imaginary

Strong Bad Email #202

watch ← hremail 3184 independent →

"That'll teach you to stand and blink!"

Strong Bad recounts the time when Strong Sad used to have an annoying imaginary friend when he was younger.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Sad, Lil' Strong Sad, Lil' Strong Bad, Scotty Titi, The King of Town, Rubby Plop-Plop, Homestar Runner, Sir Zabblepants, Bubs, Dingy Donger, Coach Z, Real Live Actual Mr. Blangcaster Next Door, Teen Strong Mad, Frishy Freshy Dragonman, Pumpy Clumpy (Easter egg)

Places: Basement of the Brothers Strong, A room in the House of the Brothers Strong, The King of Town's Castle, The Stick, Bubs' Concession Stand, Coach Z's Locker Room, Strong Mad's Room

Computer: Corpy NT6

Date: Monday, July 13, 2009

Running Time: 4:08

Page Title: Corpy NT6!

Transcript

{A view of Strong Bad from behind, sitting in his basement typing at the Corpy on a folding table}

STRONG BAD: {singing} Checking emails at home from your worrrrk computer, {the view shifts to a closeup of the screen} is kinda like playing first person shooters with your girlfriend. It kinda ruins them booooth.

Dear Strong Bad,
my brother had a friend over today and he drove
me crazy!! What should I do about it?

Crudfully, Henry Wisner  WI

{Strong Bad reads "Dear Strong Bad" as "Dear. Streer. Beer." He reads the closing as a question, as though he's not believing what he's reading.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Crudfully? Really? What, was your mom sitting over your shoulder when you typed this email? And is your mom the kind of lady that won't let you type the word 'crap'? Don't get me wrong, I still woulda made fun of you if you had typed 'crapfully', I prolly would have just left your moms out of it. {clear screen} So, your bro's fro drove you cro? I don't really have that problem. On account of my brothers are galactically incapable of friend-have. Although when we were kids, Strong Sad had this imaginary friend that annoyed the crud outta me. Of course, this was back before insane parents made imaginary friends illegal for kids to have. Strong Sad invented him one time when we {cut to a view of an attic hatch. The hatch is being knocked at from inside} locked him in the attic.

STRONG SAD: {offscreen} You know we don't have an attic!

STRONG BAD: Okay, when we stuffed him in the air vent.

{The attic hatch transforms into an air vent. Strong Sad's fingers appear through a gap. His index finger wiggles.}

STRONG SAD: You know we don't have an a—

STRONG BAD: {interrupting} Oh, fine! When we taped him to the ceiling.

{The air vent transforms into Lil' Strong Sad, in a purple shirt with a bandage over his belly button, stuck to the ceiling with pink tape. Pan down to Lil' Strong Bad}

LIL' STRONG BAD: That'll teach you to stand and blink. Now stay up there until that Bubble Tape gives out and you fall into my open faced booby trap!

{Pan down again to reveal a piece of bread on a blue plate with two pickle slices}

LIL' STRONG BAD: {quickly} We were out of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise.

{cut to Lil' Strong Sad, who is smiling}

LIL' STRONG SAD: Haha! You're right! My brother does look like a big circle with two smaller circles {cut to a top shot of Lil' Strong Bad} on top of another circle from up here!

LIL' STRONG BAD: {looks up} Hey! Shut up! Who're you talkin' to?

LIL' STRONG SAD: Just my new best-also-Bubble-Taped-to-the-ceiling friend, Scotty Titi!

{Cut back to Strong Bad at the Corpy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} THAT's half the reason imaginary friends are illegal now! Kids always give them the creepiest possible names. {cut to the King of Town, and a cut out-like image with a top hat} Rubby Plop-Plop, {cut to Homestar and like image of a person} Sir Zabblepants, {cut to Bubs and like rabbit-shaped image} Dingy Donger, {cut to Coach Z and like image of a man, shaking slightly. Ominous sounding music plays in the background} Real Live Actual Mr. Blangcaster Next Door. {the imaginary man lifts up an arm}

{Cut to Lil' Strong Bad at the stick. The stick has a leaf, and Strong Bad is drilling a brick}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} So, anyway, Strong Bad and Scotty Titi were always annoying the crap out of us.

LIL' STRONG SAD: Ahahaha! {pan left to show Lil' Strong Sad} That's a good one!

LIL' STRONG BAD: Hey! Shut it up! What are you guys doing over there?

{Cut to close up of Lil' Strong Sad}

LIL' STRONG SAD: Oh. Scotty Titi and I were just attaching indefinite articles, and he jokingly used "a" before a vowel sound! {holds stomach with both hands, making dodgeball-like sound effect} Ohohoho!

{Cut to close up of Lil' Strong Bad}

LIL' STRONG BAD: I'll attach this {raises brick} definite brick to Scotty Titi's face! EH!

{Cut to wide shot as Lil' Strong Bad throws brick at Lil' Strong Sad, which lands harmlessly on the ground.}

LIL' STRONG SAD: Nice reflexes, Scotty!

{Screen dims}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} I say he annoyed us, but it was really just me.

{Cut to the door to Strong Mad's room. A loud smacking noise is heard from within, causing the whole house to shake.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Strong Mad was going through some... ahem... {Cut to Teen Strong Mad in his room, punching a Trogdor-Blacklight poster that reads "PUBERTY". He has acne, facial hair, curly hair, and large glasses.} changes in those days.

TEEN STRONG MAD: {voice cracking} GIRLS ARE CONFUSING!

{Screen dims}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} So, it was all up to me. First I tried to render Scotty Titi obsolete as an imaginary friend—

{Cut to Lil' Strong Sad sitting in front of the couch in the basement with copies of Time magazine on the floor.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} —by exposing him as a realginary friend. {As he says this, Lil' Strong Bad pops out from behind the couch with a sack of "Fat Dumb White Flour"}

LIL' STRONG BAD: Aha! {empties flour onto floor; Lil' Strong Sad looks surprised momentarily and Lil' Strong Bad starts looking inside the now empty sack}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} I used to get imaginary and invisible mixed up a lot as a kid.

LIL' STRONG SAD: Oh, thanks, big brother. I've always wanted to pit my skills {pats belly} against a pile of cake flour!

{screen dims}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} And of course, at one point, I tried to... {cut to Lil' Strong Bad facing away from the screen, slowly zooming in} Titi. On Scotty Titi.

LIL' STRONG BAD: Oh no! My new boots!

{cut back to Strong Bad at the Corpy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} I finally had no recourse but to fight imaginary fire with imaginary fire. So after drinking three gallons of blue drink, I made up my own imaginary friend so they could fight to the imaginary death!

{cut to Lil' Strong Bad with blue liquid around his mouth. Two empty bottles of Blue Drink are visible.}

LIL' STRONG BAD: Hey! Scotty Titi! I'd like you to meet my new friend, Frishy Freshy Dragonman!

{The two imaginary friends appear; Frishy Freshy Dragonman is half-dragon half-man and Scotty Titi is a lump wearing a hat}

LIL' STRONG SAD: Scotty, look out!

LIL' STRONG BAD: Wait. {cut to Lil' Strong Bad and Lil' Strong Sad} Scotty Titi is just a lump? {cut to Scotty} A mound? {cut to closeup of Scotty} A pile?

{Cut to Lil' Strong Sad}

LIL' STRONG SAD: {shrugs} Pretty much.

{Cut to the two imaginary friends. Frishy Freshy Dragonman burninates Scotty Titi.}

FRISHY FRESHY DRAGONMAN: {to Lil' Strong Bad} Can I go now?

LIL' STRONG BAD: Yeah, you're done.

{Frishy Freshy disappears with a poof}

{Cut back to Strong Bad at the Corpy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} You {types "Ya"} still there, Crudkid? I don't know if your mom let you watch this far into the email or not. Anyways, I'm not suggesting you breathe fire on your brother's friend, you know? I'm suggesting you duct tape him to the ceiling. Your realginary pal, Strong Bad. Or, {deletes back to the start of Your realginary...} Your imaginary pal, Pumpy Clumpy.

{Envelope Paper comes down}

Easter Eggs

• At the end of the email, click on "duct tape him to the ceiling" to see a scene between Lil' Strong Sad and Scotty Titi.

{Lil' Strong Sad and Scotty Titi are sitting in front of the couch with the copies of Time Magazine.

LIL' STRONG SAD: Spiro Agnew's favorite slacks! That's right! You're so good at Time Magazine: The Game, Scotty!

• Whilst Strong Sad is talking to Scotty Titi, click on the word "TIME" on the magazine in Lil' Strong Sad's hand to see the question being answered.

Q: What were Richard Nixon's favorite slacks?

• At the end of the email, click on "Pumpy Clumpy" to see an outline drawing of Pumpy Clumpy.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• A first-person shooter is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun or projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective.
• Strong Bad's remark regarding insane parents forbidding imaginary friends correlates with a recent trend in child-rearing that believes imaginary friends are unhealthy, and an indicator of mental instability.

Trivia

• This is Lil' Strong Sad's first speaking role.
• The back of Lil' Strong Bad's mask and the front of his boots have what appear to be Velcro straps, as opposed to strings. This is similar to how children wear shoes with Velcro on them instead of laces.
• The white figure cutouts with black dotted lines resemble the cutouts of Strong Bad, Bubs, Strong Mad and Homestar in keep cool.
• The flashbacks use the Field's old designs.

Remarks

• The Stick in this email has a solitary leaf, presumably because it is younger and still alive.
• In yes, wrestling, Strong Bad said that Homestar Runner had an imaginary tag-team partner named "Gary the Legend".
• Lil' Strong Bad tries to pee on Scotty Titi.
• Strong Mad has a Trogdor poster in his room, which seems impossible as Trogdor was invented on the spot in dragon. This, combined with the fact that Strong Bad already envisioned Trogdor, may imply this story isn't entirely true.
• This is the first email since being mean to have the normal Strong Bad Email file type (sbemail#). The two previous, email thunder and hremail 3184 used sbemailtwohundred and hremail3184, respectively.
  • Likewise, this is the first email since being mean with a permanent link to Strong Bad's email address.
• Strong Bad says that his brothers are not able to have friends, but on many occasions this is not true. A good example is the friendship between Strong Mad and The Cheat.
• In the Easter egg, the couch is patched with tape. According to a flashback from couch patch, Strong Bad had it patched because he cut the couch, as an adult. However, this is consistent with Strong Sad's version of the story, where the patch was put there to cover up scribbles Strong Bad made as a child.

Goofs

Ghost photography

• During the scene where Lil' Strong Bad is drilling hole in the brick, Strong Bad says "So, anyway, Strong Bad and Scotty Titi..." rather than "Strong Sad and Scotty Titi...". This is most likely a mistake Matt made while recording the line.
• Strong Bad apparently does the impossible feat of twisting his arms in a complete circle after he dumps the flour "on" Scotty Titi. (to the viewer, he flips the bag of flour by twisting his arms counter-clockwise, then does it again to turn the bag right-side-up.) Additionally, his arms appear to go through each other, as his arms don't cross when the bag is flipped upside-down. Finally, the thumbs on his gloves remain in the same orientation whether holding the bag of flour upside-down or right-side-up.

Fixed Goofs

• When this email was released, a very faint outline of Strong Bad's face was visible when the screen fades after Strong Bad throws the brick.

Inside References

• The computer console Strong Bad uses is one of the Datum Center computers as seen in isp. The monitor itself is the Corpy NT6.
• Strong Bad's comments about "Crudfully" are related to emails that usually end with Crapfully Yours.
• Strong Bad claims his brothers are incapable of friend-have.
• Teenage Strong Mad looks very similar to how he did in Strong Bad's "doodle memory" in high school.
• Lil' Strong Bad's imaginary friend looks similar to the "Dragon-Man" drawing of Trogdor in the email dragon.
• The flowery wallpaper is the same as the wallpaper of 1987, as seen in the email no loafing.
• When Frishy Freshy Dragonman disappears, he makes the same wheezing sound as when Sickly Sam disappears.
• "Blue drink" is an example of something color flavored.
• The bandage on Strong Sad's belly button is a reference to origins, when Strong Bad hints at the fact that he drilled Strong Sad's belly button when they were much younger.
• The Trogdor/Puberty poster in Strong Mad's room is based on the actual poster for sale in the Store.
• Strong Mad's glasses seem to stick to his face. This is a reference to how none of the main characters have visible ears.

Real-World References

• Bubble Tape is a brand of bubble gum that comes in 6 foot long rolls.
• The rabbit-shaped imaginary friend standing next to Bubs is a reference to Harvey, a play and movie about a man who insists that he is friends with Harvey, a six-foot tall talking rabbit that only he can see and hear.
• Time is an American news magazine created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the United States.
  • Time: The Game, which Lil' Strong Sad and Scotty Titi are playing (and which Lil' Strong Sad erroneously refers to as Time Magazine: The Game), was a trivia-based board game inspired by the same newsmagazine. The game was released in 1983 by Time, Inc. and used four question and answer books printed in the same manner as issues of Time.
• Richard Nixon was 37th President of the United States of America. Spiro Agnew was Nixon's first Vice President.
• The bass guitar in Strong Mad's room bears a resemblance to the Höfner 500/1, an instrument made famous by The Beatles' bassist Paul McCartney.
• In the Easter egg, Pumpy Clumpy resembles a Cursya, a gelatinous enemy from Super Paper Mario.

External Links

• watch "imaginary"
• watch "imaginary" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "imaginary"
• forum thread re: "imaginary"