
:''This article is about the Internet cartoon series. For the character and series' namesake, see Homestar Runner (character)'' Homestar Runner (often abbreviated HR, HSR or H*R) is a cartoon series which is generally distributed as Macromedia Flash animations available from [http://www.homestarrunner.com/ HomestarRunner.com]. It mixes an absurdist sense of humor similar to that found in H.R. Pufnstuf with copious references to video games from the 1980s and 1990s. The series has built a loyal following by updating nearly every Monday with new short movies, games, and music. There are plentiful opportunities for interaction on the site, and the animations are filled with hidden Easter egg (virtual): if a certain area on the page is clicked at the right time, an additional cartoon or screen will appear. These eggs typically include short cartoons, video clips, pictures, songs, or (occasionally) alternate versions of the site's main page. Cartoons nominally center on Homestar Runner (character), a clumsy and unintelligent athlete. The antagonist Strong Bad, however, is often more popular among fans, and the series of cartoons in which he answers email from viewers is the most prominent feature of the site. Strong Bad works closely with his sidekick The Cheat (character) and his muscle-bound older brother Strong Mad to prey on Strong Bad's rotund and constantly-depressed younger brother Strong Sad. Several other characters fill out the world: Homestar's hippie girlfriend Marzipan (character), his best friend Pom Pom (Homestar Runner), their coach Coach Z, local businessman Bubs, the King of Town, the Poopsmith, and the surreal character Homsar. Although originally conceived as a book written for children, the series is most popular with (and has been gravitating toward) college students and young adults. By focusing on Internet distribution, the animated series has been able to reach a large audience to which they wouldn't have access otherwise. == History == Homestar Runner came to life in 1996 with two bored college students. Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel were working that summer in jobs related to the 1996 Summer Olympics. On a day off, they visited a bookstore where they found that the state of children's books was dismal. Intending to rectify this, they wrote the original story ''The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest''. This story featured Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, The Cheat, and quite a few characters that soon disappeared from the Homestar Runner world. This hand-drawn book was the only incarnation of the characters for several years. By 1999, Mike and Matt Chapman (who typically call themselves "The Brothers Chaps") were learning Flash and looking for something to practice on. Digging out the old children's book provided a solution. By January 2000, homestarrunner.com was live. Matt Chapman provided the voices of the male characters, while Missy Palmer (then Mike's girlfriend, now his wife) did that of Marzipan. The site grew slowly at first, but by mid-2001 it began to take off with the first Strong Bad email. The number of visitors to the site grew, and by March 2003 the site had outgrown its original host. Currently, merchandise sales pay for all of the costs of running the website as well as living costs of the creators, whose retired parents manage many of the business aspects. "The Brothers Chaps" have a creative freedom that they would not have doing a regular TV show, because they run their own website and refuse to put their characters onto the small screen. Originally, they developed Homestar Runner as a labor of love, and for their own amusement. Though the site sells Homestar merchandise, it has no commercials—though a few of the cartoons parody advertising, with products like "Fluffy Puff Marshmallows". Though the internet was initially the only mechanism for viewing Homestar Runner, the first 100 Strong Bad e-mails were released on DVD on November 8, 2004. The ''strongbad_email.exe'' box set retained the various hidden features of the Macromedia Flash originals. Also included were three unreleased emails, two music videos, commentary tracks by the characters and their creators, and other features. == Sub-cartoons == The Homestar Runner world features several sub-cartoons and spin-offs. These cartoons take place outside the normal Homestar Runner world, and the main characters of the normal cartoons do not necessarily appear in them, and when they do, it is often not in the same way they appear in the Homestar Runner world. ===Teen Girl Squad=== Teen Girl Squad is a crudely drawn comic strip narrated by Strong Bad. It began after Strong Bad received an email asking him to make a comic strip. The comic parodies four archetypal high-school clichés, which is evident in their nondescript names: "Cheerleader," "So-And-So," "What's-Her-Face," and "The Ugly One." In their quest to become unique and popular, the characters are bland and monotonous. Though they are just stick figures, Strong Bad often subjects them to gruesome and unusual deaths. ===Sweet Cuppin' Cakes=== '''Sweet Cuppin' Cakes''' is another cartoon created by Strong Bad in response to an email request. The cartoon, designed to be as "kah-razy" as possible, takes place on a surreal multi-colored plane resembling a disco dance floor. The central character Sherlock, "a cross between a cow and a helicopter" who communicates through a series of weird noises, spends each episode trying to catch a worm that crawls in and out of the ground. Other characters include "Eh! Steve", an anthropomorphic polygon that appears once an episode to deliver his eponymous catch phrase, and the Wheelchair (voiced by Bubs), whose goal in life is to destroy Eh! Steve. Strong Bad also placed himself in the cartoon, although his head is an old Casio VL-Tone keyboard. Whenever he becomes angry, it plays the demo (the German folk song "Unterlander's Heimweh"). ===1936=== Some cartoons take place in an "old-timey" setting, circa 1936, with most of the Homestar Runner characters having direct counterparts in the 1936 universe. These cartoons are in black and white with grainy sound, and parody the distinctive style animated cartoons of the 1920s and 1930s. One such cartoon features an original song by the comedic a cappella ensemble Da Vinci's Notebook. ===Stinkoman 20X6=== Stinkoman 20X6 is yet another cartoon in response to an email, asking Strong Bad to create a anime. The main character, Stinkoman, is a stylized version of Strong Bad with blue hair, and goes around looking for "some fighting or maybe a challenge." Also featured are the stylized versions of Homestar ("1-Up") and Pom-Pom ("Pan Pan," colored like a panda). The year 20X6 is in reference to the ambiguous year 20XX in which the Mega Man series takes place. The Stinkoman video game is also similar to the early Mega Man games. The series also draws inspiration from Dragon Ball Z, Ranma ½, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Street Fighter 2 and others. The Stinko Man theme song is the first stage tune of the NES-game Rad Racer with "neo-Japanese language" lyrics. ===Powered by The Cheat=== Some sketches are portrayed as being drawn by The Cheat, who has his own distinctive animation style. It has appeared in many forms, such as in Strong Bad e-mails, cartoons, even its own welcome page. It is rumored that the Brothers Chaps tried this animation before settling on the current type. In Powered by The Cheat segments, Mike Chapman provides intentionally poor imitations of his brother Matt's normal voice work. Note that these animations clue us into The Cheat's fantasies and insecure personality. Strong Bad Email #87 ("Mile") 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. (Notice that the two rarely exchange words outside of a fabricated Flash universe.) ===Cheat Commandos=== The Cheat Commandos are a line of action figures that all resemble The Cheat wearing different outfits. The Commandos are an extensive parody of the popular '80s version of the G.I. Joe dolls and cartoon. As with G.I. Joe, the Cheat Commandos figurines are all nearly exactly the same; the cartoon has silly dialogue, bad animation, mindless action sequences, and zero characterization; and the entire series exists to sell merchandise (The Cheat Commandos theme song even states, "Buy all our playsets and toys!"). The Cheat Commandos fight an evil villain known as Blue Laser (or Blue Lazer), a clear parody of G.I. Joe's arch-nemesis Cobra, and its leader Cobra Commander (known in the UK as "Red Laser"). ===Holiday Specials=== Several episodes have been dedicated to special days of the year. For example, every Halloween a cartoon is released that features all the characters in costume celebrating some traditional aspect of Halloween (such as ghost stories, trick-or-treating, or jack-o'-lantern). On April Fools' Day 2005, fans were greeted with a page which stated that fans would be required to purchase a membership to continue viewing the site. The page contained a full "Tour" which parodied paid membership websites. It also featured 3 short clips (Homestar talking; a Strong Bad email segment; and a Teen Girl Squad/Sweet Cuppin' Cakes fictional crossover episode) and a "trial version" game. Most holiday cartoons are archived on the Toons page and can be accessed using the "Holiday" button on the top right of the remote. ===Puppet Stuff=== Some sketches use real-life puppets of Homestar, Strong Bad, and The Cheat. ==Online Video Games== Homestar Runner offers a variety of online games that feature one or more of their characters. The first games were simple in nature and are now found under ''Super Old Games-n-Such''. Some of these games include "Homestar Talker", which allows you to make Homestar say various sentences, and "Spin n' Say", a variation on the popular children's toy of the same name. More recent games are comparatively more complex and interesting. The first notable game is "Peasant's Quest", an adventure game featuring a young peasant named Rather Dashing, who vows to kill the destroyer of his cottage: Trogdor. The game is similar to the original King's Quest games of the early 1980s. The most recent addition to the website is "Stinkoman 20X6", a spoof of the Mega Man video games. A link to all these games are found on any of the main pages. ==TMBG Music Videos== Recently, the The Brothers Chaps have partnered up with the rock band They Might Be Giants to produce a music video for their song "Experimental Film," available on the website. Other TMBG songs have found their way onto the website in the form of 'Puppet Jam,' a subset of 'Puppet Stuff,' where Puppet Homestar rocks out with TMBG. The TMBG web site has hinted that more videos are in production. == Related articles == * Homestar Runner characters, a detailed guide to people, places, and ideas from the series * ''Strong Bad Sings'', the first Homestar Runner CD * ''Strongbad_email.exe'', a dvd with Strong Bad's first 100 emails ==External links== * [http://www.homestarrunner.com/ Homestar Runner Official Website] ** [http://www.homestarrunner.com/firsttime.html Introduction for first-time visitors] * HRWiki:Main Page, a MediaWiki site dedicated to everything Homestar Runner. It includes toon transcripts, Easter egg (virtual), and Fun Facts (references, etc). * [http://www.homestarrules.com/forum/ Homestar Rules Forum] * [http://www.hsrforum.com/ Homestar Runner Forum] * [http://www.burninghorizon.com/hsrforum/index.php/ Burning Horizon's Homestar Runner Forum] * [http://www.videlectrix.com/ Videlectrix Official Website] A parody video game company mentioned in the cartoons, actually made by Matt and Mike Chapman * [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4634837 NPR Interview, May 8, 2005] * [http://www.retrocrush.com/homestar/index2.html Retrocrush Interview] * [http://www.resexcellence.com/hack_html_03/01-30-03.shtml ResExcellence interview] * [http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=1374 tastes like chicken interview] * [http://www.wired.com/news/mediaplayer/1,2108,59343-mplay=choose,00.html Audio interview with The Bros Chaps] * [http://www.thoraxcorp.com/ Thoraxcorp.com] - Thorax Corp. Yet another way to get Total Stardom! (Also created by the Brothers Chaps) * [http://www.Mellowmushroom.com/ Mellowmushroom.com] - Another website made by The Brothers Chaps for a restaurant chain. * [http://www.everybodytothelimit.com/ Everybodytothelimit.com] - A fansite with cartoons based on Fhqwhgads Homestar Runner Flash cartoons
== Homestar Runner Wiki / Template == I've created a template for giving users a heads-up to the [http://www.hrwiki.org Homestar Runner Wiki], which looks like: ...and started Template_talk:Hrwiki of how we might avoid unnecessary redundancy between the Wikis. If you find this subject of interest, please contribute to the discussion there. This article was partially (and poorly) replicated on the Homestar Runner Wiki, so I changed that wiki's page to a redirect to this one. Although I do think a lot of information should be centrally kept on HRWiki, this "encylopedic overview" should do its best to give a NPOV understanding of Homestar Runner and its significance as an internet phenomenon, and then redirect people back towards the HRWiki for less generally-relevant "fanstuff" (like Eh! Steve). --User:metaeducation == Split == This article is starting to get unwieldy and kinda spoilish. I propose moving the character guide to a different article, perhaps Guide of Homestar Runner characters or something like that. If no one disagrees (or does it before I do), then I'll go and do that. --User:Cprompt :I don't think it's unwieldy - it's well structured, so easy to follow. But anyway, somebody made Homestar Runner characters, so I'll delete the list from this article (I'd rather they were all in one place, however, personally). --User:Camembert ::I've changed my mind and put everything back in this one article (it's now as it was before, but with the "creators" section above the "characters", which makes sense to me). I don't see the benefit of spreading the information over two articles when it can be well presented (as it is) in one. --User:Camembert :::Well, there is a lot of them, and the article was seeming to be more about the quirks of various characters than about the site. Other articles don't have this, including Futurama_(animated_series), The Simpsons, and South_Park. The article does benefit from better organization since you moved the "Creators" section, but I still feel that a paragraph about each character is excessive on the Homestar Runner page. I'll leave it alone for now, but if the character list continues to grow, I may be compelled to create a Homestar Runner characters page. :::--User:Cprompt ==Bad Link== The Coolest Stuff Ever appears to be down. Remove the link or hope it comes back up? User:Kirun 23:32 17 Jun 2003 (UTC) :I'm hoping for now. At least we're no more out of date with that link than Google is. It really was a great resource. :--User:Cprompt 02:24 19 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::It's back up, but I don't see the guide of the Strong Bad emails anywhere. Maybe the site has changed its purpose? I noted it in the article. ::--User:Cprompt 17:24, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) == Awesomeness NPOV == I may just go crazy if I see another "Homestar was supposed to be awesome, but instead Strong Bad is more awesome" sentence. It's overstated, highly subjective, and really not that important. Homestar is the protagonist, Strong Bad is the more entertaining antagonist. Let it be. Besides, I prefer Homsar, Strong Sad, and the KOT :-P --User:Cprompt == TCYBCBY == OK, somebody let me into the secret. Why does the yoghurt place in Teen Girl Squad #2 have "TCYBCBY" written on the roof? User:Kirun :There is a USA frozen-yogurt chain called "TCBY" for "The Country's Best Yogurt". No idea what the Teen Girl Squad version is supposed to mean, but it's an obvious takeoff. --User:Fubar Obfusco 01:08, 17 Sep 2003 (UTC) ::I think it's just a big exaggeration on TCBY. Many things in Teen Girl Squad are big exaggerations. User:TheCustomOfLife 18:33, Aug 25, 2004 (UTC) == Quotes - copyright? == I'm just slightly concerned... Since these quotes appear in Flash animations (and thus pieces of "art" that would be covered by copyright), is it appropriate to place them in Wikipedia or Wikiquote? Has permission been asked? -- User:Pipian 02:44, 14 Oct 2003 (UTC) :I think it's safe to assume that excerpting small pieces of dialog from a cartoon is covered under U.S. "fair use" laws. Quote from Standford Copyright & Fair Use site: Fair Use is codified in U.S. Copyright law at 17 U.S.C. § 107. It states that the Fair Use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. :--User:Cprompt 14:29, 21 Oct 2003 (UTC) == Matt B. == Removed ''===Matt B.=== Matt B. is a super secret character on Homestarrunner.com, who is very cool and that includes the sunglasses 24/7! there are various links to him showing up in the cartoon! he is a cross between Stinkoman and Homsar, and is best friends with Trogdor the burninator (from a secret link in Strong Bad email "Dragon".) Little more is known on this mysterious character!!! '' I have doubts this "secret" character exists. Replace if I'm wrong. User:Dysprosia 02:02, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC) == Everybody to the limit == Quote: The second, ostensibly a music video produced by the character The Cheat for Strong Bad's song "Everybody to the Limit", also features this name for humorous effect. ''The song was recorded by a band called The Skate Party.'' I know that The Skate Party did the The Cheat theme song, but did they record "Everybody to the Limit"? I'm thinking they didn't. Anyone know for sure? :They didn't. At least, if they did, the Brothers Chaps didn't credit them. I've removed that sentence from the article. :--User:Cprompt 01:12, 3 Jan 2004 (UTC) == Dumples == I dunno about the bit that says the CGNU mascot is "the dumple". Somebody just changed it to "Dumples", but that's wrong, so I reverted it -- the ''team'' is the Dumples, but the ''mascot'' is the Dumple. Rarely will a team have a group of things acting as a single mascot. For now I'm just leaving it as it was. --User:Furrykef 08:58, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC) == The Split == I hate to say it, but I liked the monolithic format better. Shouldn't we have discussed it before splitting it back up? --User:Furrykef 14:47, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC) :Not really required...people should be bold in editing. We can talk here about merging it all back together. Personally, I think it was a bit excessive. You could write a whole encyclopedia about the Homestar Runner universe! Right now, there is a detailed yet succint article about Homestar Runner, with links to all of the information that once constituted this enormous article. :-) --User:Cprompt 19:39, May 31, 2004 (UTC) ::Of course you should "be bold", but my understanding is that something really major like splitting up a page usually warrants (fairly recent) discussion first. Nobody wants to go through the pain of splitting something up just to have to go through the pain of patching it back together, right? Though I'm not really complaining...I just had a lot easier time editing it in the monolithic format (you'll note I haven't made any edits here in a long time). --User:Furrykef 13:44, 4 Jun 2004 (UTC) == mostly? == The first paragraph of the entry says that H*R is "available mostly through HomestarRunner.com". Is this a typo, or is it actually available elsewhere? User:SilentT :There is an Easter Egg in Macromedia Central where Homestar and Strong Bad make an appearance, so it's not a typo. However, I can't seem to think of anywhere else, save for the occasional reference here and there. --User:Pidgeot 22:45, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC) ::There are also some cartoons on the Strong Bad Email DVD that are not available on the site, so the phrase "available mostly through HomestarRunner.com" is correct. --User:Mr. Strong Bad 20:24, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC) Image is missing -Psychodonovan == HSR for the Atari 2600? == I believe this project [http://qotile.net/rpg.html] should be mentioned.
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Homestar Runner
:''This article is about the Internet cartoon series. For the character and series' namesake, see Homestar Runner (character)'' Homestar Runner (often abbreviated HR, HSR or H*R) is a cartoon series which is generally distributed as Macromedia Flash animations available from [http://www.homestarrunner.com/ HomestarRunner.com]. It mixes an absurdist sense of humor similar to that found in H.R. Pufnstuf with copious references to video games from the 1980s and 1990s. The series has built a loyal following by updating nearly every Monday with new short movies, games, and music. There are plentiful opportunities for interaction on the site, and the animations are filled with hidden Easter egg (virtual): if a certain area on the page is clicked at the right time, an additional cartoon or screen will appear. These eggs typically include short cartoons, video clips, pictures, songs, or (occasionally) alternate versions of the site's main page. Cartoons nominally center on Homestar Runner (character), a clumsy and unintelligent athlete. The antagonist Strong Bad, however, is often more popular among fans, and the series of cartoons in which he answers email from viewers is the most prominent feature of the site. Strong Bad works closely with his sidekick The Cheat (character) and his muscle-bound older brother Strong Mad to prey on Strong Bad's rotund and constantly-depressed younger brother Strong Sad. Several other characters fill out the world: Homestar's hippie girlfriend Marzipan (character), his best friend Pom Pom (Homestar Runner), their coach Coach Z, local businessman Bubs, the King of Town, the Poopsmith, and the surreal character Homsar. Although originally conceived as a book written for children, the series is most popular with (and has been gravitating toward) college students and young adults. By focusing on Internet distribution, the animated series has been able to reach a large audience to which they wouldn't have access otherwise. == History == Homestar Runner came to life in 1996 with two bored college students. Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel were working that summer in jobs related to the 1996 Summer Olympics. On a day off, they visited a bookstore where they found that the state of children's books was dismal. Intending to rectify this, they wrote the original story ''The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest''. This story featured Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, The Cheat, and quite a few characters that soon disappeared from the Homestar Runner world. This hand-drawn book was the only incarnation of the characters for several years. By 1999, Mike and Matt Chapman (who typically call themselves "The Brothers Chaps") were learning Flash and looking for something to practice on. Digging out the old children's book provided a solution. By January 2000, homestarrunner.com was live. Matt Chapman provided the voices of the male characters, while Missy Palmer (then Mike's girlfriend, now his wife) did that of Marzipan. The site grew slowly at first, but by mid-2001 it began to take off with the first Strong Bad email. The number of visitors to the site grew, and by March 2003 the site had outgrown its original host. Currently, merchandise sales pay for all of the costs of running the website as well as living costs of the creators, whose retired parents manage many of the business aspects. "The Brothers Chaps" have a creative freedom that they would not have doing a regular TV show, because they run their own website and refuse to put their characters onto the small screen. Originally, they developed Homestar Runner as a labor of love, and for their own amusement. Though the site sells Homestar merchandise, it has no commercials—though a few of the cartoons parody advertising, with products like "Fluffy Puff Marshmallows". Though the internet was initially the only mechanism for viewing Homestar Runner, the first 100 Strong Bad e-mails were released on DVD on November 8, 2004. The ''strongbad_email.exe'' box set retained the various hidden features of the Macromedia Flash originals. Also included were three unreleased emails, two music videos, commentary tracks by the characters and their creators, and other features. == Sub-cartoons == The Homestar Runner world features several sub-cartoons and spin-offs. These cartoons take place outside the normal Homestar Runner world, and the main characters of the normal cartoons do not necessarily appear in them, and when they do, it is often not in the same way they appear in the Homestar Runner world. ===Teen Girl Squad=== Teen Girl Squad is a crudely drawn comic strip narrated by Strong Bad. It began after Strong Bad received an email asking him to make a comic strip. The comic parodies four archetypal high-school clichés, which is evident in their nondescript names: "Cheerleader," "So-And-So," "What's-Her-Face," and "The Ugly One." In their quest to become unique and popular, the characters are bland and monotonous. Though they are just stick figures, Strong Bad often subjects them to gruesome and unusual deaths. ===Sweet Cuppin' Cakes=== '''Sweet Cuppin' Cakes''' is another cartoon created by Strong Bad in response to an email request. The cartoon, designed to be as "kah-razy" as possible, takes place on a surreal multi-colored plane resembling a disco dance floor. The central character Sherlock, "a cross between a cow and a helicopter" who communicates through a series of weird noises, spends each episode trying to catch a worm that crawls in and out of the ground. Other characters include "Eh! Steve", an anthropomorphic polygon that appears once an episode to deliver his eponymous catch phrase, and the Wheelchair (voiced by Bubs), whose goal in life is to destroy Eh! Steve. Strong Bad also placed himself in the cartoon, although his head is an old Casio VL-Tone keyboard. Whenever he becomes angry, it plays the demo (the German folk song "Unterlander's Heimweh"). ===1936=== Some cartoons take place in an "old-timey" setting, circa 1936, with most of the Homestar Runner characters having direct counterparts in the 1936 universe. These cartoons are in black and white with grainy sound, and parody the distinctive style animated cartoons of the 1920s and 1930s. One such cartoon features an original song by the comedic a cappella ensemble Da Vinci's Notebook. ===Stinkoman 20X6=== Stinkoman 20X6 is yet another cartoon in response to an email, asking Strong Bad to create a anime. The main character, Stinkoman, is a stylized version of Strong Bad with blue hair, and goes around looking for "some fighting or maybe a challenge." Also featured are the stylized versions of Homestar ("1-Up") and Pom-Pom ("Pan Pan," colored like a panda). The year 20X6 is in reference to the ambiguous year 20XX in which the Mega Man series takes place. The Stinkoman video game is also similar to the early Mega Man games. The series also draws inspiration from Dragon Ball Z, Ranma ½, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Street Fighter 2 and others. The Stinko Man theme song is the first stage tune of the NES-game Rad Racer with "neo-Japanese language" lyrics. ===Powered by The Cheat=== Some sketches are portrayed as being drawn by The Cheat, who has his own distinctive animation style. It has appeared in many forms, such as in Strong Bad e-mails, cartoons, even its own welcome page. It is rumored that the Brothers Chaps tried this animation before settling on the current type. In Powered by The Cheat segments, Mike Chapman provides intentionally poor imitations of his brother Matt's normal voice work. Note that these animations clue us into The Cheat's fantasies and insecure personality. Strong Bad Email #87 ("Mile") 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. (Notice that the two rarely exchange words outside of a fabricated Flash universe.) ===Cheat Commandos=== The Cheat Commandos are a line of action figures that all resemble The Cheat wearing different outfits. The Commandos are an extensive parody of the popular '80s version of the G.I. Joe dolls and cartoon. As with G.I. Joe, the Cheat Commandos figurines are all nearly exactly the same; the cartoon has silly dialogue, bad animation, mindless action sequences, and zero characterization; and the entire series exists to sell merchandise (The Cheat Commandos theme song even states, "Buy all our playsets and toys!"). The Cheat Commandos fight an evil villain known as Blue Laser (or Blue Lazer), a clear parody of G.I. Joe's arch-nemesis Cobra, and its leader Cobra Commander (known in the UK as "Red Laser"). ===Holiday Specials=== Several episodes have been dedicated to special days of the year. For example, every Halloween a cartoon is released that features all the characters in costume celebrating some traditional aspect of Halloween (such as ghost stories, trick-or-treating, or jack-o'-lantern). On April Fools' Day 2005, fans were greeted with a page which stated that fans would be required to purchase a membership to continue viewing the site. The page contained a full "Tour" which parodied paid membership websites. It also featured 3 short clips (Homestar talking; a Strong Bad email segment; and a Teen Girl Squad/Sweet Cuppin' Cakes fictional crossover episode) and a "trial version" game. Most holiday cartoons are archived on the Toons page and can be accessed using the "Holiday" button on the top right of the remote. ===Puppet Stuff=== Some sketches use real-life puppets of Homestar, Strong Bad, and The Cheat. ==Online Video Games== Homestar Runner offers a variety of online games that feature one or more of their characters. The first games were simple in nature and are now found under ''Super Old Games-n-Such''. Some of these games include "Homestar Talker", which allows you to make Homestar say various sentences, and "Spin n' Say", a variation on the popular children's toy of the same name. More recent games are comparatively more complex and interesting. The first notable game is "Peasant's Quest", an adventure game featuring a young peasant named Rather Dashing, who vows to kill the destroyer of his cottage: Trogdor. The game is similar to the original King's Quest games of the early 1980s. The most recent addition to the website is "Stinkoman 20X6", a spoof of the Mega Man video games. A link to all these games are found on any of the main pages. ==TMBG Music Videos== Recently, the The Brothers Chaps have partnered up with the rock band They Might Be Giants to produce a music video for their song "Experimental Film," available on the website. Other TMBG songs have found their way onto the website in the form of 'Puppet Jam,' a subset of 'Puppet Stuff,' where Puppet Homestar rocks out with TMBG. The TMBG web site has hinted that more videos are in production. == Related articles == * Homestar Runner characters, a detailed guide to people, places, and ideas from the series * ''Strong Bad Sings'', the first Homestar Runner CD * ''Strongbad_email.exe'', a dvd with Strong Bad's first 100 emails ==External links== * [http://www.homestarrunner.com/ Homestar Runner Official Website] ** [http://www.homestarrunner.com/firsttime.html Introduction for first-time visitors] * HRWiki:Main Page, a MediaWiki site dedicated to everything Homestar Runner. It includes toon transcripts, Easter egg (virtual), and Fun Facts (references, etc). * [http://www.homestarrules.com/forum/ Homestar Rules Forum] * [http://www.hsrforum.com/ Homestar Runner Forum] * [http://www.burninghorizon.com/hsrforum/index.php/ Burning Horizon's Homestar Runner Forum] * [http://www.videlectrix.com/ Videlectrix Official Website] A parody video game company mentioned in the cartoons, actually made by Matt and Mike Chapman * [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4634837 NPR Interview, May 8, 2005] * [http://www.retrocrush.com/homestar/index2.html Retrocrush Interview] * [http://www.resexcellence.com/hack_html_03/01-30-03.shtml ResExcellence interview] * [http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=1374 tastes like chicken interview] * [http://www.wired.com/news/mediaplayer/1,2108,59343-mplay=choose,00.html Audio interview with The Bros Chaps] * [http://www.thoraxcorp.com/ Thoraxcorp.com] - Thorax Corp. Yet another way to get Total Stardom! (Also created by the Brothers Chaps) * [http://www.Mellowmushroom.com/ Mellowmushroom.com] - Another website made by The Brothers Chaps for a restaurant chain. * [http://www.everybodytothelimit.com/ Everybodytothelimit.com] - A fansite with cartoons based on Fhqwhgads Homestar Runner Flash cartoons
Homestar Runner
== Homestar Runner Wiki / Template == I've created a template for giving users a heads-up to the [http://www.hrwiki.org Homestar Runner Wiki], which looks like: ...and started Template_talk:Hrwiki of how we might avoid unnecessary redundancy between the Wikis. If you find this subject of interest, please contribute to the discussion there. This article was partially (and poorly) replicated on the Homestar Runner Wiki, so I changed that wiki's page to a redirect to this one. Although I do think a lot of information should be centrally kept on HRWiki, this "encylopedic overview" should do its best to give a NPOV understanding of Homestar Runner and its significance as an internet phenomenon, and then redirect people back towards the HRWiki for less generally-relevant "fanstuff" (like Eh! Steve). --User:metaeducation == Split == This article is starting to get unwieldy and kinda spoilish. I propose moving the character guide to a different article, perhaps Guide of Homestar Runner characters or something like that. If no one disagrees (or does it before I do), then I'll go and do that. --User:Cprompt :I don't think it's unwieldy - it's well structured, so easy to follow. But anyway, somebody made Homestar Runner characters, so I'll delete the list from this article (I'd rather they were all in one place, however, personally). --User:Camembert ::I've changed my mind and put everything back in this one article (it's now as it was before, but with the "creators" section above the "characters", which makes sense to me). I don't see the benefit of spreading the information over two articles when it can be well presented (as it is) in one. --User:Camembert :::Well, there is a lot of them, and the article was seeming to be more about the quirks of various characters than about the site. Other articles don't have this, including Futurama_(animated_series), The Simpsons, and South_Park. The article does benefit from better organization since you moved the "Creators" section, but I still feel that a paragraph about each character is excessive on the Homestar Runner page. I'll leave it alone for now, but if the character list continues to grow, I may be compelled to create a Homestar Runner characters page. :::--User:Cprompt ==Bad Link== The Coolest Stuff Ever appears to be down. Remove the link or hope it comes back up? User:Kirun 23:32 17 Jun 2003 (UTC) :I'm hoping for now. At least we're no more out of date with that link than Google is. It really was a great resource. :--User:Cprompt 02:24 19 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::It's back up, but I don't see the guide of the Strong Bad emails anywhere. Maybe the site has changed its purpose? I noted it in the article. ::--User:Cprompt 17:24, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) == Awesomeness NPOV == I may just go crazy if I see another "Homestar was supposed to be awesome, but instead Strong Bad is more awesome" sentence. It's overstated, highly subjective, and really not that important. Homestar is the protagonist, Strong Bad is the more entertaining antagonist. Let it be. Besides, I prefer Homsar, Strong Sad, and the KOT :-P --User:Cprompt == TCYBCBY == OK, somebody let me into the secret. Why does the yoghurt place in Teen Girl Squad #2 have "TCYBCBY" written on the roof? User:Kirun :There is a USA frozen-yogurt chain called "TCBY" for "The Country's Best Yogurt". No idea what the Teen Girl Squad version is supposed to mean, but it's an obvious takeoff. --User:Fubar Obfusco 01:08, 17 Sep 2003 (UTC) ::I think it's just a big exaggeration on TCBY. Many things in Teen Girl Squad are big exaggerations. User:TheCustomOfLife 18:33, Aug 25, 2004 (UTC) == Quotes - copyright? == I'm just slightly concerned... Since these quotes appear in Flash animations (and thus pieces of "art" that would be covered by copyright), is it appropriate to place them in Wikipedia or Wikiquote? Has permission been asked? -- User:Pipian 02:44, 14 Oct 2003 (UTC) :I think it's safe to assume that excerpting small pieces of dialog from a cartoon is covered under U.S. "fair use" laws. Quote from Standford Copyright & Fair Use site: Fair Use is codified in U.S. Copyright law at 17 U.S.C. § 107. It states that the Fair Use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. :--User:Cprompt 14:29, 21 Oct 2003 (UTC) == Matt B. == Removed ''===Matt B.=== Matt B. is a super secret character on Homestarrunner.com, who is very cool and that includes the sunglasses 24/7! there are various links to him showing up in the cartoon! he is a cross between Stinkoman and Homsar, and is best friends with Trogdor the burninator (from a secret link in Strong Bad email "Dragon".) Little more is known on this mysterious character!!! '' I have doubts this "secret" character exists. Replace if I'm wrong. User:Dysprosia 02:02, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC) == Everybody to the limit == Quote: The second, ostensibly a music video produced by the character The Cheat for Strong Bad's song "Everybody to the Limit", also features this name for humorous effect. ''The song was recorded by a band called The Skate Party.'' I know that The Skate Party did the The Cheat theme song, but did they record "Everybody to the Limit"? I'm thinking they didn't. Anyone know for sure? :They didn't. At least, if they did, the Brothers Chaps didn't credit them. I've removed that sentence from the article. :--User:Cprompt 01:12, 3 Jan 2004 (UTC) == Dumples == I dunno about the bit that says the CGNU mascot is "the dumple". Somebody just changed it to "Dumples", but that's wrong, so I reverted it -- the ''team'' is the Dumples, but the ''mascot'' is the Dumple. Rarely will a team have a group of things acting as a single mascot. For now I'm just leaving it as it was. --User:Furrykef 08:58, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC) == The Split == I hate to say it, but I liked the monolithic format better. Shouldn't we have discussed it before splitting it back up? --User:Furrykef 14:47, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC) :Not really required...people should be bold in editing. We can talk here about merging it all back together. Personally, I think it was a bit excessive. You could write a whole encyclopedia about the Homestar Runner universe! Right now, there is a detailed yet succint article about Homestar Runner, with links to all of the information that once constituted this enormous article. :-) --User:Cprompt 19:39, May 31, 2004 (UTC) ::Of course you should "be bold", but my understanding is that something really major like splitting up a page usually warrants (fairly recent) discussion first. Nobody wants to go through the pain of splitting something up just to have to go through the pain of patching it back together, right? Though I'm not really complaining...I just had a lot easier time editing it in the monolithic format (you'll note I haven't made any edits here in a long time). --User:Furrykef 13:44, 4 Jun 2004 (UTC) == mostly? == The first paragraph of the entry says that H*R is "available mostly through HomestarRunner.com". Is this a typo, or is it actually available elsewhere? User:SilentT :There is an Easter Egg in Macromedia Central where Homestar and Strong Bad make an appearance, so it's not a typo. However, I can't seem to think of anywhere else, save for the occasional reference here and there. --User:Pidgeot 22:45, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC) ::There are also some cartoons on the Strong Bad Email DVD that are not available on the site, so the phrase "available mostly through HomestarRunner.com" is correct. --User:Mr. Strong Bad 20:24, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC) Image is missing -Psychodonovan == HSR for the Atari 2600? == I believe this project [http://qotile.net/rpg.html] should be mentioned.
Homestar Runner
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Homestar runner
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YouTube.com videos better site than Turbo Tax 2007
