Trogdor Was A Man

Toon Category: Shorts

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Old Toon Category: Powered by The Cheat

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"It was a terrible song of Trogdor."

A Powered by The Cheat video for a song from a '70s commercial for a board game.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Trogdor, Peasants, The Red and Blue Knights, Strong Sad, The Cheat, The Dancing Brothers

Places: The Cheat's Computer Room, Peasantry

Date: Thursday, September 13, 2018

Running Time: 2:17

Page Title: Trogdor Musk - For Dragon Men

Transcript

{Open to a close-up of a person's red shirt, against a background fading from red to yellow. The shirt reads "WHEN THE Seventies", with "Seventies" written in a Coca-Cola-resembling font.}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: When the seventies, there was—

{The shirt morphs into a Trogdor!! The Board Game box against a black background. It reads "TRAGDAR". Trogdor is smiling and making the "OK" sign with his hand, with armpit hair and a wristband. The side of the box reads "CONTAINS: CONTENTS".}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: —a commercial for a board game.

{The board game box shakes and bursts open, with Trogdor, the Red and Blue Knights, two peasants, five tiles, a cottage base, and a burninated cottage roof flying out. The cottage roof stays in place for a moment, then moves with the rest a few seconds later.}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: It was a terrible song—

{A vinyl record rotates as it comes into view. The top has a logo for "Terrible SONGS RECORDS". At the bottom, it reads "-TROGDOR WAS A MAN-", and below it, "THE POW-UH SURGE". The side reads "SIDE A".}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: —of Trogdor. They made seven inches—

{Zoom out into Powered by The Cheat Strong Sad holding the record, against a blurry photographic house background. He closes his eyes and shakes his head, throwing the record over his shoulder.}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: —but even Strong Sad thought it was not ver—

{Cut to Strong Bad's head bouncing exaggeratedly on The Cheat's computer against a rainbow background. The Cheat is silhouetted in front of the computer, and the desk is brown instead of blue. The record flies into a CD slot on the side of the computer.}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: So The Cheat made a video. {turns toward the camera and stops bouncing} Does this {snickering} sound like Strong Bad at all?

{Cut to a silhouetted plug that reads "The Pow-uh Surge" against an electric green background. White text appears at the bottom:}

The Pow-uh Surge
"Trogdor was a man"
Terrible Songs Records
Dir:The Cheat

{Cut to a zooming shot of Peasantry}

SINGERS: Trogdor was a man.
Trogdor was a dragon man.

Trogdor was a man.
Trogdor was a dragon man.

And he was burninating, burninating, burninating the countryside!

Trogdor was a man. (S, more different S)
Trogdor was a dragon man. (S, more different S)

(S, more different S)
(Whispering things in the '70s)

And he was burninating, burninating, burninating the countryside!

Trogdor was a man. (Get consummate, get consummate)
Trogdor was a dragon man. (Get consummate, get consummate)

Get consummate, get consummate
Consummate V's

Maybe he was just a dragon.
Maybe he was just a dragon.
Maybe he was just a dragon.
Well, he was still Trogdor.

And the Trogdor comes in the NIGHT!

{Cut to The Cheat and Strong Bad at The Cheat's computer desk}

STRONG SAD: {turns toward The Cheat} I don't know, The Cheat. There are a lot of inaccuracies present.

THE CHEAT: {turns toward Strong Sad; The Cheat noises}

STRONG SAD: Well, for starters, Trogdor wasn't even around when the '70s. Strong Bad made him in the early 2000s. {emphasizes the "a" in "thousand"}

THE CHEAT: {lowers his eyebrows and turns back to his computer; The Cheat noises}

STRONG SAD: And what was going on with your depiction of me?

{The Cheat clicks and brings up the picture of Powered by The Cheat Strong Sad}

STRONG SAD: I have that creepy bony spine...

{The Cheat clicks every time before Powered by The Cheat Strong Sad speaks}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG SAD: The Lusitania is my favorite boat.

STRONG SAD: No way! Everybody knows I'm a Mauretania man.

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

{Zoom in to the screen}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG SAD: My boat is not your boat!

STRONG SAD: Ugh, stop that!

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG SAD: This is gonna all be about boats now. {smiles with his tongue sticking out}

{Cut back to The Cheat and Strong Sad}

STRONG SAD: Oh, that's a terrible idea!

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG SAD: My boat take—

STRONG SAD: {interrupts} That's it! I'm going to the chiropractor! {walks away} Got me all self-conscious!

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG SAD: Don't you like boats?

{Zoom in to Powered by The Cheat Strong Sad's back. Three of the bone bumps wiggle and morph into the letters "end".}

Fun Facts

Trivia

"Well, this is a new computer."

• The Monosodium Dreams has been replaced by a newer computer parodying the newer Intel-based iMacs.
• This is the first Powered by The Cheat toon since Fish Eye Lens in October 2014, an almost-four-year gap.
• There is a photograph of a record store hidden in the Flash file. It was the first Google image result for "record store" as of the release of the short.
• This is the first time that Trogdor has been seen flying.
• "When the Seventies" is an example of deliberately poor English.

Remarks

• Prior to the retirement of Flash, this toon was not shown on the TV Time Toons Menu. The Flash version was only linked to from the Main Page messages at the time of its release, and later became a secret page.
• Strong Sad does not have a mouth in The Cheat's video, but he does in the animations at the end.
• "Dragon man" Trogdor lacks his usual wings.

Inside References

• This song is meant to be a '70s disco version of the Trogdor song, which originated in the Strong Bad Email dragon.
  • "S, more different S" and "consummate V's" are referenced, both of which are drawing techniques used by Strong Bad in dragon.
  • "Get consummate" is part of a line from Strong Bad's rock opera.
• This toon prominently features basketball and butt-dancing.
• The board game mentioned is Trogdor!! The Board Game.
  • The "Tragdar" on the box is a reference to Videlectrix One's pronunciation in the Trogdor!! The Board Game promotional video.
  • The song's background rhythm was heard in the promotional video, and later in a @StrongBadActual Tweet.
• The game box has the nondescript label "Contains: Contents".
• "The Pow-uh Surge" was previously discussed in the DVD commentary for road trip as being the musicians behind the Dancing Brothers' song, as well as "Jammin' Tunes".
• The Dancing Brothers previously appeared in A Folky Tale.
• Powered by The Cheat Strong Sad says "My boat take" and is subsequently interrupted. The same occurs twice with Strong Bad in environment.
• Strong Sad says "2000" the same way he said it in suntan.

Real-World References

• In the background of the Strong Sad scene at the beginning, there is a Lego set of Yellow Submarine on the top of a shelf. This is most visible when viewing with an older form of Ruffle that doesn't support the blur function used to blur out the background.
• The scenes featuring two silhouetted Trogdor heads is a reference to a recurring segment of The Electric Company, a children's show that aired on PBS in the 1970s, in which two people would say part of a word to each other, with the letters coming out of their mouth in a similar fashion.
• The Lusitania was a British ocean liner and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. The ship, first launched in 1906, was famously sunk on May 7, 1915 by a German U-boat which was a major factor in the US joining World War I.
  • The Mauretania was the running mate of the Lusitania, also launched in 1906.
• The disco rendition of the song seems to be inspired by the 1970s trend of novelty disco singles based on well-known songs and properties, such as Meco's rendition of the Star Wars title theme.

YouTube Version

• The toon is titled "Trogdor Was Dragon Man".
  • This toon was unnamed on homestarrunner.com prior to the Post-Flash Site Update.
• The description for this video is "A Powered by The Cheat video for a song from a 70's commercial for a board game."

See Also

• The visuals that occur during the music video.

External Links

• watch "Trogdor Was A Man"
• watch "Trogdor Was A Man" on YouTube
• watch "Trogdor Was A Man" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "Trogdor Was A Man"
• forum thread re: "Trogdor Was A Man"