Pom Pom

Character: Pom Pom	class="wikitable" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px; font-size:x-small; line-height:100%; border-collapse:collapse;"
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This article is about the character. For the Strong Bad Email, see pom pom.

Pom Pom (occasionally written as Pom-Pom) is a large, yellow, balloon-like fellow who is best friends with Homestar Runner. His soft, bubble-like appearance conceals a complex personality: Pom Pom is a martial arts expert, wealthy gadabout businessman, and flirtatious ladies' man.

Characterization

Pom Pom is Homestar Runner's best friend, but he sometimes hangs out with Strong Bad as well. He has such an open mind that he sometimes spends time with unpopular characters such as The King of Town and The Poopsmith. Pom Pom is often seen talking on his cell phone to his many girlfriends, and he keeps track of their contact information in his Pom Pilot. Pom Pom is also "the big cheese" at The Office as shown in from work.

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Pom Pom is confused...

Over the years, Pom Pom seems to have become a bit more pompous, from his irritation at Homestar at being interrupted during a cell phone call, to his ditching the rest of the crew on prom night to attend a much cooler private school prom, his working against Homestar in Strong Badia the Free (on the side of the Municipality), his brushing off of Strong Bad to attend the Sundance screening of his self-written, self-directed, self-produced and self-distributed movie, and his lording over Homestar with his status as "the big cheese" at The Office.

Pom Pom seems to enjoy making movies and working with cameras in general. He has directed at least two movies, including one made completely on his cell phone. His other movie, city (comma) state, performed quite well in theatres, being shown on 10,000 screens. However, he still has time for the little people; he has helped Homestar broadcast his news of building a deck and has created a documentary on Bubs.

Pom Pom appeared to have been killed by Homestar at the end of the 2014 Halloween toon I Killed Pom Pom, although he is seen returning from the dead, apparently having been sewn back together, as a final gag. In the next Halloween toon, The House That Gave Sucky Tricks, Pom Pom returns without explanation, which Homestar notices and thinks is "pretty great".

Fighting Skills

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Kung-Fu skills.

Pom Pom is skilled in the martial arts and appears to enjoy fighting.

The first instance of Pom Pom fighting is inside a dojo from the Theme Song Video where he shows off his moves; this is broadened on later in the email pom pom where he gets a 1-Up by severely pummeling Strong Bad. In the commentary for the same email, The Brothers Chaps discussed wanting to make a side scrolling Pom Pom fighting game. His skills are seen again in personal favorites where he got into a "knife fight" with Coach Z. In Summer Short Shorts, Pom Pom shows off his skills with a bō and disappears with a smoke bomb. In Dangeresque Roomisode 1: Behind the Dangerdesque, he is seen as a take-out technician who kicks an old take-out box of Chinese food to unstick it from Dangeresque's safe.

In Strong Badia the Free, Pom Pom founds the country of Pompomerania, of which he is the shogun. He sets up samurai decorations in Club Technochocolate, including an authentic katana that Strong Bad can steal. In Baddest of the Bands, the katana is back in place, and looking at it causes Strong Bad to claim he donated it, and that Pom Pom definitely didn't take it back by force and wedgies.

Character Design and Conception

See also Pom Pom Evolution

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Pom Pom holds the distinction of starring in "the first bit of homestar related flash stuff" ever made by The Brothers Chaps.

Pom Pom first appeared in The Homestar Runner Enters The Strongest Man in the World Contest, the first entry in the Homestar Runner body of work. Referred to as "Pom-Pom", he wins the titular contest when Homestar drops out to expose Strong Bad's cheating. Craig Zobel, co-writer of the book, created Pom Pom.^{[#endnote_1 [1]]}

Another first was marked by Pom Pom a few years later: the first Flash animation featuring a Homestar character. This animation, simply featuring Pom Pom bouncing across a blank white screen, means that he appeared in Flash before Homestar Runner himself.

Pom Pom talks by making bubbly noises. His "voice" is a recording of Mike Chapman blowing bubbles into a glass of milk.^{[#endnote_2 [2]]} This single sound effect has been reused since his first appearance, without variation or re-recording.

Early sketches indicated that Pom Pom was planned to have a dog named Trivia Time; however, a satisfactory design for the dog was never found, and the concept was abandoned. A cookie jar resembling this dog has made occasional appearances.

Pom Pom appears to be inflated, like a balloon or ball, and similarly moves with a near-weightless bouncing motion. His body consists of a yellow sphere with an orange stripe. His oval head and somewhat-triangular arms and feet are the same color orange. Pom Pom's eyes are black ovals and he has no visible mouth. He can absorb objects into his body for storage, suggesting that he is made of some sort of gelatinous substance.

His driver's license, seen in his character video, lists his height at 6'2" with a weight of four pounds; his sex is listed simply as "Pom". Despite a balloon-like physiology, he has signed up to be an organ donor.

Other Poms

Another Pom Pom-centric element from the very early history of the site is the short Pom Pom, Too. This simplistic toon makes mention of other Poms, all resembling Pom Pom with different colors or patterns, including his parents. The toon is set on the "Isle of Pom", home of all Poms; this was mentioned as Pom Pom's homeland at several later points,^{[#endnote_3 [3]]} though the isle itself and any other Poms have only ever been briefly glimpsed once since this toon.^{[#endnote_4 [4]]}

His parents, also seen in Pom Pom, Too, are the only parents of a main character to have been shown on the site. His father is referred to as a General in both the Yearbook Character Page and in the Strong Bad Email pom pom. Strong Bad later hypothetically envisions them as a file cabinet in Family Resemblence.

Character Video Transcript

See main article: Pom Pom's Character Video

{Pom Pom is talking on his phone.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Here go Pom Pom! {to Pom Pom} What's up, Pom Pom? {Pom Pom gestures to his phone} Oh, sorry. {to camera} Pom Pom is definitely the mack around here. And he's my best friend. He's gotten me out of some pretty tight jams. And some pretty tight pants! But that only happened once. {to Pom Pom} Hey, Pom Pom! Yo—

{Pom Pom looks at him angrily and points to his phone.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, right. I forgot already. He's probably talking to some fine honey on his celly.

{Pom Pom gets out his wallet and shows the camera some pictures of his girlfriends, then tries to put it back in later but a part of it is sticking out, which he shoves it in with more force.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: About to get her phone number. Or maybe he already has it. He gets digits like every single day. {to Pom Pom} Isn't that right, Pom Pom?

{Irritated, Pom Pom snaps his phone shut and bubbles angrily at Homestar.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, sorry again, man. My bad. I wasn't trying to step to you or anything. We're still cool.

{Pom Pom sighs, puts his phone away, shakes his head and bounces away.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Pom Pom and I are still cool.

Fun Facts

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Producers of city (comma) state.

• His street address, 125 Lexington Ave, is a real street in New York city.
• A message from Pom Pom written in the Yearbook Character Page contains his contact numbers: 123-456-7890 (home), 123-555-8307 (cell), 718-555-1059 (pager).
  • 123 is not a real area code.
  • The area code for Pom Pom's pager number, 718, is the area code for the boroughs of New York City other than Manhattan.
  • 555 is commonly used for fictitious telephone numbers.
• Although The Poopsmith and The Cheat also do not regularly speak intelligibly, Pom Pom is the only main character to have never said anything understandable as an English word.
• Pom Pom is the only main character voiced by Mike Chapman; nearly all others are voiced by brother Matt Chapman.
• Pom Pom's ringtone is a clip of DJ Teh Cheat's remix of The Geddup Noise, as heard in technology.
• Pom Pom owns a firearm. He has been shown with a gun in In Search of the Yello Dello, Most in the Graveyard, and Halloween Potion-ma-jig.
• A Pom Pictures production seen in the email independent shows Pom Pom going by the name "J. William Pom Thomas C. Pom" as director.

Relationships

See main article: Character Relationships

• Homestar Runner and Pom Pom's Relationship
• Strong Bad and Pom Pom's Relationship
• Pom Pom and The King of Town's Relationship
• The Poopsmith and Pom Pom's Relationship
• Coach Z and Pom Pom's Relationship

Variations

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"He's a good bear!"

• Fat Dudley (Old-Timey)
• Pan Pan (20X6)
• 2046 Pom Pom (your funeral)
• Professor Experimento (Dangeresque)
• Pom (Xeriouxly Forxe)

Halloween Costumes

• Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (from Ghostbusters) in Homestarloween Party
• Michael Moore in The House That Gave Sucky Treats
• Kool-Aid Man in Pumpkin Carve-nival
• Kamala the Ugandan Giant in 3 Times Halloween Funjob
• The Big Boy (from Bob's Big Boy) in Halloween Fairstival
• Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski in Halloween Potion-ma-jig
• Mario Batali in Happy Hallow-day
• A Cacodemon from Doom in Jibblies 2
• SCUD (from Scud: The Disposable Assassin) in Most in the Graveyard
• Pooka (from Dig Dug) in Doomy Tales of the Macabre
• King-Size Homer (from said The Simpsons episode) in I Killed Pom Pom
• Wilson (from Cast Away) in The House That Gave Sucky Tricks
• The Orange Bird (incorrectly referred to as Sunshine Bird) in Later That Night...
• Violet Beauregarde (from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) in Haunted Photo Booth
• Missy Elliott (just as her inflatable suit, with Coach Z as the head) in Mr. Poofers Must Die
• Burt the Bashful (from Yoshi's Island) in The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods
• The Capital City Goofball (from The Simpsons) in Halloween Hijinks
• The Manhole in Halloween Hide & Seek
• Timer in 2022 Costume Pack Now Available
• Billy Bob Brockali (from ShowBiz Pizza Place) in The Show: Ween Edition

See Also

• Pom Pom Evolution
• Other Costumes
• Nicknames
• Pom Pom's Hypothetical Family
• Pom Pom's Girls
• Poms
• Pom Pictures

Sources

1. [#ref_1 ^]  "Craig Zobel, Film Production", Gothamist, 2004
2. [#ref_2 ^]  "Matt Chapman: Homestarrunner Co–creator", Giant magazine, 2005
3. [#ref_3 ^]  Old Characters Page; Yearbook Character Page; "Homestar Runner Character Comprehensive", Wonkavision issue #21; Pom Pom's Character Video (Easter egg)
4. [#ref_4 ^]  Tim Tom is seen on an island (unnamed, implicitly the Isle of Pom) in Kick-a-Ball.

External Links

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