HRWiki Featured articles/Archive 7

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HRWiki:Featured articles archive of weeks 27-52, 2008.

Week 52, 2008

Decemberween Short Shorts is 2006's Decemberween toon and a second compilation of short shorts, after Summer Short Shorts, this batch holiday-themed. In the first toon, Strong Bad writes a Decemberween letter to a pair of tube socks he is confident of receiving on Decemberween morning as a present. In the second toon, the Homestar characters are depicted as ornaments on a Decemberween tree. The third toon is an Old-Timey toon. Herein, The Homestar Runner describes Decemberween to Rumble Red, who then receives a present from Old-Timey Marzipan, which ultimately kills him. In the fourth, all-too-short toon, Strong Sad is writing a Decemberween letter to a pair of argyle socks. In the fifth and final toon, Homestar Runner sings a song to Coach Z about how to behave on Decemberween, so he will not have to spend it alone. This song was later made downloadable in Hooked on Decemberween. (more...) watch

Week 51, 2008

Teen Girl Squad Issue 6 (also known as Decemberween Teen Girl Squad) is the sixth installment in the Teen Girl Squad series, released on July 12, 2004, as part of "Decemberween In July", a collection of Decemberween-themed shorts. Herein, the girls all partake in a secret Decemberween gift exchange, with the gifts all conveniently placed inside a lion. Three of the girls dive into its mouth in search of presents, while What's Her Face holds back on the grounds that she is a vegan. The lion's innards, bizarrely enough, resemble that of a whale. So and So gives Cheerleader a fashion gift card, while The Ugly One gives Cheerleader a half-digested gazelle carcass. Meanwhile, What's Her Face is attacked by a wave of babies. (more...) watch

Week 50, 2008

The Sneak (a.k.a. "The Dapper Swindler") is the Old-Timey version of The Cheat, and takes the appearance of an opossum. He is usually silent, communicating by waving his nose. He's the Strong Man's greatest pal, and loves to join The Strong Bad in causing catastrophe. His schemes include dropping The Homestar Runner from his "flying machine", stealing fresh jam and putting a Bengal tiger in The Kaiser's latrine. He supposedly likes to do the hully gully on the Panama Canal, but has only been seen doing it on a barrel. DaVinci's Notebook wrote a song for him, entitled Ballad of The Sneak, which was made into a cartoon by The Brothers Chaps. The lyrics in the song suggest that The Sneak is yellow in color, like his present-day double, despite the fact that the Old-Timey cartoons are colorless. (more...)

Week 49, 2008

Donald "Don" and Harriet Chapman are the parents of The Brothers Chaps. Don was born June 5, 1939, in Winamac, Indiana and moved to Atlanta in 1980. He was a certified public accountant. He helped The Brothers Chaps run the business aspects of the website, and the Homestar Runner booth at comic conventions with Harriet. His family described him as the "heart and soul" of the website. They also seem to have had a say, if a small one, in what is shown on the site. For example, Marshmallow's Last Stand was temporarily put back on the site after several requests from Don (as per the intro's disclaimer). They also appeared in the DVD extra Making of Email 100. Don, a Catholic, and Harriet, a Methodist, instilled good values in their children. The Brothers Chaps sometimes called Don and Harriet "Strong Dad" and "The Mother Chaps", respectively. Don passed away at his home on April 15, 2006, at age 66. (more...)

Week 48, 2008

Toikey TV is 2007's Thanksgiving toon. Herein, Strong Bad, Strong Mad and The Cheat are watching the 2007 Falling Asleep On The Couch Watching Football Bowl on TV after a Thanksgiving dinner, but Strong Mad quickly falls asleep. Strong Bad and The Cheat take the opportunity to find something else to watch besides the game. Strong Bad flips through different channels on the TV, which shows various Thanksgiving-themed programs, including a supposed Thanksgiving special with Saddy Dumpington, a cooking show hosted by Marzipan on how to make Marzipan's Famous Thanksgiving Faux-ducken, and "another lame Thanksgiving special" with the Cheat Commandos. (more...) watch

Week 47, 2008

In colonization, the 90th Strong Bad Email, released on Tuesday, November 25, 2003, Shana Ma. of Los Angeles, CA, asks Strong Bad if he either celebrates Thanksgiving like most people or if he has any traditions of when Strong Badia was first colonized. Strong Bad responds by recounting the history of Strong Badia, in which he is portrayed as a Pilgrim being persecuted by Strong Sad for putting ketchup on eggs. He and The Cheat then leave Free Country, USA for a new land behind the dumpsters, owned by Bubs, portrayed as a Native American, or as Strong Bad puts it, "a strange man who had strange ways and strange odors". Eventually, they celebrate Strong Badia's first Thanksgiving by sitting at a picnic table and eating some leftover burgers from Hardee's. (more...) watch

Week 46, 2008

What's Her Face is the "pity friend" member of the Teen Girl Squad who is distinguished mainly by her common sense and, consequently, mistreatment from the other members of the Squad. She is the least popular and most ignored member of the Squad; in Teen Girl Squad Issue 3, Cheerleader excludes her specifically from a trip to the mall and sends her to a thrift store instead, and "forgets" to invite her to the beach in Issue 5. Despite her strained relationship with Cheerleader, What's Her Face seems to have a pretty strong relationship with The Ugly One, as evidenced by Issue 4. What's Her Face could be described as somewhat depressed, even in dire situations. She also is much smarter than the other members of the Squad. It also appears as though What's Her Face has more of an interest in having a real boyfriend than the other members do, rather than picking up guys quickly as is Cheerleader's style. (more...)

Week 45, 2008

Taranchula is a death metal band from Scandinavia. Like Limozeen, their name was born from the email band names. The members of the band are Dave Bjornborg, Dave Olafstenston, and Schenkel McDoo. Their only known songs are "Moving Very Slowly", "The Decoupage", "Brother In A Jar" and "Trudgemank". They might be based on Sepultura, a thrash metal band that used stop motion animation in their videos, much like Taranchula's clip in the music video in the email death metal. The band also appears on the Half-Hour Death Metal Dungeon Hour in "death metal". The three members of the band are portrayed by Matt, Mike and a second Matt. Taranchula's logo is very similar to that of Immolation, a popular death metal band. (more...)

Week 44, 2008

Pumpkin Carve-nival is 2002's Halloween toon. Herein, Homestar Runner throws another Halloween party which the other main characters attend. This time, the apparent main event involves everyone carving pumpkins which get judged. Homestar, being the judge, goes around to the different characters and their pumpkin carvings and, assisted by The Cheat, gives them different (and, in many cases, unusual) ribbons for them, landing them in various rating positions, with questionable results. But there is much more to Homestar's pumpkin-carving contest than meets the eye. This toon spun off a now-common running gag known as Witch's Brew. (more...) watch

Week 43, 2008

The Goblin is a green, armless creature who appears in Halloween episodes. An organ tune plays when he shows up, and he does a short dance. The movement of his feet when dancing is very similar to Leg Movement #1 in the Dancin' Bubs game. The Goblin originated in Homestarloween Party as a character in a pass-along Halloween story started by Homestar Runner. He has since appeared in most, but not all, of the major Halloween toons. By virtue of Bubs's addition to the pass-along story in Homestarloween Party, the Goblin owns a Gremlin. He has also appeared once outside the Halloween toons in Where's The Cheat?, when Strong Mad was trying to look for The Cheat in the Goblin's home in the Spooky Woods (he was found underneath the Gremlin). According to the Horrible Painting, the Goblin has "serious problems", and so Rocoulm refuses to entertain him. (more...)

Week 42, 2008

Gunhaver is a member (and probable leader) of the Cheat Commandos (though Flashfight may also hold the position of leader). Among his mission credits are: leading an action figure storage vehicle attack on Blue Laser, leading a search party to uncover Blue Laser's secret desert headquarters, and staving off the danger of Blue Laser saving money at Price Style. Certain parts of the cartoon Let us give TANKS! strongly suggest that the rest of the Commandos regard Gunhaver as possibly too enthusiastic about his duties. As his name and a claim on his box suggest, Gunhaver has a semi-automatic pistol, which was seen hanging on the wall. He later was actually shown brandishing it in "Let us give TANKS!". He is voiced by Crack Stuntman, who has difficulty remembering the character's name. Gunhaver is a direct parody of Duke from G.I. Joe, complete with a John Wayne-type voice. (more...)

Week 41, 2008

Couch mumbling is the phenomenon that occurs primarily when Strong Bad is asleep on the couch in the Brothers Strong's basement and, in addition to incomprehensible muttering, mutters the names of Nintendo (usually those for the Super Nintendo) video games in his sleep. A variation on this also occurred in Jibblies 2 when Strong Bad fell onto the couch as he was recovering from a fit of the jibblies. While this running joke is similar to video game titles like those found on the labels of the Floppy Disk Container, those games are generally older and less well-known than the titles Strong Bad mumbles. In Homestar Ruiner, Strong Bad mentions a game made by Videlectrix, RhinoFeeder (which Strong Bad dreamed up in the Strong Bad Email video games), rather than a real-world game. (more...)

Week 40, 2008, Day 7

Real-Live E-Mails is a Puppet Stuff short, available only on the fourth disc of the strongbad_email.exe DVDs as an Easter egg. Puppet Strong Bad checks an email in a live action version of his computer room. The email, sent by Leonard from Memphis, asks if he will ever do another DVD. Responding to this, he goes to check up on an update of the DVD in progress and it is not going as he likes it. He talks with Puppet Homestar Runner who is saying his lines for the DVD. Strong Bad then fires Ryan Sterritt and then Mike Chapman for taking too long to work on it. Next, Strong Bad encounters Matt Chapman and Puppet The Cheat, who are not working, but are playing a video game. Homestar arrives and shows the finished DVD product for Strong Bad, which is Deep Impact. Strong Bad, of course, is less than impressed. (more...)

Week 40, 2008, Day 6

Biz Cas Fri 1, released on Friday, June 24, 2005, is the first in a series of Puppet Stuff shorts known as Biz Cas Fri, which involves Puppet Homestar Runner coming to bother Puppet Strong Bad on something during their apparent office jobs, at Strong Bad's expense (in more ways than one). This series of shorts originated in the Strong Bad Email other days (namely, what Strong Bad does on Fridays). In Biz Cas Fri 1, Strong Bad is just about to finish his work on some "third-quarter projection analysis spreadsheets" when Homestar arrives to commence his usual annoyance spree, always referring to Strong Bad as "(his) dog", and mistakenly calling him Rondleman. When Strong Bad orders Homestar to leave him alone and let him finish his work, Homestar tries to "help", but accidentally causes Strong Bad's computer to malfunction, much to Strong Bad's irritation. (more...) watch

Week 40, 2008, Day 5

Strong Bad vs. Little Girl! is a Puppet Stuff short, released on Monday, March 14, 2005. It introduces the puppet version of Strong Bad to the website, and was the first Puppet Stuff feature not to include Homestar Runner. Strong Bad makes small talk with Little Girl. At one point, she makes slurping and chomping noises that Strong Bad thinks is a "scoop" she is eating. Then, she is playing with Strong Bad's The Cheat. Finally, they decide to go find "the sun". (more...) watch

Week 40, 2008, Day 4

Homestar vs. Little Girl is a Puppet Stuff short, released on July 12, 2004, as part of "Decemberween in July", a batch of Decemberween-themed toons. It introduced Little Girl to the website. Puppet Homestar Runner asks Little Girl about Decemberween, and what she wants, including "a special" and a DVD. Homestar mentions, prompted by Little Girl, that although he loves "every DVD that was ever made", his favorite type of DVD is "space show DVDs". However, Homestar being Homestar, he misinterprets a lot of what she says. (more...) watch

Week 40, 2008, Day 3

Bad Jokes is the first Puppet Jam, which is a series of Puppet Stuff shorts involving different recording sessions with They Might Be Giants and Puppet Homestar Runner (known as "Homeslice" in the series) on vocals. These short and low-quality video clips were released shortly after the release of Puppet Time. In Bad Jokes, Homestar sings the title song as he refers to old jokes (such as "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and "What did zero say to eight?") and John Flansburgh joins in occasionally. The Puppet Jam series not only had a more improved video quality on the first volume of the Everything Else DVD series, but there were several more recording sessions found only on that DVD, and the DVD recordings from the website (including Bad Jokes) are different there than on the website. (more...) watch

Week 40, 2008, Day 2

Puppet Time is a Puppet Stuff short, released on Monday, March 8, 2004. Homestar Runner tries to return a damaged videotape of Mr. Wizard to Strong Bad. But not only does Homestar not find him, he also finds a sticky note on the Compy 386, saying that Strong Bad is "probably at a barbecue... with lotsa ladies". Homestar uses this opportunity to "borrow" various belongings of Strong Bad's, and he soon discovers The Cheat, and he is surprised to find him doing the exact same thing of "borrowing" Strong Bad's belongings. (more...) watch

Week 40, 2008, Day 1

Everybody Knows It is the very first Puppet Stuff short in the Homestar Runner body of work, released on Monday, September 29, 2003. It introduces the puppet versions of Homestar Runner and The Cheat. Herein, The Cheat plays the titular tune for Homestar, who sings that "everybody knows it's true", that "you gotta do the best you can" and to "work out twice a day", but he then sings not to ask him why he said it, because he already forgot. When the song ends, The Cheat then goes back to putting dog food in Homestar's shoes. This song originated in the Strong Bad Email labor day and in 2005, it was made into a Puppet Jam, available only on the first volume of the Everything Else DVD series. (more...) watch

Week 39, 2008

Homestar Runner and Marzipan's relationship has been an interesting one. Despite the fact that they often go on dates together, their relationship is actually a tenuous one, as proven several times. While they actually are affectionate toward each other once in a while, such a relationship is often strained, as Strong Bad has observed time and time again when referring to Marzipan as Homestar's "estranged girlfriend". Homestar often insults Marzipan (though he is often unaware of this), and, likewise, Marzipan treats Homestar with contempt. Sometimes, they threaten to break up and even actually do so. But they always eventually get back together again. Marzipan at least has viewed their relationship as an open one and thus often goes on dates with other characters, like The Cheat and Bubs, though Homestar disagrees with these assessments. (more...)

Week 38, 2008

A Jumping Jack Contest is an early Homestar Runner toon, which has since been removed from the website, for personal reasons and for an undisclosed period of time, as per an interview by Matt Chapman in 2003. In the toon, Homestar Runner, Strong Bad, Pom Pom, Bubs, and Strong Sad all enter a jumping jack contest, with the objective being to continually jump jacks for the longest time. Strong Bad is determined to win at all costs, even cheating to do so, with help from Strong Mad and The Cheat, of course. This toon's plot is loosely based on the original Homestar Runner book. While the toon loads, you can play a Strong Lib game. Despite its current absence from the website, this toon has shown up on the second volume of the Everything Else DVD set. (more...) watch

Week 37, 2008

StrongBadZone is a video game by Videlectrix that Strong Bad dreamed up in the email video games, released on Monday, January 12, 2004. It is a vector graphics game that plays similarly to the Diamonds 3D computer game. You play the role of a spiky-headed cyber-shield guy (with a cyber-shield) trying to block "perplexing 3D geometric attacks" that come flipping toward you. If you hit them, they bounce back. The game's objective is to try to hit Vector Strong Bad's head until it disappears. The game's graphical style refers to Nintendo's 3D system, the Virtual Boy. The graphics of the console were known for solely consisting of the colors red and black, like those in StrongBadZone. The game stylistically resembles the Virtual Boy vector game Red Alarm, which at one point also features a large face that must be beaten. StrongBadZone is also the source of the quote, "Your head a splode!" (and some variations thereof). (more...) play

Week 36, 2008

In labor day, the 83rd Strong Bad Email, released on Monday, September 1, 2003, Chrispy of Schenectady, NY, asks what Strong Bad is going to do for Labor Day. After learning that it is Labor Day, Strong Bad decides to take the day off from checking his email. Instead, he goes to hang out at The Stick, saying stuff to various people who walk by. However, after a while of doing this, Strong Bad gets bored and decides to go back to checking his email. Meanwhile, the whole gang, sans Strong Bad, is celebrating Labor Day with a barbecue. This email is the origin of Homestar Runner's tune, Everybody Knows It. (more...) watch

Week 35, 2008

Commandos in the Classroom is a Cheat Commandos short released on Tuesday, September 13, 2005. In it, the Commandos are getting ready for a movie night watching Pony Fights 2. The other commandos tell Reynold that the movie has too much cuss language for him. Reynold then shocks everyone with a comment about teen pregnancy, which Gunhaver calls an "inappropriate peer-to-teen choice behavior". Gunhaver then shows Reynold a filmstrip to teach him how to avoid inappropriate peer-to-teen choice behaviors. It stars various commandos being tempted by Blue Laser to do things such as cheating on exams or smoking candy, to which the commandos respond with pro-positive life tools, such as claiming to have gold-rush era diseases or imagining those pressuring them as slices of pizza. (more...) watch

Week 34, 2008

The Municipality is the designation of the totalitarian governmental establishment (modeled after dystopian novels such as 1984) that apparently rules over Free Country, USA, as headed by The King of Town. The Poopsmith serves as a grunt worker. Strong Bad has expressed a desire to riot against it, and in disconnected, his body does so while his head gives career advice to Homestar Runner. It appears that the Municipality uses propaganda to further show its own power. One such poster had the stylized logo and images of poopertroopers standing side by side with the words "We're onto you" across the bottom. The Logo for the Municipality is the King Of Town's head with Darth Vader-like attributes. The name "Poopertrooper" could be a connection to this, as Darth Vader's elite shock troops were called 'Stormtroopers.' (more...)

Week 33, 2008

The Drive-Thru Whale is a smiling blue whale-shaped drive-thru speaker that did not originally appear to be linked to a restaurant, though nightlife suggests (and Blubb-O's Commercial confirms) that it is the mascot for Blubb-O's. The speaker is very scratchy and difficult to understand. Its speech patterns range from typical drive-thru speaker phrases like "Would you like to try a combo meal?" to seemingly random phrases like "Sever your leg, please. It's the greatest day," as well as playing a short length of music while moving its flume of water up and down. The Drive-Thru Whale can move from place to place using a rocket booster mounted underneath it, which allows it to fly up into outer space, and it can also rise up from underground. The Drive-Thru Whale was originally discovered in The Field, but has since been seen on the Sweet Puttin' Cakes Puttiature Golf-Golf Course and behind the fence. (more...)

Week 32, 2008

Whatsit is a name for the commodity that The Poopsmith shovels, also known as You-Know-What and crap. First seen in The King of Town DVD, the large pile of whatsit shows up whenever The Poopsmith is "on the job". Incidentally, in Ballad of The Sneak, "whatzit" is used to refer to The Sneak. Also, in Bug In Mouth Disease the King of Town says, "I keep telling him the sun don't rise and set on that pile of whatsit, but he don't want to listen!" In Sick Day, a mound of whatsit on the map of Rotten Egglünd is called "Whatsitshire". Also, in the Strong Bad Email narrator, Strong Bad makes a preview for a movie called "Whatsit All About?", which features The Poopsmith shoveling his pile of whatsit. In 3 Times Halloween Funjob, Homestar Runner gets some to fill his arbitrarily self-imposed weight requirement of "like a million pounds of candy." (more...)

Week 31, 2008

In many instances of text in the Homestar Runner body of work, lowercase i's' appear where they normally wouldn't. This subtle quirk originated with Strong Bad's handwriting; the capital i of the font used (AhnbergHand) looks like a lowercase i, so any time Strong Bad needs to write one, it appears as if it were lowercase. The most famous instance is in dragon, where he labels his drawing TROGDOR the BURNiNATOR, although in this case he does actually use a capital i. Strong Bad's handwriting can also be seen throughout every issue of Teen Girl Squad. Over time, Strong Bad's handwriting was used more and more, and the lowercase i was seen more frequently. Gradually, this idiosyncrasy crossed over to the other fonts featured on the website. It soon became evident that The Brothers Chaps decided to make most uppercase is lowercase, no matter what font was being used, as an inside joke. (more...)

Week 30, 2008

In techno, the 45th Strong Bad Email, released on Monday, October 7, 2002, Silent J asks Strong Bad if he likes techno. While Strong Bad says it's not really his style, he nonetheless proceeds to write a techno song using his own voice. After starting out with a simple beat, he adds more and more parts, including a siren-like noise and the "obligatory old movie quote from some sci-fi movie" which gave the song its name: The System Is Down. Meanwhile, The Cheat begins to add visual effects using his own lightswitch and a glowstick, though Strong Bad disapproves of his "throw[ing] lightswitch raves", and suggests that they pour the contents of the glowstick into Homestar Runner's Mountain Dew. The song created in this email would later be featured as the second track on the Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits CD. (more...) watch

Week 29, 2008

Ryan Sterritt is listed in the credits for strongbad email.exe under DVD authoring and encoding, and in the credits of the Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer as a cast member, editor, and co-cinematographer. He hails from the city of Atlanta, Georgia. He can be seen working on the DVD in the puppet toon Real-Live E-Mails. Ryan models the Strong Bad and Homestar beanie caps at the Homestar Runner Store, and appears on the album cover for West Is Lip. (more...)

Week 28, 2008

Teen Girl Squad Issue 3 is the third installment in the Teen Girl Squad series, released on May 12, 2003. It's time for summer and the girls all decide to go shopping for summer fashions. Cheerleader arbitrarily decides to take So and So and The Ugly One to the mall, while forcing What's Her Face to go to a thrift store. At the mall, the three girls first go for pan-asian cuisine, only to have The Ugly One attacked by Arrow'd Guy. Then, they all maxorzed their credit cards buying the latest fashions. Meanwhile, What's Her Face buys clothes that smell like grandmas and is attacked by possums. (more...) watch

Week 27, 2008

Strong Bad is a Bad Guy is a short released on Monday, October 17, 2005. It is the first short to be made using Mario Paint since the early work Super NES, which is currently in the Museum. In the toon, Strong Bad, Strong Mad and The Cheat discuss ideas for tattoos they'd like to get. While Strong Mad says he'd have a "glowy box" for reasons he considers "personal", Strong Bad wants one with a rocket launcher and the words "BAD GUY". This leads to a montage showing Strong Bad involved in various "bad" actions, such as beating an exhaust pipe, giving the Double Deuce, and spray painting a poster of Marzipan. Throughout this montage, a song whose lyrics tell us that "Strong Bad is a bad guy" plays. After the montage is over, Homestar Runner arrives and begins discussing his tattoo ideas, all of which seem to be on his arm. (more...) watch