Cheat Commandos

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"Cheat Commandos, maybe fighting for freedom, and each is sold separately."

This article is about the franchise. For the short, see Cheat Commandos (toon).

Cheat Commandos is a media franchise within the Homestar Runner universe. Inspired by The Cheat's Firebert persona in the Strong Bad Email army, every known character in the Cheat Commandos universe (except for Ser-g-geant Marshie and Mrs. Commanderson) is a The Cheat. Originally introduced as a toy line manufactured by Cheap as Free Toys (all figures costing $11.01 and for ages 3-5), it was quickly spun off into its own TV series, Cheat Commandos Adventures.

Mostly written by A. Chimendez, the series features the titular elite fighting force and their civilian contractor Reynold, sworn to protect the world from (or in rare instances like celebrating Thanksgiving, call a truce with) the evil forces of Blue Laser. The Cheat Commandos' slogan is "Rock Rock On!" (although at one point Gunhaver declared that it would be "Riggidy Roll" from now on).

As a parody of commercialized 1980s animated shows (particularly G.I. Joe), each episode exists to promote the action figures and breakfast cereals, and ends with the jingle "Buy all our playsets and toys!!". Even the show's theme song seems more committed to selling the figures than conveying the plot, describing the commandos' actions in vague and noncommittal terms. The characters break the fourth wall by describing settings as "playsets" and advertising their own merchandise. The parody also extends to the inclusion of teaching aids and public service announcements, an exaggerated patriotic attitude, and occasionally lazy animation.

Members

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"Collect them all!"

• Gunhaver — The squad leader, has a gun
• Flashfight — Has three medals and five buttons
• Fightgar — Needs to shave
• Silent Rip — Snuck up on me
• Crackotage — That guy that flies that plane
• Reinforcements — The one that Coach Z bought
• Firebert — Not a good commando name
• Ripberger — Not wearing pajamas
• Foxface — Not one of the guys
• Reynold — Civilian contractor
• Agent Chimendez — Expanded universe character
• "Like fifty" Green Helmets

Possibly

• Ser-g-geant Marshie — A marshmallow, not a cottonball
• Mrs. Commanderson — Some kind of bird-reptile
• Gunhavette — Takes no guff

Others

• Oliver Smidgen — Raised by a distant relative
• Reynold's Brother — Doesn't care about much
• Gunk Iller — He be illin'!
• Dryghost, Fudgeclank, Subtlefuge, and Swampslash — the Topplegangers, mercenaries of uncertain loyalties

Toons

• Cheat Commandos
• Cheat Commandos...O's aka Time to break...fast!
• Shopping For Danger
• Commandos in the Classroom aka Movie Night!
• Blue Laserdisc Challenge (Everything Else, Volume 2 exclusive)
• Let us give TANKS!
• An Important Rap Song
• The Next Epi-Snowed aka Just Chill... Til The Next Epi-Snowed!
• Cheat Commandos: Two Part Episode: Part 1
• Cheat Commandos: Two Part Episode: Part 2

Other Appearances

• Teen Girl Squad Issue 7 (Easter egg)
• Email virus (Easter egg)
• Toikey TV
• Pistols for Pandas (Easter egg)
• Dangeresque Puppet Squad: The Hot Jones Hijack
• Mr. Poofers Must Die (fake thumbnail; aka The Cheat Commandos Arbor Day Special)
• Decemberweenvent Calendar (Day 12)

Fun Facts

• In the Cheat Commandos logo, the word "Cheat" is colored like The Cheat, and the word "Commandos" has the same colors as the flag of Strong Badia.
• In the TV show, Gunhaver is voiced by Crack Stuntman, and Firebert is presumably voiced by The Cheat. Other voice actors include the guy who does the bad guy's voice (as the Blue Laser Commander), Crack Stuntman's girlfriend (as the New Bad Guy Girl Character) and A. Chimendez (as Agent Chimendez).
  • In the DVD commentary for An Important Rap Song, Fightgar mentions that his voice actor is "Reynolda Crake", but Mike Chapman accuses him of just making that up.
• All known episodes are written by A. Chimendez, with the exception of Movie Night!, which was written by A. Chimendez Jr.
• In all of the Cheat Commandos toons, the Cheat Commandos have spots resembling the shape of the Disney's Mickey Mouse logo (called a hidden Mickey) at the bottom of their body.
• Cheat Commandos toys were briefly seen in the Strong Bad Emails garage sale and concert.
• Cheat Commandos toys can be purchased from the Store.
  • In addition, cardboard cutouts of the playsets are available for download.
• After Hasbro uploaded the entire original G.I. Joe cartoon onto YouTube in 2020, all of the Cheat Commandos cartoons were uploaded to the homestarrunnerdotcom YouTube channel.
• "Rock Rock On" is a line Q-Tip says to give shout-outs at the end of the Tribe Called Quest song "The Chase, Pt. 2" on their album Midnight Marauders.