action figure

Strong Bad Email #42

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Smells like peanut action!

Kyle Rechsteiner asks Strong Bad what he would look like as an action figure.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Peanut Strong Bad

Places: Computer Room

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, September 16, 2002

Running Time: 1:45

Page Title: COMPY 386

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One, Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD

SBEmail Menu Description: Strong Bad details the features of his own action figure.

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Doo doo do doo, doo duh doo doo!

{reading}

Hey Strong Bad,

If someone made a Strong Bad
action figure, what kind of
awesome stuff would it be able
to do?

Kyle Rechsteiner
San Mateo, CA

{Strong Bad says "Camateos, Scamateos" instead of "San Mateo, CA".}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Oh man, Kyle. My action figure would have it all. First of all:

{Cut to a screen where Strong Bad's action figure appears as he details it, while the music Strong Bad was humming at the beginning of the email plays.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} It'd look exactly like me...

{The action figure pops into view. The figure has very large muscles, is quite tall, and has a head resembling Strong Bad's that is considerably smaller in proportion to the body than Strong Bad's actual head is. As Strong Bad continues describing the figure, the camera zooms in and pans across its chest, then over its head, before returning to the first shot.}

STRONG BAD: ...you know, in terms of his physique, and the relative size of his head to his body, it'd be exactly the same. {a croissant appears in the figure's hand and folds out into a star shape} And of course I'd come armed to the teeth with my Chinese throwing croissant! {says "croissant" with a heavy French accent} Then, I'd be able to shoot sparks from my mouth, you know like {the screen darkens and sparks come out of the action figure's mouth while Strong Bad makes a grinding noise} ...it'd make a noise like that. And when you push down on my head, there'd be {the action figure's head is pushed down, and the fists go up} BOOFFF! Double Deuce action! {the action figure's fists go up and down several times} And then of course, you could take the head off, too, {the action figure's head pops off} and there'd be a hole where you could pour like, motor oil, {black liquid pours into the action figure} or grapefruit juice, {whitish-green liquid pours in} or whatever kinda junk you wanna put in there. {the action figure's head comes back on} And then, turn out the lights... {the screen darkens and the action figure's muscles glow} ...Glow-in-the-dark abs, man! Oh! Oh! And get it wet {the action figure is dunked in a glass of water} and you get SEVERE KNIFE FIGHT DAMAGE {scars appear on the action figure} like magic appears! But that's not all! {the action figure's left leg falls off} UH-OH! Battle damage! And finally, switch to the dispenser fist {the action figure lifts its fist, which has a hole in the front} to ooze radioactive goo! {green slime oozes out of the dispenser fist}

{Cut back to the Compy 386}

STRONG BAD: {typing} I think those things would sell like hotcakes, man. Ooh! Especially if they smelled like hotcakes! Anyways, I tried to make one of my own one time and it didn't turn out as good as my imagination.

{Strong Bad holds up a peanut with pipe cleaners for arms and a painted face with cheap plastic googly eyes}

STRONG BAD: Basically all it has is...smells-like-peanut action. I'm lookin' for some licensees. {starts playing with the action figure} Doo doo doooo! Hey Homestar, get away from here! Holy crap!

{The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

Museum Quality

• At the end click on the Peanut Strong Bad to see the package of the cool Strong Bad action figure. Keep clicking to see some more characters as action figures. All the toys are made by Cheap as Free Toys, are for ages 3–5, and cost $11.01. The characters and package blurbs are:
  • Strong Bad
    • Exciting Action Man!
    • Chinese Throwing Croissant!
    • Severe Double Deuce Action!
    • Smells Like Hotcakes!
  • Coach Z
    • Green Colored Hero!
    • High-Pitched Super Sonic Whistle!
    • Butt-Patting Action
  • Strong Mad
    • Action Toy!
    • He's The Biggest One!
    • Friends With The Cheat!
  • Pom Pom
    • Action Fighting Guy!
    • Secret Cell Phone!
    • The Ladies Choice!
  • Strong Sad
    • Action-Like Figurine!
    • Atomic Calligraphy Pen!
    • Extreme Whining And Crying!
  • Homestar
    • Super Action Doll
    • Spiked Battle Marshmallows
    • No Arms! Like Real Life!
  • Peanut Strong Bad
    • Homemade Peanut Warrior
    • Museum Quality
    • Smells Like Peanut Action!

Fun Facts

Trivia

• All of the toys are priced at $11.01. This is a reference to Matt Chapman's November 1st (11/01) birthdate.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad details the features of his own action figure."

Remarks

• At the beginning, Strong Bad is humming the same tune that is in the background when it shows the action figures.
• Strong Mad's action figure doesn't have the 'M' logo on its chest.
• Strong Bad's action figure's eyes are the old style.
• The "smells like hotcakes" sticker has poorly spaced text; notably, the "M" is partially transposed over the "E". This is perhaps due to a missing font when the Flash file was created.

Goofs

• At the end, the Compy's contrast can still be adjusted through Strong Bad's glove.
• In Strong Mad's action figure, part of his abs overlap his teeth.

Inside References

• The "Chinese Throwing Croissant" is likely a reference to the end of 3 wishes, when Strong Bad starts to ramble on about how the horns in his drawing look like croissants and how he'd really like a couple of them. He even pronounces the word "croissants" with a heavy French accent here, which he also did in 3 wishes.
• The action figure's "Double Deuce" action first appeared in the bird.

Real-World References

• All of the action figures are modeled strongly after the line of toys based on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. In particular, they all have:
  • Identical bodies from the same toy mold with a different head and paint job for different characters (except Strong Mad, who is bigger and has no neck, Strong Bad, who has boxing gloves instead of hands, and Homestar, who has no arms)
  • Exaggerated muscles
  • Limited poses and movement (except for rotating limbs)
  • The "Battle Damage" could also refer to the design of the He-Man action figures. The legs were held onto the body by a rubber band through the pelvis. This rubber band was prone to breaking, causing the legs to fall off. Also, one of the He-Man figures released had a chest plate with a spring-loaded part that would rotate when struck, so that it looked like it was dented.
• The sparking mouth was actually used in some '80s toys, such as The Real Ghostbusters Pull Speed Ahead ghost.
• Most modern action figures and related toys refer to "battle damage" as a special version of a character or vehicle modeled to look as if it were in a recent and brutal fight. However, it's more likely that Strong Bad's action figure battle damage concept is referring to the Battletech line of 'action figure vehicles' by Tyco. These figures had 'blast panels' that, when struck, would cause parts of the toy to fly off (commercials would showcase the toy's "one weakness--'battle damage!'"). In fact, the Clan Hunchback IIC had a battle damage effect exactly like Strong Bad's concept (the figure's left leg falling off). Battle damage was also used for some Gundam figures.
• The Chinese Throwing Croissants may be a reference to some old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures which came with a pizza that compressed down then rotated to turn it into a 4 pronged pizza shuriken. A similar weapon was given to their rat sensei, Splinter, which was a wedge of cheese that unfolded into a knife.

Fast Forward

• The tune that plays throughout the email, Smells Like Peanut Action, returns multiple times.
• The peanut Strong Bad action figure appears again in 2 emails and diorama.
• The Strong Bad and Strong Sad action figures appear again in rock opera.

DVD Version

• To access the Easter egg action figures, click on the invisible Strong Bad icon at the right hand side of the Compy computer screen.

• The Easter egg has the same sound quality as most cartoons on the website.

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching. This commentary is only available on the Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Matt Chapman, Mike Chapman)

MATT: {in a smooth n' smarmy public radio voice} Welcome to DVD Time with Mike and Matt.

MIKE: {in a similar voice} Oh, yes. I will talk in a voice such as this as well.

MATT: {continuing the NPR voice} Oh. Maybe we should... go ahead and stop it now.

MIKE: {also continuing} I'm gonna keep going...

MATT: {underneath, in his normal voice} All right.

MIKE: ...you can stop if you'd like.

MATT: Okay.

MIKE: All right, so, this email, Matt...

MATT: Strong Bad was singing the song from the commercial for his action figure later as his sbemail, Mike!

MIKE: {back to his normal voice} It's true! And you know what, I think? Uh, Rechsteiner was— is the Steiner Brothers' real last name. The wrestlers?

MATT: {overlapping} Really?

MIKE: I think so.

MATT: That's appropriate— Strong Bad is a {pronounced with a hard 't'} wrestler!

MIKE: {laughs} He's a wrestleman!

MATT: Yeah!

{The Chinese throwing croissant is revealed.}

MATT: Remember the... {Mike chuckles} two brief emails of Strong Bad liking croissants?

MIKE: {yawning} Uh-huh. We should bring that back.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Next Strong Bad appearance.

MATT: {the action figure has just finished its mouth-sparking} Did my, uh... did that "Big Rex", that Gah—Godzilla-type toy you got me, did he also make sparks? In addition to smoking?

MIKE: Yeah, you put cooking oil in his mouth and he — or, in his head... and he smoked.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: I think he did spark, too. And did he walk?

MATT: Uhh... yeah! He walked. He was a multi-faceted...

MIKE: He was a good—

MATT: {overlapping} ...Rex.

MIKE: —that was a good... Christmas present I got you. {laughs} When you were, like, 20, {laughs} and I was like 25.

MATT: Yeah. It was a good—

MIKE: {overlapping} I dunno how I was five years older than you at that point {Matt laughs} when I'm only three years older than you.

{they both laugh}

MATT: Well, you know...

MIKE: {overlapping} {unintelligible}

MATT: we weren't as close back then...{Mike laughs} in more ways than one.

MIKE: I was more mature.

MATT: Yeah. {short pause} {referring to the action figure's "radioactive ooze"} Uh...we still use that "goo-ooze" sound effect...

MIKE: {overlapping} There were some bad hiss, yeah...!

MATT: ...we've gotten rid of a lot of the noise, yeah.

MIKE: ...I just heard it.

MATT: Uh, we had a plan, at one point, to give away little Smells-Like-Peanut-Action Strong Bads with, uh... T-shirt purchases.

MIKE: {overlapping} Yeah, we were gonna make a kit, right?

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Like, give 'em a peanut, and a little pipe cleaner and googly eyes?

MATT: And then we would've— somebody would've had an allergic reaction and... had some— gone into anaphylactic shock. {Mike chuckles} So it's prolly good that we didn't do that.

MIKE: {underneath} Yeah.

MATT: {Mike stifles laughter throughout} Hey kids, here's peanuts, unsolicited, to you. {Mike laughs aloud}

Fun Facts

• Tag-team wrestlers the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) debuted in 1989 and are considered to be among the best tag teams in pro wrestling history. As Mike states, their real last name is indeed Rechsteiner.
• Matt's Big Rex was a Godzilla-inspired toy released by New Bright Toys in 1987.
  • Because Matt was given a Big Rex in the mid-90s, it was likely the 1992 re-release of the toy.
  • Though Big Rex could walk and emit smoke from its mouth, it did not make sparks. The brothers may have been thinking of the toy's electronic flashing eyes.
• Anaphylactic shock is a serious, potentially fatal allergic reaction that can lead to death in minutes or hours if not immediately treated.

External Links

• watch "action figure"
• watch "action figure" on YouTube
• watch "action figure" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "action figure"