Homestar Runner

Character: Homestar Runner

watch Homestar Runner's character video ← Homsar Strong Bad →

This article is about the character. For other uses, see Homestar Runner (disambiguation).

Homestar Runner is the star of his namesake website and nominally the main character of the series that bears his name.

A terrific athlete with a heart of gold, the no-armed running man is an earnest character with a pure heart and nothing but love for the rest of mankind. His happy-go-lucky nature is marked by frequently oblivious or clueless behavior — an "unbelievably loose grasp on the world around [him]" (as observed by Strong Bad). He is best friends with Pom Pom and in a relationship with Marzipan, often opposed by the treacherous Strong Bad and The Cheat.

Characterization

Homestar is the star athlete on an unspecified sports team led by Coach Z and keeps it that way via vigorous workouts, as revealed in the Strong Bad Email dullard. He is also the colonel (which is always pronounced phonetically) of the Homestarmy and the supreme overlord of Broternal Order of Different Helmets in Ever and More. His best friend remains Pom Pom. He has some speech impediments (as he says, he has "twouble with [his] aw's"), and appears to have short-term memory problems, as he frequently forgets things he has just done or said (for examples, see the 12th Answering Machine or Homestar Presents: Presents). Homestar has also shown an incredible ability to sleep, which has been known to get him into trouble. The most extreme example of this oversleeping is the toon Weclome Back, where he slept through June, and possibly the better half of May as well. He also tends to "borrow" things from (and return things to) Strong Bad, for example, Strong Bad's fondue pot.

Yes, he does have teeth.

Although he is often the target of pranks by Strong Bad, Homestar believes that he is friends with the "wrestleman" and tries to win his favor, often with bad results that Homestar completely misunderstands. Occasionally, he and Strong Bad will be on pleasant terms, usually participating together in a Strong Bad Email or watching TV at Homestar's house. As a whole, Homestar seems to be too dim to realize when people are being mean to him, or when he's being mean to other people. He often unintentionally insults his friends or steps on their feelings and is unable to understand their resulting feelings of anger. Another quirk of Homestar's is his ability to be easily outsmarted at his own game, but still be completely oblivious and even happy. As Strong Bad put it in secret recipes, "It's like, even when we win, he wins." It should also be noted that Homestar's psychology may account for his sleepwalking behavior, as exhibited in the Strong Bad Email nightlife.

He's not completely stupid; he once correctly stated Coulomb's law, albeit after being asked what two plus two is; and has proven to be remarkably clever in the past, for example being the only character who knows that The Thnikkaman is just Bubs in a cheap costume, though such occurrences are few and far between. He and most of the other residents of Free Country, USA speak English, but as seen in his welcome speech to homestarrunner.com, he is also able to speak Spanish, though it is unknown exactly how much. He frequently uses two-syllable exclamations, like "Hi-Ya!", "Highball!", and "Ahct-poo!". Also, Homestar has the strange habit of flicking his head in the opposite direction while talking, only to flick it right back, almost like a tic. If he is enunciating several syllables in a word, he will usually flick his head of each of the emphasized parts, such as in A Death Defying Decemberween, he says, "No way, dog! No way, Bubs!", his head twitching at both the 'no's.

Homestar has behaved indignantly at various times, often due to discussions of tender subjects, misunderstanding the topic at-hand or his general ignorance of the present situation. While in this state he acts single-mindedly, and in extreme instances violently. This side of his character, not often shown on the website, is often followed by his coming down into an upset and exhausted state, such as in Happy Fireworks, when he refuses to acknowledge Marzipan's absence, or in long pants, when he adamantly rejects the suggestion that he doesn't wear long pants. In email thunder, he claims that on this occasion he had accidentally taken some of Strong Sad's pills.

He enjoys running, breaking into Strong Bad's house, singing, and finding the perfect Decemberween present. He also seems to really like bread, as seen in origins and disconnected. Other favored foods are marshmallows, Bronco Trolleys, melonade, and supposedly Hot Pockets, according to the email dullard. His most prized possession is his propeller-cap and its "buzzer". He might be a fan of the NHL's Boston Bruins, as he is seen wearing a Bruins shirt in Superbowl Dealie.

In the October 2007 special Jibblies 2, he saves his friends by agreeing to stay inside the Jibblies Painting for "eternity".

Business ventures

Homestar frequently dabbles in the entertainment industry. He made several commercials for Fluffy Puff Marshmallows (though later commercials favor the product's mascot Marshie); he was paid for this work with a lifetime supply of "Red Flavored Fluffy Puff Translucent Dessert Related Substance". He is the recurring host of talk/game show "The Show". He stars as Dangeresque Too, and other supporting characters, in the Dangeresque series. In a special guest appearance on an episode of Caleb Rentpayer, Homestar shot Caleb. Homestar has also considered a career in male modeling.

Homestar also has held office jobs, working at the IT help desk or in other unspecified positions.

Musically, Homestar has released songs as a solo musician and in the group PomStar (a duo with Pom Pom). Homestar has also collaborated with They Might Be Giants.

He has taken on a law enforcement role in Strong Bad is in Jail Cartoon and road trip, though this lends him little authority or respect among his peers. In contrast to this, he has been seen as a thief, stealing a half-eaten piece of candy.

Character Design and Conception

See also Homestar Runner evolution

Though Homestar's appearance was dramatically refined over his first few appearances, his character design has largely gone unchanged since 2001.

From a 2003 interview:

MATT CHAPMAN: We figured that his name is 'Homestar Runner', so he didn't need arms. He's a Runner. And since it was a children's book, it seemed kinda Hello Kitty-ish just making him have no arms. It evolved just from trying to be weird, but it turns out that Homestar is actually the easiest one to draw, because he doesn't have arms. A lot of people think we did that on purpose, but we didn't originally plan on animating it.

The name "Homestar Runner" came several years before the character: from an ad-libbed joke by James Huggins, friend of The Brothers Chaps. A local Winn-Dixie commercial in the early '90s featured Atlanta Braves second baseman Mark Lemke, promoting that just as Lemke made "all-star saves" on the field so too could shoppers "save" at Winn-Dixie supermarkets. Huggins would impersonate the announcer but, being unfamiliar with baseball positions, riffed that Lemke was the "Home Star Runner for the Braves".^[1] Joking that the strange term was "the best thing we've ever heard!",^[2] the brothers "filed away" the name as a gag to return to.^[3]

In 1996, with a day off from jobs at the Olympics, Mike Chapman and friend Craig Zobel went to a local bookstore and found themselves looking at children's books. Joking that many of the books were "total crap", the duo decided to make a book of their own.^[4] Reviving the name that Huggins had come up with, the duo created the small black-and-white book The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest that same afternoon, finishing it over a few hours.^[5] Both Chapman and Zobel contributed to the designs of characters introduced in this book. Wanting the storybook to feel distinct from the books they had seen, it was written and drawn to feel as if it were from a different country or language^[6] presented without context to humorously intrigue the reader.^[7] The Homestar Runner was therefore designed without arms (despite the story focusing on lifting and holding objects) and other unconventional physical characteristics. Though originally illustrated without color, his signature red-white-and-blue color scheme was soon established in a Mario Paint animation and when the book was colored digitally the following year. The character would be referred to as "The Homestar Runner" in several early entries, losing the integral article by the time of Marshmallow's Last Stand.

Homestar's voice partially originated from an unrelated voice Matt used for a prank in college. When visiting the less computer-savvy Mike, Matt surreptitiously changed his computer's system sounds to recorded narration of his impression of a little Japanese girl.^[8] Early iterations of Homestar's voice used a similarly cheery tone, but with an additional rhotic accent.^[13]

As indicated by the site's title, Homestar was the presumptive main character; the initial idea was to continue producing toons about athletic competitions that the good-natured Homestar would always eventually triumph in. By the time of A Jumping Jack Contest, the Brothers realized that the characters could be funny in any situation without necessitating the structure of contests;^[9] around this time they also recognized that Strong Bad was becoming more interesting (and popular) than Homestar, leading to his increased prominence over the site's title character.^[10] Homestar remains a prominent figure on the site, with his ironic "underdog" status adding to the brothers' enjoyment when creating his scenes.^[11]

Homestar Runner is primarily colored white, with black comma-shaped eyes and a prominent underbite forming a neutral expression. Usually, he wears a red shirt with a white star and a blue beanie with a red brim and a white spinner. His legs are quite long in relation to the rest of his body. Though he lacks visible arms or hands, he is still able to carry and throw things and even type proficiently.

Eyes

See also Flipped Images

Puppet front

Cartoon front

Homestar's eyes are roughly "6"-shaped — a fact elaborated on in Halloween Safety. Both eyes typically face the same direction, flipped as needed. Homestar is typically drawn standing at a three-quarter view, facing left or right; although he appears symmetrical in such a pose, the way his head is drawn makes it unclear where on his head his eyes are located.

• Homestar is seen from a front angle on brief occasions, almost always in toons from the first year of the website featuring older iterations of his design.^[12] In these renditions, his eyes appear in a normal, centered placement over his mouth. The toon Front Facing, which focused on revealing how he looks from the front, showed his eyes as a mirror image of each other and spaced wider than usual.
  • When Homestar is seen turning around, the animation style gives the appearance of his eyes "moving" to be a consistent position on his head.
• In three-dimensional renditions like puppets or figurines, his eyes are both on one side of his head in a manner similar to a flatfish.
  • The puppet's eyes are detachable, allowing for them to be switched to either side as necessary.
  • In Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Homestar's eyes are typically shown to be off-centered, on the side of his head facing the camera.
• Homestar typically blinks at a regular interval (once every approximately 3.9 seconds), even when the cartoon is paused or has stopped, and in some special cases such as where he appears on a magazine cover (as seen in the email modeling). This is explained by the fact that his eyes are animated as a Flash movie clip, which generally animates continuously.

Clothing

Spin my buzzer!

Hat

Homestar Runner usually wears a blue and red propeller cap, commonly called a beanie. He calls the propeller a "buzzer". In an interview with Wonkavision Magazine, he claimed that he was born with his hat on. He is occasionally seen without it. He had lost his hat in Where My Hat is At? and apparently Marshmallow's Last Stand (according to the DVD commentary) as well. In the email super powers, Strong Bad managed to make the hat pop off of Homestar's head. In the email car, Homestar had his hat "tricked out" with features such as hydraulics and underglow neon. He also claimed that if Strong Bad spun his "buzzer", it would play the theme from Night Court, but it was obvious Homestar hummed it himself. Homestar dressed as himself in Trogdor Con '97, and wore two hats as a result.

Shirt

Middlin'

Homestar's shirt is red (occasionally appearing with a magenta tint) with a large white star on it. Due to his lack of shoulders or arms, its shape is more akin to a skirt than a typical t-shirt; The Brothers Chaps have described it as a "dress/shirt" in DVD commentaries. Homestar's naked torso appears to be the same trapezoidal shape as his shirt, implying it is form-fitting. He wore a gray version of his shirt in impression while doing a bad imitation of Strong Sad.

The star is often portrayed as a removable object rather than a printed pattern. Strong Bad stole the star in Marshmallow's Last Stand and used it to coax Homestar and Pom Pom into wrestling Strong Mad and himself. Despite the brothers' loss to Homestar and Pom Pom, Strong Bad tore up the star, and only by kicking Strong Bad and taking one of the stars floating around his head was Homestar able to return his shirt to its original glory. The only other times Homestar's star has been removed were in different town, in which Strong Bad imagined Homestar angrily tearing the star off his shirt and stamping on it when he "called it quits", and hygiene, when he takes it off and blows his nose in it as John. Clearly, the star is a mark of pride to Homestar Runner. In Hremail 62, Homestar shows off some of his apparently older stars, which he calls "Homestars."

In the original script for flashback, Strong Bad wore a similar shirt until Marzipan gave one to Homestar (to replace his Duckie Shirt). After this point, Strong Bad would have ripped off his shirt, explaining why he never wore one to this day. The Homestar Runner Gets Something Stuck In His Craw offered the alternative explanation that the star shirt somehow became stuck in his craw while he somersaulted around the world fifty times.

Note that the shirt is also straight compared to the eyes on the unfinished toon, Tis True, Pom Pom, Tis True.

A real-life version of the shirt has consistently been available for purchase in the Stores.

Pants and Shoes

See also Homestar Runner's Pants

Sole

It is ambiguous if Homestar is wearing either pants or shoes.

In long pants, Strong Bad claims that Homestar wears no pants and only has blue soles glued to the bottom of his feet; a shocked Homestar disputes this, claiming he wears "long pants". Despite this, he is occasionally seen wearing a pair of pants — such as Daisy Dukes or a Bubs costume — as if his regular appearance is pants-less.

In New Boots, The Cheat animated Homestar's shoes as separate objects. In Hremail 2000, Homestar holds one of his shoes; however, the same hremail shows a close up of his foot with warts and hair, and no clear distinction between shoe and foot. He also has two larger shoe sizes; sizes 18 and Strong Mad.

A Homestar costume is available in Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, consisting of a shirt, white pants, and white shoes with blue soles.

Character Video Transcript

See main article: Homestar Runner's Character Video

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, hello. Greetings, one and everyone. Welcome to me.... Homestar!... Runner!... Homestar Runner. Um... what else? I pretty much run the show around here. I date the only girl, and have the only propeller cap. {propeller cap twirls} And can run, and jump, and kick the fastest, highest and like nobody's business. If I had to pick one word to describe myself, it would probably be... Fluffy Puff Marshmallows. Or Homestar. Either one, really. They both fit.

{Strong Bad sticks his arm into the scene and says one of the following lines, picked randomly}

STRONG BAD: Don't forget "doofus"!

---

STRONG BAD: Don't forget "moron"!

---

STRONG BAD: Don't forget... uh... "Lionel Richie"!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah, that too. That's another good one. In closing, I look good in red. Check it out. {turns around, sings while shaking his rear} Buttdance, buttdaaaaance!

Homestar & Marzipan

See main article: Homestar Runner and Marzipan's Relationship

Homestar's favorite hippie.

Marzipan has been portrayed as Homestar's girlfriend since her earliest appearances. However, this relationship is tenuous at best, marked by frequent breakups and annoyance even when together. In Donut Unto Others, Marzipan comments that they have broken up at least 17 times. As they have always had an open relationship, Marzipan has also gone on dates with The Cheat and Bubs.

Homestar appears to greatly value their relationship, though he frequently displays his typical obliviousness to Marzipan's moods and needs. His frequent (and usually inadvertent) insults or slights are often the causes of breakups. On the rare occasion that he realizes that their relationship is in jeopardy, he will spring into a desperate ploy to patch things up. He also seems to miss and need Marzipan's badgering every once in a while: when she was out of town, he carried around a cardboard cutout version of her and provided a voice for it.

Despite frequent breakups, the fact that their relationship is always patched up again suggests that they really do love each other.

Fun Facts

• Marshmallow's Last Stand gives Homestar and Pom Pom a combined weight of 104 pounds; as Pom Pom's drivers license lists his weight as 4 pounds, this would mean Homestar weighs one hundred pounds.
• Homestar's middle name is "Michael", as demonstrated in Halloween Potion-ma-jig and Flash is Dead!.
  • A gag in the DVD commentary for time capsule alternately suggests "Hal" is either his middle name or Marzipan's pet name for him.
• Matt Chapman stated in a 2005 interview that Homestar was his favorite character on the site, and one of the most fun to voice.^[11]

Relationships

Main article: Character Relationships

• Homestar Runner and Homestar Runner's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Strong Bad's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Pom Pom's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Marzipan's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Coach Z's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and The Cheat's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Bubs's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Strong Sad's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Strong Mad's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and The King of Town's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and The Poopsmith's Relationship
• Homestar Runner and Homsar's Relationship

Variations

• The Homestar Runner (Old-Timey)
• 1-Up (20X6)
• Dangeresque Too (Dangeresque)
• Uzi Bazooka (Dangeresque)
• The King of Town (Decemberween)
• The Homestar Runner (storybook)
• Tofu Homestar
• Atari Homestar
• Vector Homestar
• Bad Graphics Homestar
• Compy 386-emulated Homestar
• Handheld Homestar
• Dating Sim Homestar
• Melee Homestar
• Kid Speedy Homestar
• Freaky Marzipan (Halloween Potion-ma-jig)
• Suave Homestar (Halloween Potion-ma-jig)
• One-eyed Homestar (Halloween Potion-ma-jig)
• Teenage Homestar
• Middle School Homestar (high school)
• Homestarmecium (high school)
• The Castlefunnies Homestar Runner (old comics)
• Cardboard Homestar
• 3D Homestar
• Puppet Homestar
• The Exact Same
• Powered by The Cheat Homestar
• Mario Paint Homestar
• Ornament Homestar
• Egg Homestar
• John (hygiene)
• Shadow Homestar
• H. Star (Xeriouxly Forxe)
• Character 2 (Yonder Website)
• Various Decemberweenvent Calendar Character Variations

Halloween Costumes

• Kurt Cobain in Homestarloween Party
• The Greatest American Hero in The House That Gave Sucky Treats
• Angus Young (of AC/DC) in Pumpkin Carve-nival
• John McEnroe in 3 Times Halloween Funjob
• Carl Spackler (from Caddyshack) in Halloween Fairstival
• Moocher (from Breaking Away) in Halloween Potion-ma-jig
• Teen Wolf in Happy Hallow-day
• Artie, the Strongest Man in the World (from The Adventures of Pete & Pete) in Jibblies 2
• Yahoo Serious(ly) (specifically in Young Einstein) in Most in the Graveyard
• Crispin Glover as Rubin Farr (from Rubin and Ed and more notably an infamous Late Night with David Letterman interview) in Doomy Tales of the Macabre
• The Alien Super-Being (from Christmas on Mars) in Which Ween Costumes
• Tobias Fünke (from Arrested Development) in I Killed Pom Pom
• H.I. McDunnough (from Raising Arizona) in The House That Gave Sucky Tricks
• Mr. B. Natural (from the '50s educational short of Mystery Science Theater 3000 infamy) in Later That Night...
• Power Alley Dale Murphy (from an '80s poster) in Haunted Photo Booth
• Dirk the Daring (from Dragon's Lair) in Mr. Poofers Must Die
• Snufkin (from The Moomins) in The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods
• Bod in Halloween Hijinks
• The Hero (from Hero's Quest, specifically the EGA version) in Halloween Hide & Seek
• The Black Knight (from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) in 2022 Costume Pack Now Available
• Tom Dover (from The Dover Boys at Pimento University) in The Show: Ween Edition
• The Impressive Clergyman (from The Princess Bride) in A Prickly Scary Short

Sources

1. ^  Mentioned several times: UMFM, Club Aquatica, Flashforward, 20th Anniversary Show
2. ^  UMFM Interview - 20 May 2003
3. ^  "How and Why Homestar Runner Cartoons Get Made", FlashForward 2006
4. ^  "Craig Zobel, Film Production", Gothamist, 4 Jun 2004
5. ^  "An Oral History of Homestar Runner, the Internet’s Favorite Cartoon", Gizmodo, 24 January 2017
6. ^  "Strong Bad’s the Brothers Chaps", Adventure Gamers, 12 Dec 2008
7. ^  "Tooned In", Orlando Sentinel, 22 Jul 2003
8. ^  Pulse Extras: The Brothers Chaps and Homestar Runner, 1 Aug 2003
9. ^  "Legion Interviews Mike Chapman of Homestarrunner.com" Legion Studios, 2002
10. ^  "The Creators of Homestar Runner, The Brothers Chapman", Michael Cole, ResExcellence, 30 Jan 2003
11. ^  "Matt Chapman: Homestarrunner Co–creator", Ben Goldstein, Giant Magazine, Apr/May 2005
12. ^  Homestar faces front in Theme Song Video, Marshmallow's Last Stand, In Search of the Yello Dello Old Version, the Homestar Screensaver, and Hremail 7; he spins around in Old Intro 2; objects designed to resemble Homestar are shown from the front in action figure, Eggs, and Costume Commercial.
13. ^  "A Date with Homestar Runner", New York University, 1 March 2005.

See Also

• Homestar Runner Evolution
• Other Costumes
• Nicknames
• Homestar Runner's Pants
• Homestar Runner's Daisy Dukes
• Homestar Runner Left Behind
• Homestar Runner Peeking
• Buttdance
• Prancing
• Seriously
• Spin My Buzzer
• Witch's Brew
• Homestar Runner's Fashion Sense
• Naked Homestar Runner
• Homestar Runner's Sleepwear
• Homestar Runner Without his Speech Impediment
• Homestar's Faces

External Links

• watch Homestar Runner's character video
• watch Homestar Runner's character video on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for Homestar Runner's character video