History WebAnimation / HomestarRunner

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Marzipan is the only girl character in the main cast. The situation was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the DVD exclusive toon "Why Come Only One Girl?"
* SpecialEffectFailure: {{Invoked}} in the ''Dangeresque'' films; for example, Strong Bad uses his considerably larger, gray brother Strong Sad as a stunt double and has a scene where he and his costar "climb a skyscraper" that is clearly a piece of cardboard lying flat on the ground... and then Homestar's sunglasses fall off while the camera is still rolling.

** In the Strong Bad Email "original," not only are the characters implied to be actors but Strong Bad claims they are frequently [[ActorSwap replaced]]. He reminisces about the "original Bubs," a clearly-different animated character playing the "role" of Bubs. However by the end of the toon, Bubs arrives and claims Strong Bad is lying and that ''he'' is the original, one-and-only Bubs.

Thanks to TheWikiRule and to its Internet longevity, a [[Wiki/HomestarRunnerWiki disturbingly comprehensive wiki]] has been built up by fans over the years, seen [[http://hrwiki.org/ here]].

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Invoked intentionally with "Crystal Fortress", a song that tells Strong Bad that people love him and that he denies it. He even describes the song as "vomit-inducing".

* SpellMyNameWithAThe: The Cheat, The King of Town, The Poopsmith, etc. Even Homestar started off being called "The Homestar Runner"

* {{Corpsing}}: Mike Chapman can faintly be heard breaking into laughter at the end of [[http://www.hrwiki.org/mirror/cardgage_hardlife.mp3 one Senor Cardgage Quote of the Week]].

* BreakoutCharacter: Strong Bad, who was introduced as a one-dimensional villain/rival character to Homestar Runner, quickly developed into the most prominent character when the [[WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail Strong Bad Emails]] really took off. By the mid-2000s, there were some signs that the Brothers Chaps lamented him eclipsing most of the other characters and made several toons and shorts where he either barely appears ("Date Nite") or doesn't appear at all ("No Hands on Deck"). However, they eventually came back around to embracing him as the site's most popular character and he became the star of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'' and also appeared in ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory''. Even [[https://twitter.com/StrongBadActual the official Twitter]] is in his name.

* UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash: Flash 5 to be exact, later cartoons use Adobe Animate on a Mac.

* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents: Exaggerated, often for comedic effect, but occasionally as plot points. Bubs' accent is based off the Yat, while Coach Z speaks with a bizarre Inland North accent exaggerated to insanity.
* AnachronismStew: The "Old-Timey" era, supposedly the 1930s, contains elements from the 19th Century to the 1950s.

* HalloweenCostumeCharacterization: Every Halloween, the main characters dress up as characters or celebrities that often reflect their own personalities in some way. For example, Coach Z almost always dresses up as rappers from the 80s and 90s, the King of Town typically dresses as food mascots or characters with prominent facial hair, and the Poopsmith shows rather nerdy interests by dressing up as sci-fi and video game characters.

* KillEmAll: In ''Doomy Tales of the Macabre'', Strong Sad takes revenge on the entire cast for not inviting him to their Halloween party, by writing a tale in which every character but himself either dies horribly or [[FateWorseThanDeath faces some other horrible fate]].

** Mid-toon {{Easter Egg}}s became less common in later toons, with no post-hiatus toons having them.

* AbsenteeActor: Strong Bad doesn't appear in email "anything", which was instead answered by Homestar. On the DVD commentary for it, not surprisingly, Strong Bad is quite critical of it.

* OneLastJob: [[spoiler:The Tandy and the Compy]] both want to [[spoiler:check one last email]] in the ''Cliffhangers/Retirement'' arc, and [[spoiler:kidnap the Lappy in order to force Strong Bad to grant this request.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Admiral Flashfight, when Blue Laser's latest scheme is revealed to be that he's ultimately caused skeeball prizes to cost more tickets.
-->"You've made a game for 8-year-olds slightly more of a ripoff. I still don't see how this concerns the military."

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are only eleven main characters and a handful of minor ones... but that's only if you don't count the inanimate objects that are treated like characters, the ''animate'' objects that are treated like characters, the many spinoffs and alternate universes that all have their own versions of the main cast... for perspective, there was [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Everybody_Everybody_Poster a poster]] made in 2004 that featured every single character in the cartoon to date. The cast was as crowded as a mosh pit and took up most of the page. There are quite a few more characters who have been introduced since.
** It's {{Lampshaded}} during the 2009 Decemberween episode, when one of the pictures is of a man dressed in sunglasses and a fedora:
--->'''Strong Bad:''' I give up. You win. I have ''no'' idea what you're supposed to be.\\
'''Strong Sad:''' Well, allow me to explain.\\
'''Strong Bad:''' OH, GREAT!\\
'''Strong Sad:''' He's not simply ''(a picture of a Pom Pom costume appears)'' dressed up as a character, or ''(a picture of a costume of Professor Experimento, played by Pom-Pom)'' a character dressed up as someone else, or ''(a costume of Homestar and Strong Bad as MobileShrubbery appears w/ screenshot)'' a character dressed up as some''thing'' else, or ''(a costume of the detective from ''Where's An Egg?'' w/ character sprite)'' a character from a video game, or ''(costume of Strong Sad as Garden Boy w/ screenshot)'' [[ButHeSoundsHandsome a really cool character dressed up as a super cool guy all the time character]], or ''(costume of "Stave It Off" guy)'' that "Stave it Off" guy-\\
'''Strong Bad:''' I call him Stave!\\
''(costume of "the svelte, young Prince of Town" w/ screenshot)''\\
'''Strong Sad:''' Or an ''alternate version'' of a character. No, no hohoho! ''(sunglasses and fedora costume reappears)'' He's dressed up as an alternate drawing ''(screenshot of The Cheat)'' of an alternate version of a character ''(screenshot of Gunhaver)'' from the Sketchbook! ''(screenshot of [[{{Omake}} a sketch depicting Gunhaver as a human]])''\\
'''Strong Bad:''' All right, that is [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs (a) amazing, (b) depressing, and (c) amazingly depressing]].

* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents: Exaggerated, often for comedic effect, but occasionally as plot points. Bubs' accent is based off the Yat, while Coach Z speaks with a ''very'' overblown Inland North accent.

Since the birth of Matt Chapman's second child in November 2009, the site's flow of new content trickled to a halt. However, in late 2011, Matt confirmed via his Twitter page that the series has not been cancelled and that future updates were coming "sporadically and without warning" (and went so far to say that nobody in their right mind would voluntarily quit making ''Homestar Runner'' altogether). The Brothers Chaps have worked on other projects during the hiatus, including the [[http://www.gamestooge.com/2010/09/03/poker-night-at-the-inventory-announced/ game]] ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'', in which Strong Bad meets up with Tycho (''Webcomic/PennyArcade''), Max (''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''), and the Heavy (''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''), as well as a special guest appearance by Strong Bad and Homestar at [=W00tstock 2013=]. More recently, Matt has become a writer and director for Creator/NickJr's ''Series/YoGabbaGabba'', Creator/TheHub's ''Series/TheAquabatsSuperShow'', and [[Creator/DisneyChannel Disney]]'s ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. Matt and Mike would also go on to create ''WebAnimation/TwoMoreEggs'' for Disney XD which would air in between breaks on that channel. As of 2014, new episodes have finally begun to trickle back in, beginning with [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/aprilfools2014.html a new April Fool's Day intro]] and the music video [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/fisheyelens.html "Fish Eye Lens"]]. See also ''VideoGame/PeasantsQuest''.

Vote for the best 'toon (including sbemails) [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/HomestarRunner here]]!

** In [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/fluffypuff2.html "Fluffy Puff Commercial"]], Homestar tries to record a testimonial commercial for Fluffy Puff Marshmallows. Being TheDitz, he messes up a different way every single take (except for the take where he delivers his lines perfectly, but a {{bird poop|Gag}}s on his head). Eventually, Homestar breaks down and just shouts, "''I like marshmallows!''" and the director decides that's close enough.

--->'''Homestar:''' Before I drink something, oftentimes I eat something too.

* SpellMyNameWithAThe: The Cheat, The King of Town, The Poopsmith, etc.

* TheStrongman: In the Old Timey setting, an AlternateUniverse set in a vaguely 1930's-ish setting, Strong Mad's equivalent is called The Strongman and he dresses in the costume of a circus Strong Man.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: There's a bonus scene at the end of [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/goes4gold.html "Homestar Runner Goes for the Gold"]] where Strong Bad starts making the episode in Mario Paint, and gets as far as one two-frame animation of Dijjery Doo waving when he realizes just how long it's going to take at this rate and decides to just go back to Flash animation. This really happened to the Brothers Chaps when they set out to make the episode.

* DerangedAnimation: "In Search of the Yellow Dello" has intentionally weird animation with Homestar changing shape in every scene, Stong Bad having oven gloves and Homestar having ''ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie''-style eyes instead of his usuall "66" eyes. The "DVD" remake made it even more deranged.