Powered by The Cheat
Powered by The Cheat, for The Cheat
"Powered by The Cheat" toons are Flash animations created by The Cheat and his computers, Tangerine Dreams (2002-2004), Monosodium Dreams (2006-2014), and his new iMac (2018-present). Many of them are Flash toons within the Homestar Runner universe. The toons, which are a parody of the many poorly drawn Flash cartoons on the web, are usually packed with bad animation and character depictions, poor imitations of the characters' voices (provided by Mike Chapman), vocalised sound effects, and senseless or nonexistent plots.
It remained a mystery for well over a decade how The Cheat manages to imitate the other characters speaking human language; in all regular toons, The Cheat speaks in his own native "The Cheat" language. In the Georgia Tech appearance, an audience member asked The Brothers Chaps a question concerning this, and Matt Chapman responded in Strong Bad's voice, "The guy's got two throats," and that "he goes into this secret room when he does the voices, so I never see how he does it." In an Easter egg in The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods, The Cheat finally demonstrates his voicing ability, to Strong Bad's astonishment: he swivels the top of his head to allow his mouth to open wide. He describes it as "just a certain way I do things".
The Cheat often incorporates himself into his cartoons, sometimes in a Hitchcock-style cameo, but usually portraying himself as superior to the other characters or receiving some sort of prize. The Cheat has won five prizes for these cartoons in "real" life, including an iron cup full of Brunswick Stew, a pizza for his "Everybody to the Limit" music video, the fabled "Pizza Trophy", a slice of "chinstrap pizza", and another pizza.
These animations show hints of The Cheat's fantasies and possibly insecure personality. The email mile, which The Cheat guest-authored, is an ideal example of what he most desires yet cannot possibly possess. The Cheat shamelessly elevates his status in the eyes of others through praise given by his boss, Strong Bad, while Marzipan finally gives him the attention and affection he has been craving. However, the two rarely exchange words outside of a fabricated Flash universe, despite having gone on one date together.
The Cheat has provided animation for other Free Country, USA artists. He has also collaborated with the likes of The Skate Party, They Might Be Giants, and more.
It has been referred to by Strong Bad in a Quote of the Week as an outtake from Most In The Graveyard as "The Cheat's regular animating crap".
As of December 31, 2020, Powered by The Cheat as a separate category has been retired, with PBTC content being shuffled into the Shorts category.
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