fingers

Strong Bad Email #63

watch ← interview english paper →

"You look ridiculous!"

Lee Conrad from Edmonton, Alberta suggests to Strong Bad that he add some fingers to his boxing gloves so that people would stop asking him how he types with boxing gloves on.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Bubs, Strong Mad, Strong Sad, Coach Z, Homestar Runner

Places: Computer Room, Bubs' Concession Stand, Basement of the Brothers Strong, Coach Z's Locker Room, The Field

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Sunday, February 16, 2003

Running Time: 2:07

Page Title: Compy 386!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Two

Transcript

NARRATOR: Previously on Strong Bad Email!

{An email asking about how Strong Bad types with boxing gloves on pops up. It reads:}

dear strong bad,
how do you type with boxing gloves
on your hands?

aaron pratt
marion, in

NARRATOR: A familiar message!

{A second email comes up. It reads:}

Yo Strongbad. What's crackin? I was
wondering how you type with your
boxing gloves on?

Heather

{Strong Bad omits "your" when reading this email.}

NARRATOR: Two of the same!

{Another email comes up. It reads:}

HOW DO YOU TYPE WITH THOSE BOXING
GLOVES ON? THAT IS AMAZING!

FRANKDOG

{Strong Bad reads this email in a loud monotone to reflect the caps lock being on.}

NARRATOR: And another one! {"another" is pronounced as "an-nother"}

{Yet another email comes up. It reads:}

Dear Strong Bad,
How can you type so fast when your
wearing boxing gloves?

Typing Faster Than You...
Brandon Hicks, Enumclaw WA

NARRATOR: Frustration of frustrations! It's all they ever ask! {the next two announcements are accompanied by text banners coming up on the screen} WILL THEY NEVER CEASE?!?! STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT! {the words "FIND OUT" begin blinking quickly}

{Cut to Strong Bad at the Compy with a blank screen.}

STRONG BAD: {singing} Welcome to the Strong Bad Emaaaail! Dat-dada-dun! Everybody get down!

{reading}

Dear Strong Bad,
Why don't you add some fingers onto
your boxing gloves so that people
stop asking how you can type with
boxing gloves on? They wouldn't have
to be permanent. They'd be like the
phony antennae you buy at the joke store
or costume place.

Yours,
Lee Conrad
Edmonton, Alberta

{Strong Bad reads his name as "A-dear a-Strong a-Bad". Also, he stops momentarily and says "Palace, Lee. I think you mean costume palace." after reading "costume place."}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Fake fingers, eh, Lee? Well, I do hate those emails. Hmmmmmm...

{Dissolve into his imagination. We see him at Bubs' Concession Stand.}

STRONG BAD: Hey, Bubs! Gimme a little somethin'-somethin'.

BUBS: How many you need?

STRONG BAD: I'll take three.

{He holds up a hand which has a candle, an action figure leg, and a shrimp for fake fingers. A drum beat begins a transition to the basement where he's rocking out to music with Strong Mad and they're throwing corna gestures. Strong Bad has various objects for fingers. Strong Sad's unconscious head is in the corner of the room. Cut to Strong Bad in the locker room with Coach Z.}

COACH Z: Looks like you got some type of a prawn on there...

STRONG BAD: Yeah...

COACH Z: Maybe a little leg...

STRONG BAD: Yup.

COACH Z: Ooh! And a candle! That's a good one.

STRONG BAD: Yeah, I think that's my best one. You know. Keeps-a me warm at night!

{Cut to Homestar standing on a soapbox with fake arms attached}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: ...and frankly, I'm worried.

STRONG BAD: Hey, shut up, Homestar!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, hey, Strong Bad!

STRONG BAD: You look ridiculous!

{His thoughts dissipate as the scene wipes back to Compy, where Strong Bad is typing with the fake fingers on and making numerous errors}

STRONG BAD: Well, Lee, it's a good idea in theory but uh, {Cut to a side view} in reality, I don't think it would work out very well. {Cut back to the front view} But it would be pretty cool to be able to do the evil fingers. {What's actually typed: "qwelo jwee, ufs gopod isda treery vuit yuiyyj, un tweanouty U du'p yhij utz quijf reardy owd vera nis. bu6 rt woild b pletyt gool yo be swabl tp do teh ebil flindas." Stops typing.} Anyways, I don't wanna be around when this shrimp goes bad. Whooh!

{The Paper comes down. Strong Bad starts playing with the shrimp.}

STRONG BAD: {doing the voice of the shrimp} I'm a shrimp! Doingita-doingita-doingy! Don't eat me, somebody, oh no, I'm a shrimp...

Easter Eggs

• When Strong Bad is talking to Coach Z, click on the handle of one of the lockers to the left to see Strong Sad stuffed into the locker. Once opened, click on the handle of the locker to close it.
• When Homestar is seen with his fake arms, click on the side of the box to see Strong Sad somehow stuffed into it. Click again to close the box.

Fun Facts

Strong Bad's Fingers

• In front of the TV Strong Bad has a prawn, an X-Acto knife, a leg, and a hot sauce bottle on his right glove (which was not there in the previous scene). On his left is an action figure, a leg, a gummi worm, and another shrimp.
• In the locker room, he has a candle, a leg, and a shrimp on his right, and the lit cigar from the Meet Marshie ad replaces the leg on his left.
• When yelling at Homestar, he adds a D-cell battery (also from the Meet Marshie ad) to his left glove. This is the layout he has at the end of the email as well.
• When typing, the battery is missing, and his right glove only has the Xacto knife and leg.

Trivia

• When Strong Mad is head-banging, this is the first time you see a top view of his shoulders. They are at right angles, almost cubic.
• This is the first time the side of the Compy 386 is seen.
• This is the first appearance of the soapbox, which in this instance reads "ELEVEN SOAPS."
• Homestar's right arm (on his right) is made out of dryer tubing and gummy worms, while the left arm is made out of a wiffle ball bat labeled "the whiff" and a foam hand with the text "GO SPORTS!" on it. When Strong Bad's imagination ends and the cloud zooms closed, the foam finger at the end of Homestar's wiffle ball bat becomes a baseball glove.
• Strong Bad's keyboard is wireless.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad imagines what it would by like to have fingers. Or rather a bunch of random stuff taped to his boxing gloves."

Remarks

• During the "previously..." section at the beginning of the toon, Strong Bad's head doesn't move as he reads the emails.
• While the email from Brandon Hicks is on the screen, the contrast buttons are not visible, but they can still be pressed by tabbing to them and pressing "Enter" on the keyboard.
• At the end, you can still click on the contrast buttons through Strong Bad's hand. Pressing Tab helps to locate them.
• The fake fingers change every time a transition scene happens in Strong Bad's imagination.
• Strong Bad says Lee's name when talking about costume palace, even though it's before he reads the name.

Goofs

• When the screen goes back to the Compy after looking at Homestar, the right side of the soapbox disappears, and the foam hand switches to a baseball glove.
• At the end, Strong Bad's hand has no reflection.

Glitches

• The contrast on the Compy reverts to normal during the ripple transition, and also when the "WILL THEY NEVER CEASE?!?!" scene appears.
• The clickable area for the 'back' button at the end of the email extends much farther to the left than the word itself.
• When Strong Bad first starts talking to Bubs, the black frame shifts a pixel to the left.
  • In addition, the contrast dial is still clickable for a few seconds.

Inside References

• The song that Strong Bad and Strong Mad are head-banging to, "Moving Very Slowly," was later made into a Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits song. However, although the music itself has always been in this email, the lyrics weren't added until after the CD came out.
• The golden wiffle bat used as one of Homestar's arms is also the one used in the email your friends.
• Strong Sad's appearances in the Easter eggs are another example of Strong Sad's imagined death.
• The leg taped to Strong Bad's hand is a differently colored version of the legs of all the action figures in action figure.

Real-World References

• The introductory narration and slanted camera angles are a reference to the old 1960s Batman TV series, in which previous episodes were recounted in much the same tone and wording. Slanted camera angles were also very commonly used, giving a "'60s" feel.
• The action figure represents wrestling legend George "The Animal" Steele.

Fast Forward

• The phrase "costume palace" is referred to in The King of Town's character video, when the King says that he didn't "just buy a crown from the Costume Palace."
• Prawns would go on to become an inside joke connected primarily with Stinkoman.
• The narrator would appear again in the email cliffhangers, during the scene with Space Captainface and Strap. He would also appear in the DVD-only email, Accent, as well as 8-Bit Is Enough at the beginning.
• Homestar wears the same fake arms again in magic trick, however they are oppositely placed from this appearance.

DVD Version

• The original version of "Movin' Very Slowly" (as in non-CD version) that Strong Bad and Strong Mad headbang to is included as opposed to the newer one.
• 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: So this email is called "fingers."

MATT: Clearly, this is a reference to one of our most very favorite TV shows of all time.

MIKE: That's true, Friends.

MATT: No, Mike, The Bantam. Bantam 2: The Dark Times.

MIKE: {overlapping} Ohhh, Batman, yes, starring Adam West and...Burt Ward.

MATT: Yeah. They always had those great, like, 10 minute long recaps in the second of, like, the first episode.

MIKE: {overlapping} Yeah, exactly! Like half of the episode was just recapping the previous episode.

MATT: And then they always did this flashing... it'd be like "Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel" and they'd—they'd flash like that.

MIKE: It used to be on TV Land a year or so ago, but it's not on anymore.

MATT: And we'd watch it every day.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: It was great.

MIKE: Yeah, it was great. That needs to come out on DVD.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Adam West, if you're listening, {Matt laughs} you should put those out on DVD.

MATT: I'm sure he is in control of all rights. Okay. {slight pause} Costume Palace, that's a good one.

MIKE: {Overlapping "that's a good one"} Yeah. Uhm, so what else goes on in here? Oh, uhm, "fake fingers, eh Lee?"

MATT: Well there's the George "The Animal" Steele—

MIKE: Yes

MATT: —uhh, what do they call those? Bend 'Em wrestler—I forget, are they just Bend 'Ems?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: I don't remember what they're...

MIKE: Yeah, but he was a posable...had wire running through...

MATT: Yeah. I used him later for a, uhm, a—there you go.

MIKE: There's the song that became "Moving Very Slowly," by Taranchula.

MATT: Yeah. And of course this has the through-line of dead Strong Sad throughout it.

MIKE: You got a shrimp, uh... a candle, a cigar, a gummy worm, a George "Animal" Steele action figure, and a leg of—

MATT: Looks like some He-Man, some He-Man miscellaneous man figure. Some duct tape—ooh, he has a battery that time! Wait, what's the thing that he says? Oh, "ebil flindas," is that what—

MIKE: "Ebil flindas."

MATT: Yeah. Oh, what he's gonna say, yes. This is one of those, uh, occasions where Strong Bad's not done! That's what I was just talking about.

MIKE: Ohhh yeah.

MATT: Kinda mumbles to himself. I love this.

MIKE: {imitating Strong Bad's tone} I'm a shrimp! Oh no, I'm a— {normal voice, quickly} now it's over.

Fun Facts

• Adam West and Burt Ward played Batman and Robin, respectively, in the 1960s Batman TV series.
• Friends is a popular '90s sitcom about a group of six young people living in Manhattan.
• TV Land is a channel spun off from Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite block. It shows reruns of nostalgic television shows.
• The original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toyline contained many muscular men made from the same mold and repainted. This is what Matt is referring to when he says that the action figure leg looks like a "He-Man miscellaneous man figure".

External Links

• watch "fingers"
• watch "fingers" on YouTube
• watch "fingers" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "fingers"
• watch "fingers" with the original version of "Moving Very Slowly"