credit card

Strong Bad Email #12

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Homestar contributes to the Lots of Awesome Stuff for Strong Bad Fund

This article is about the Strong Bad Email. For the running gag, see Credit Cards.

Strong Bad gets a phishing email trying to trick him into giving out his credit card information, but he knows just what to do with it.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Homestar Runner (voice over)

Places: Computer Room

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Monday, February 4, 2002

Running Time: 1:18

Page Title: Tandy 400!!!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One

SBEmail Menu Description: Strong Bad traps Homestar in a classic credit card scam.

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Initiate email check in five, four, three, two, one.

Dear Mr. Bad

We regret to inform you that your credit card
has expired. To keep your account, we will need
you to send your old credit card number and
expiration date, as well as a new one so we can
make the change. We promise we are real and
not just trying to steal your money.

John, and some other people
who aren't scam artists

STRONG BAD: Whoa, this sounds pretty serious. I know just what to do. {brings the cursor up to the first line} Just a little of this...

{He deletes "Mr. Bad," and inserts "Homestar Runner," then brings the cursor down to the bottom row.}

STRONG BAD: Ooh, maybe a dash of that...

{He deletes the signature and inserts "Superfied Credit Union". He then types "forward message", which clears the screen. Fade to black. The text "5 minutes later" is typed in, then after a pause, backspaced out. Fade back in.}

STRONG BAD: Okay, let's see what we got here...

{Strong Bad begins reading, and almost immediately, the audio fades from Strong Bad's voice into a voice-over by Homestar.}

Dear Superfied Credit Union,
You've got the same e-mail address as my
friend Strong Bad! Anyway, here's my
credit card information:

5675 116 116 1352

Exp. 13/02

{The number and date are not read aloud.}

STRONG BAD: {laughing} That was too easy, man. Well, it looks like Homestar is about to make a little contribution to the Lots of Awesome Stuff for Strong Bad Fund.

{He types in "run 'internet'" and goes to "the_coolest_stuff_ever.com." He clicks on the "purchase" button for "spaceship".}

STRONG BAD: Gimme one of these... {clicks on "Spaceship"} A couple of these... {clicks "killer robot" twice} Oh, everybody needs one of these... {clicks "rocket launcher"} Oh, this thing, I gotta have that... {clicks "robotic dog/shark"}

{The Paper comes down.}

Fun Facts

Cost of "Coolest Stuff Ever"

the_coolest_stuff_ever.com

spaceship.....................$3,000,000,000 purchase
rocket launcher...................$1,000,000 purchase
killer robot......................$6,000,000 purchase
200 bean burritos.......................$300 purchase
robotic dog/shark...................$500,000 purchase
assorted awesome things..............$30,000 purchase
golden limousine....................$900,000 purchase
two-headed cobra.....(seasonal) market price purchase
bag of money................assorted amounts purchase

Note that the prices for assorted awesome things, golden limousine, two-headed cobra and bag of money were not listed in the original SWF file for this Strong Bad Email. (Decompiling the original file and moving Strong Bad's head shows that they were not there.) The hidden prices were later added by the Brothers Chaps as a nod to the fan site http://www.the-coolest-stuff-ever.com (mirror) - where these prices were first posted (although there is a typo in the cost of the golden limousine).

Trivia

• This is the first email where Strong Bad moves the text cursor to edit the email that was sent to him.
• This is the first piece of evidence to suggest that Homestar has a computer, as he responded to Strong Bad's email.
• This is the first time that Strong Bad checks multiple emails.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad traps Homestar in a classic credit card scam."

Remarks

• Homestar's credit card number doesn't correspond to any major credit card prefix; nevertheless, it is at least possible for it to be a valid card number because it passes the Luhn algorithm.
• This email shows Strong Bad moving a cursor on the Tandy 400, which doesn't have a visible mouse. It is also worth noting that old DOS computers like the Tandy 400 are unable to show a smoothly-moving arrow pointer, as they are text-driven and mouse cursors in text-based programs are rectangles that jump from one text character's space to the next.
• Strong Bad is heard hitting backspace on his keyboard only a few times to delete two whole lines of text.
• Even though Strong Bad only typed "forward message" (i.e. he did not define a recipient email address), the email still made its way to Homestar's inbox.
• There was a website, www.the-coolest-stuff-ever.com, based on this email. (It was taken down for a while, but was put back up "under new management". It is now a parked domain.)
• The page old.homestarrunner.com/coolest.html contains a graphic with a robot and the words "The Coolest Stuff Ever". The page title is "The_Coolest_Stuff_Ever.COM".
• The total cost, minus shipping and handling if any, of Strong Bad's on-screen purchases is $3,013,500,000 USD, far beyond the credit limit of all known major credit cards.

Goofs

• The Tandy is missing the highlight on the top left hand corner after the words "5 minutes later" appear.
• As Strong Bad clicks to purchase a robotic dog/shark, a dog can be heard barking in the background.

Inside References

• The first four numbers in Homestar's credit card number match Lem Sportsinterviews's PIN, used to access the pack of Homsar quotes from "Downloads".
• Coolest Stuff Ever references spaceships, guns, beans, dogs, sharks, awesome, gold, cars, and snakes.

External Links

• watch "credit card"
• watch "credit card" on YouTube
• watch "credit card" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "credit card"
• Visit an archived version of the original the-coolest-stuff-ever.com, last updated around caper.