let's see if your sister can do any better. Preshy?

{Pan up to show Preshy standing on Homestar's head, holding a hammer.}

PRESHY: {hits Homestar at the beginning of each line} It is a computer? It is a computer? It is a computer?

{Rafferty leans in and both laugh. Preshy hits Homestar and the screen cuts to a screen reading "blechted." Fade to at night, where Homestar alone stands, costumed and in silhouette.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Psst! Hey, Strong Bad! Why am I the only one here?

STRONG BAD: {leaning in} 'Cuz your costume's too good! Nobody else wanted to dress up!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: But you guys told me to dress like this! I don't even get the reference!

STRONG BAD: That's perfect! Look, just get ready to say the line!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Why do I have to say that word?

STRONG BAD: Oh, you'll see! Everybody's gonna love it! Just trust me!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Okay, here goes:

{Strong Bad ducks away and a drumroll plays as the camera zooms in on Homestar. As the drumroll finishes, Homestar comes fully into view. He looks around for a moment, and then raises the arms of his costume.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Mawwiage!

{Applause. A text box reading "Homestar as The Impressive Clergyman" appears below him.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I still don't get the reference. Makin' me dress up like grody old Pope Santam'n.

{Fade out. The word "ended." appears from the top of the screen.}

Fun Facts

Trivia

• Out of all the annual Halloween toons, this features the fewest main characters (with only two, Strong Bad and Homestar Runner, appearing).
  • This is the third overall to not feature all twelve main characters, after Homestarloween Party and Which Ween Costumes? (which did not include Homsar; Homestarloween Party pre-dated his creation).
• This is the first annual Halloween toon to be officially described as a short.
• For the first time since the earliest toons (like A Jumping Jack Contest), the characters' shading remains consistent with their movement, not flipping to the other side when they turn around (except when Homestar is in costume).

Remarks

• Rafferty's story resembles Homestar's ghost story from Homestarloween Party, as it begins with an odd creature standing around and ends with The Sad Kids getting squashed.

Inside References

A Muommy?

• Although this is the first time Preshy and Rafferty have starred in a toon on the site, they had been originally designed over 20 years prior for an ultimately-unfinished toon called "Those Darn Cousins" (a portion of which was shown in Why Come Only One Girl? and posted to Twitter on December 1, 2019). As rejected characters, their only subsequent appearances on the site were as easy-to-miss silhouettes in A Decemberween Mackerel and The Show: Ween Edition until they finally made their proper debut in this toon.
• The "Muommy" design was previously shown in a Sketchbook entry on August 12, 2004.
• The word "blechted up" was also used in Dangeresque Roomisode 3: Keep My Enemies, Loser to describe a cask blocked by a wax candle.
• Homestar mistakes his costume for a Pope Santaman.

Real-World References

• Homestar being told to say "Mawwiage" is a reference to the film The Princess Bride, where the Impressive Clergyman (who Homestar is dressed as) has a similar speech impediment to Homestar's and begins his speech with that word.

YouTube Version

The YouTube description for this toon is "Rafferty lays his best scary-scary story on Homestar, hoping to get into this year's Halloween party."

External Links

• watch "A Prickly Scary Short"
• watch "A Prickly Scary Short" on YouTube
• view the Flash file for "A Prickly Scary Short"