| 1 | [[WMG:[[center:[-''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' '''[[Characters/HomestarRunner Characters Index]]'''\ |
| 2 | '''Main Characters''' | [[Characters/HomestarRunnerAlternateUniverses Alternate Universes]] (''Characters/TeenGirlSquad'', [[Characters/HomestarRunner20X6 20X6]]) | [[Characters/HomestarRunnerOther Other Characters]]]]-]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 5 | !Homestar and Friends |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[folder:Homestar Runner]] |
| 8 | !!Homestar Runner |
| 9 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neweresthomestar.png]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:180:"Evewybody loves the me! I'm a tewwific athlete!"]] |
| 11 | ->Debut: ''"Literature/TheHomestarRunnerEntersTheStrongestManInTheWorldContest"'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Ostensibly the main character of the site. Homestar is a dim but (usually) lovable doofus with no arms and no clue. He means well, but his idiocy often leads him to accidentally say and do things that alienate his friends. Seems to think that he and Strong Bad are buddies, to the chagrin of the latter. |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | * AccidentalMisnaming: A frequent habit of his, to the point where he once called ''Homsar'' "Homestar." |
| 16 | * AchievementsInIgnorance: |
| 17 | ** As Strong Bad put it, "sometimes Homestar does something so stupid, he flips back to smart." To cite one example, his answer for "2+2" is to recite [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb%27s_law Coulomb's Law]]. And when Strong Sad calls him out for that, Homestar realizes his mistake and says that 2+2 equals 22. |
| 18 | ** In "Jibblies 2", Homestar is the only character besides Homsar who doesn't get the Jibblies, because he's too oblivious to be scared by the painting. However, since he's aware of what the Jibblies is, it could be he's just a NiceGuy who's not scared of Rocoulm and obliges his "Come on in here!" command. He ''does'' however, get the Jibblies from the updated version of the painting (where Rocoulm is replaced with some guy's dad) |
| 19 | * AmbiguouslyBi: He's obviously in an on-and-off (and-on-and-off-and-on-and-off) relationship with Marzipan, but in quite a number of appearances, he's displayed what definitely looks like a crush on Strong Bad. At one point when Strong Bad attempts to woo the Ali sisters again, Homestar admits that he may have fallen for Strong Bad. |
| 20 | * ArmlessBiped: Despite his lack of visible arms, he's still capable of activities like typing on a computer. |
| 21 | * BadLiar: Homestar can't lie, and when he does, he usually slips up and reveals what he's trying to hide. Mixed with ActingUnnatural in "I Killed Pom Pom". |
| 22 | * BerserkButton: Telling Homestar that he is not wearing pants will result in him losing his temper, as Strong Bad finds out. However, in "email thunder", he stated that he accidentally took some of Strong Sad's pills, so that likely contributed to his meltdown. |
| 23 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: He, Pom Pom, and Coach Z seem to be the law enforcers in Free Country USA. |
| 24 | * BlahBlahBlah: In "The Li'l Brudder Show". One of his sobbing fits has him blubbering "blah". |
| 25 | * TheBore: Often, the sort who is totally oblivious to the disinterest of whomever he's talking to. He's also the one playing the part of the "office dullard" in Sbemail #37. |
| 26 | * TheCasanova: If hremail 49 is of any indication, Homestar seems to have bits of this, considering him being in a sleepover with some girls and the kiss marks all over his face. |
| 27 | * CastAsAMask: In [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/lappynapped.html this toon]], he initially sounds like [[spoiler:Marzipan]] due to getting a spit bubble caught in his throat. |
| 28 | * CelebrityEndorsement: He had a stint as a spokesathlete for Melonade according to "hremail 7", to the point where it was the only liquid he could drink, talk about, and bathe in until his contract expired. |
| 29 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "Seriously"[[note]]''Sewiosly''[[/note]]. He (extremely) briefly tried to incorporate a new one: "That's bupkus!" |
| 30 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: In his earliest appearances, Homestar wasn't really dumb at all and had a different accent, as well as a more cookie-cutter heroic personality. Besides the athleticism, Homestar was almost an entirely different character to the endearingly-dim, ElmuhFuddSyndwome-accented jock he would later be known as, and it's especially evident in [[FriendlyEnemy his more positive relationship with Strong Bad]]. |
| 31 | * CharacterTics: He tends to flick his head back and forth when he's talking, usually to put emphasis on something. |
| 32 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: While he's usually just a ditz, he can fall into this at times. A particular running gag is forgetting who he even ''is''. |
| 33 | * CoolShades: Even Strong Bad admits he looks cool with sunglasses. |
| 34 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He's generally portrayed as being close to unbeatable in any athletic competition. |
| 35 | * TheCuckoolanderWasRight: He's the only person who can tell that the Thnikkaman is just a PaperThinDisguise of Bubs. |
| 36 | * {{Cult}}: Homestar outright states that he started one in the 2018's April Fools video with his "Always be'sing and do'sing" movement, though in his commercial for it he [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial constantly states it's not a cult]]. |
| 37 | * TheDitz: His level of intelligence tends to fluctuate, but he's consistently shown himself to be dumb as a rock. |
| 38 | * DumbJock: Athletic? Yes. Stupid? Very Yes. |
| 39 | * ElmuhFuddSyndwome: |
| 40 | ** Evewybody loves the Homestaw Wunnew. He's a tewwific athlete. He acknowledges that he has "twouble with [his] aw's." |
| 41 | ** He didn't have it in his high school years, but since the person recounting it was [[UnreliableNarrator Strong Bad]], who has a self-admitted "doodle memory," it's doubtful whether it's true or not. |
| 42 | ** He's able to tone it down when speaking Spanish in the "First Time Here?" video. |
| 43 | * FailedASpotCheck: Part of his ComicallyMissingThePoint personality. |
| 44 | -->'''Marzipan:''' Awww, there there, Homestar. It's not so bad. Everybody thinks I'm a broom.\ |
| 45 | '''Homestar:''' ''(genuinely annoyed)'' You're not a broom?! |
| 46 | * {{Flanderization}}: Along with CharacterizationMarchesOn, Homestar's foolishness became his most prominent character trait in later shorts. |
| 47 | * TheFool: No matter how dangerous the situation may be, Homestar always comes out with no lasting injuries. He doesn't always make it out [[AmusingInjuries unscathed]] though. |
| 48 | * HenpeckedHusband: Or boyfriend in this case as Homestar lives with Marzipan. However, she treats him like environmentally friendly dirt. Subverted in that [[TheMasochismTango Homestar often treats her like dirt, too]]. |
| 49 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He's friends with Strong Bad, despite Strong Bad not considering him to be a friend at all.[[note]]Though they eventually fall into VitriolicBestBuds level late in the series.[[/note]] Though his relationship with Marzipan is more justified, Marzipan has been an abusive girlfriend to him in the past. |
| 50 | * IncrediblyLameFun: Homestar shows a general fascination with bafflingly dull activities, such as spitting Teddy Grahams on the ceiling and waiting for them to fall in his mouth, pretending that one leg is shorter than the other, and the videogame ''Clapping Party''. |
| 51 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: Homestar tends to say things that offend people out of sheer stupidity rather than any malicious intent. This happens especially often with Marzipan, since he tends to insult her without realizing it. |
| 52 | * InvisibleAnatomy: He once wore a long-sleeved coat that actually moved when he picked up something, yet he still has no visible arms. Lampshaded often, such as in April Fool's 2015, when he craves the Trogdor backpack. "Can you imagine having ''three'' arms? I can! ''(shudders in delight)''" |
| 53 | * JerkassBall: Sometimes holds the ball, especially in regard to Marzipan. Once, he refused to answer the phone for her because "I'm busy not answering the phone!" |
| 54 | * JerkassToOne: While Homestar has his jerkish moments, he is usually kind towards others when he's not being innocently insensitive. But he often has fights with his girlfriend Marzipan, getting annoyed at her and insulting her. |
| 55 | * {{Keet}}: Probably the most cheerful character on the site. |
| 56 | * KindheartedSimpleton: A good guy, just incredibly dull-witted. |
| 57 | * LongPants: The Trope Namer, and he's a pretty good example himself since his "pants" seamlessly blend with his shoes. Strong Bad [[DiscussedTrope discusses the trope]] with Homestar in Strong Bad Email #127: "long pants". As it turns out, telling Homestar that he doesn't wear pants is his BerserkButton. |
| 58 | -->'''Strong Bad:''' Let's talk about your pants. Or your lack thereof.\ |
| 59 | '''Homestar:''' What are you talking about? I wear long pants!\ |
| 60 | '''Strong Bad:''' No, from what I can tell, you wear ''no'' pants and have blue soles glued to the bottoms of your feet. |
| 61 | * LovableJock: As mentioned in his quote above, which is a variation of the original children's book's opening line. |
| 62 | * ManChild: Acts very childish for someone who appears to be the same age as Strong Bad. When he checked into a hotel, he ordered a race car bed. And he along with Strong Mad and Homsar are in Marzipan's Kindergarten Class. |
| 63 | * MeaningfulName: As his last name implies, he excels at running and is occasionally seen running for fun. |
| 64 | * MiseryTrigger: Two words. Lil' Brudder. Just the sight of the one-legged puppy will turn Homestar into a [[InelegantBlubbering huge sobbing wreck]]. He tried to defy this trope in "Punkin Stencils", but failed. |
| 65 | -->'''Homestar:''' Oh, I know what you're expecting. Blah, blah, blah, blah, Brudder. Well, I'm over it! You think a simple carving of that pathetic little three-legged two-legger, with one leg, could make...mm...mmm... ''[begins blubbering]'' blah blah blah Brudder! |
| 66 | * MisterSeahorse: He thinks he's a pregnant woman in ''[[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail158.html cliffhangers]]''. |
| 67 | * NakedOnArrival: He claims to be an aversion, in that he was born with his hat on. |
| 68 | * NiceGuy: Tries to be one, when he's not being selfish. |
| 69 | * NoListeningSkills: He is prone to this, being both The Ditz and a Cloud Cuckoolander. For example, in "4 branches", Coach Z tries to warn Homestar about the dangers of exposing a "flame pro-tardant polymascotfoamalate" costume to a campfire. Homestar zones out and imagines a commercial for polymascotfoamalate from the 1930s, then concludes "So I should be perfectly safe!" Then merrily goes on building a campfire inside the costume. |
| 70 | * ObliviousToHatred: Homestar often treats Strong Bad like they're close friends, even though Strong Bad frequently expresses his hatred of Homestar through insults, pranks, and violence. |
| 71 | ** On the other hand, Homestar is also not above pulling the pranks on Strong Bad, like flooding his computer with Mountain Dew. |
| 72 | * OhCrap: When King of Town convinces the Poopsmith that ''Homestar'' was responsible for the missing pile of "whatsit": |
| 73 | -->'''Homestar:''' OhCrap I mean, literal ''crap''. |
| 74 | * OutOfFocus: Not as bad as many similar examples, as he's still a prominent character, but Homestar is generally secondary to [[BreakoutCharacter Strong Bad]] in all but the website's earliest content. |
| 75 | * ThePollyanna: His cheery demeanor doesn't falter even if [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE190Licensed his face is covered in broken glass,]] or [[Recap/HomestarRunnerDoomyTalesOfTheMacabre his legs have spontaneously gained several more knees]]. |
| 76 | * RandomlyReversedLetters: In "The Interview", Homestar's "resume" ([[OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList actually his grocery list]]) has the esses reversed. |
| 77 | * RecognitionFailure: A RunningGag throughout all the Halloween toons is him not recognizing the costumes of others. |
| 78 | * SarcasmBlind: Homestar didn't notice that Bubs was speaking to him in very thinly veiled anger in "Donut Unto Others" missing the tone of his voice, the smoke coming from his head and the fact he's literally red in the face. |
| 79 | * SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: He likes to do this whenever he uses a phone or opens a door, saying sounds like "boop" and "ding-dong." |
| 80 | * SignatureHeadgear: He just [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/wheremyhat.html wouldn't be the same]] without his "[[InsistentTerminology buzzer]]". |
| 81 | * SimpletonVoice: His speech impediment is appropriate for his level of intelligence. |
| 82 | * SmartBall: By default, Homestar is a bit dim, but his intelligence has been known to shoot up whenever the RuleOfFunny kicks in. He once correctly stated Coulomb's law (albeit when asked what 2+2 is), he's capable of speaking Spanish to some extent, he's the one person in Free Country that can see through Bubs' PaperThinDisguise as the Thnikkaman, and he managed to trick ''Strong Bad'' into saying something stupid. Also, when sharing scenes with characters even deeper into {{Cloudcuckooland}} (usually Coach Z, Senor Cardgage, or Homsar), he often can't help but look like the OnlySaneMan in comparison. |
| 83 | * SpellMyNameWithAThe: He used to be known as "The Homestar Runner" before the "The" was dropped. His Old-Timey counterpart is called "The Homestar Runner" as a reference to this. |
| 84 | * StupidSexyFlanders: He manages to cause this reaction to Strong Bad sometimes, most notably in the second Costume Commentary when a hot girl dressed as Homestar is seen. |
| 85 | -->'''Strong Bad''': So confused... what to think? Hot Homestar?! My brain is splitting in half! |
| 86 | * TooDumbToLive: Just to cite one example, he once lit a fire inside of a mascot costume while ''he himself is in it''. That would be stupid even if it weren't made of highly flammable [[AppliedPhlebotinum Polymascotfoamalate]]. Another time he somehow got himself stuck inside an office water cooler. |
| 87 | * TrademarkFavoriteDrink: Melonade. In one of his hremails, Homestar stated that he once had an endorsement deal that had him "contractually unable to drink, talk about, or bathe in any other liquid" until March of 2003. |
| 88 | * TwinThreesomeFantasy: In "Halloween Potion-ma-jig", when Homestar is changed to having only one eye, he's shocked and disappointed to find out he hasn't been dating twin Marzipans the entire time, which seems to imply he likes this trope. |
| 89 | * VerbalTic: He has a peculiar obsession with asking about witch's brew. |
| 90 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Strong Bad. Homestar is usually oblivious to Strong Bad's hatred toward him, although there are occasions where they either get along or the dislike becomes mutual. |
| 91 | * VocalEvolution: Homestar's voice started out as high-pitched and childlike in earlier episodes, but has gotten a bit deeper and gravelly over the years. Sorta explained in the 2014 April Fools episode: he had a piece of crab shell stuck in his throat for several years. Homestar also had something resembling a pseudo-Japanese accent in Marshmallow's Last Stand but it went away almost immediately after. |
| 92 | [[/folder]] |
| 93 | |
| 94 | [[folder:Marzipan]] |
| 95 | !!Marzipan |
| 96 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marzipan_3356.png]] |
| 97 | [[caption-width-right:180:"I'm a fiercely independent woman, and I'm fiercely independent about the soy products I choose."]] |
| 98 | ->Debut: ''"[[Recap/HomestarRunnerMarshmallowsLastStand Marshmallow's Last Stand]]"'' |
| 99 | |
| 100 | Homestar's on-again, off-again girlfriend, largely by the fact of being [[Main/TheSmurfettePrinciple the only major female character on the website.]] Marzipan is a grade-A GranolaGirl whom Strong Bad has described as "a dirty hippie, without the dirt". She tends to protest things at the drop of a hat. Marzipan has also expressed artistic leanings: she frequently sings and plays songs on her guitar Carol, and has been showing painting and indulging in other forms of arts and crafts from time to time. |
| 101 | ---- |
| 102 | * AbhorrentAdmirer: Coach Z to the extent that she put a restraining order on him. Strong Bad tends to occasionally hit on her, to her disgust. Strong Sad himself has shyly put the moves on her once or twice, which annoys her. Amusingly, Marzipan even considers Homestar's romantic advances to her with equal disgust. And Homestar's her ''boyfriend'' (most of the time). |
| 103 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: While not directly stated, it's implied that she recognizes and enjoys Strong Bad's prank calls, stating that the one where she wins a fake radio contest is her favorite. |
| 104 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Even though she seems like the basic hippie chick stereotype, she injures or practically tortures Homestar on frequent occasions (see below), and hurts Strong Bad quite a few times, such as minor cartoon slapstick like hitting him with her guitar, or outright shoves a pencil into his head in [=SBCG4AP=] (the latter after he floated her potted plant in a wading pool.) |
| 105 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She can be pretty loopy sometimes, such as treating a sandwich like it was a talking baby while mistaking Homestar's voice for the sandwich's voice, or insisting to everyone that the {{Kaiju}} Bubs rampaging around Free Country isn't giant because "he's just in the foreground". |
| 106 | * CompanionCube: Aside from her guitar, Carol, Marzipan also tends to treat inanimate objects as if they were people. When Homestar once made her a veggie burger, she goes on to treat it as if it's her and Homestar's own baby. Marzipan is also shown to prefer inanimate versions of Homestar, like an effigy of him made of tofu or a cardboard cut out version of him, over the actual person. |
| 107 | * CrossPlayer: Marzipan usually dresses up as male characters during Halloween, something that gets lampshaded by Homestar in "Most in the Graveyard." |
| 108 | * CrossesTheLineTwice: Her in-universe opinion of the "Authentic 'Marzipan' Costume", which consists of a Marzipan-colored two-piece bikini, a pointed tail, and cat ears. |
| 109 | -->"This is so offensive... that it's not really offensive anymore! I'll take twelve!" |
| 110 | * DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Some of her more extreme actions include locking Homestar in a cupboard for a few months with no food (she'd told him there was cake in there) and handing Strong Bad a rake, and shovel and a Garden Weasel to smash into Homestar's face. This would be horrific if the roles were switched but it's all PlayedForLaughs in this case, especially due to Homestar being a crummy boyfriend himself. |
| 111 | * GagNose: Before she had her "questionable voluntary surgery", she had [[http://www.hrwiki.org/w/images/7/7a/Mam15pernt2.png a really long nose]]. |
| 112 | * GirlyGirl: Being the only girl, she's the most feminine member of the cast. |
| 113 | * GranolaGirl: To the point that Strong Bad once described her as a dirty hippie without the dirt. |
| 114 | * HippyTeacher: She's the teacher at L.U.R.N., which is more or less what happens when you mix a hippie cult with a classroom. |
| 115 | * InvisibleAnatomy: She has no visible limbs, yet she has no trouble doing any regular activities. In an early toon, she slaps Homestar on the face, leaving a bright pink handprint. |
| 116 | * LastNameBasis: A title of a Two-O Duo track in [=SBCG4AP=] referring to "Old Man Marzipan" and Homestar addressing her mom as "Mrs. Marzipan" in ''A Death-Defying Decemberween'' could suggest Marzipan is a last name. |
| 117 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: She seems to be better friends with Strong Sad than she is with her own boyfriend. Especially sister-like in that she still picks on him (it's [[NoRespectGuy part of his schtick,]] after all), but they generally have similar interests and seem to enjoy each other's company. |
| 118 | * LineOfSightName: Her band "Cool Tapes" was created because Homestar once scribbled it on her wall. |
| 119 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Occasionally, she plays this role to Homestar, such as when she registers him as a pet for a pet show competition. |
| 120 | %%* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Implied by the DVD commentary.%%implied how? |
| 121 | * NoAccountingForTaste: Despite being Homestar's girlfriend, Marzipan is shown to not enjoy Homestar's company at all even when they are together in their on-and-off relationship. If her and Homestar do couple stuff together, such as kissing in front of a camera, Marzipan will just trick Homestar into making out with something else besides her to get away from doing it. At one point, Marzipan admits that she and Homestar actually hate each other. When Homestar was the first one to break up with her in [[Recap/HomestarRunnerMrPoofersMustDie Mr. Poofers Must Die]], Marzipan replies indifferently to him with a nonchalant "okay". Despite all of this, Marzipan is usually together with Homestar again in the next cartoon. |
| 122 | * OddFriendship: With Strong Mad. He plays bass in her band Cool Tapes, and apparently helps her with her taxes in exchange for help with his craft projects. |
| 123 | * ReallyGetsAround: A downplayed trope, but Marzipan is known to have "foreign boyfriends" that she cheats on Homestar with. Some of them even leave romantic messages for her in her answering machine. It's apparently known enough with the rest of the cast to the point that Strong Bad once prank called her by pretending to be one of her foreign boyfriends. In addition, Marzipan went on separate dates with The Cheat and Bubs on the same night! |
| 124 | ** If the DVD commentary of [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE115TimeCapsule Time Capsule]] is to be believed, she and Mike Chapman are revealed to be "special friends".[[note]] this was to cover an accidental character break by Missy[[/note]] |
| 125 | * RelationshipRevolvingDoor: Marzipan breaks up, makes up, and outright cheats on Homestar all the time. |
| 126 | * TheSmurfettePrinciple: Marzipan is the only main female character. The others are usually one-time-only characters. Marzipan herself is aware of it and this all gets lampshaded to hell and back by her and the others. |
| 127 | -->"I'm the only girl!" |
| 128 | * SoapBoxSadie: She has a habit of protesting subjects environmentalists typically oppose. This can get ridiculous sometimes, such as literally interpreting the phrase "olly olly oxen free" as an animal liberation cry. "Yeah, Ollie, set those oxen free!" |
| 129 | * StrawVegetarian: Confirmed to be vegan in "Homestar Ruiner." Marzipan has to ask the Blubb-O's fast food restaurant if they serve fast food meat or actual whale meat (since their mascot is a whale) to determine how hard she should actually protest them. Marzipan is an interesting case however, because she also considers soy to be "murder" along with meat because "that way, you'll always feel guilty!" |
| 130 | * {{Tsundere}}: Type A. Even though her treatment of Homestar at times is less than reasonable, she seems to generally enjoy having him around. She never outright admits it, however. |
| 131 | * VitriolicBestBuds: Though she openly and vocally hates Strong Bad, she does occasionally welcome his presence or try to help or hang out with him from time to time. |
| 132 | * VocalEvolution: Her voice is a bit deeper as of ''I Killed Pom Pom''. |
| 133 | * WholesomeCrossdresser: She usually portrays a ''male'' musician as her Halloween costume. Homestar admits it's starting to concern him. |
| 134 | [[/folder]] |
| 135 | |
| 136 | [[folder:Pom-Pom]] |
| 137 | !!Pom-Pom |
| 138 | [[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pom_pom_5773.PNG]] |
| 139 | [[caption-width-right:220:(bubble bubble)]] |
| 140 | ->Debut: ''"Literature/TheHomestarRunnerEntersTheStrongestManInTheWorldContest"'' |
| 141 | |
| 142 | Homestar's best buddy. Despite looking like an orange-and-yellow ball with an ovoid head and arms and only communicating through bubbling noises, Pom-Pom is apparently a hip, tech-savvy ladies' man. |
| 143 | ---- |
| 144 | * TheAce: About the only thing he doesn't excel in is [[VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory Texas hold 'em]] or pet show contests. |
| 145 | * {{Acrofatic}}: Despite his ball-like shape, he once jumped over Strong Badia and the Concession Stand in a single bound, after jumping through the treetops of a nearby forest like a ninja. |
| 146 | * TheArtifact: He rarely does anything of note anymore, but he's still spotted sometimes. |
| 147 | * BadassAdorable: Not only has he been crowned the strongest man in the world, but he's also been voted 'most likely to beat everyone in an all-out death match' ever since he pummeled Strong Bad for trying to pop him with a pin. He's also a martial arts master and has an itchy trigger finger when it comes to firearms, so watch out. |
| 148 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: As mentioned above. His laid-back personality doesn't stop him from being dangerous if provoked. |
| 149 | * ChickMagnet: He's been described as being popular with the ladies by the other characters. |
| 150 | * ClassicallyTrainedExtra: In the extended play of Dangeresque 3, Strong Bad reveals that Pom-Pom is a classically trained actor playing a secondary character, Professor Experimento. |
| 151 | * ClusterFBomb: Once or twice, Pom-Pom has apparently done this, with Homestar gasping and scolding, "Watch your language!" |
| 152 | * DemotedToExtra: Was introduced as Homestar's best friend and played an important role in the site's early history as a favorite of The Brothers Chaps (starring as the ''only'' character in [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/pompom.html their first-ever Flash]] and getting [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/pomwhole.html his]] [[{{ADayInTheLimelight}} Day in the Limelight]] ''well'' before the site caught on in popularity), but seems to have [[{{TheArtifact}} sunk more into the background]] as of late, thanks in no small part to his role as TheUnintelligible limiting his potential for jokes. |
| 153 | * {{Hipster}}: Pom-Pom is established as one in the email "independent" and makes indie films to solidify his indie-cred with other hipsters. |
| 154 | * IntelligibleUnintelligible: Everyone can understand him even though he only speaks in bubbling noises. |
| 155 | * KavorkaMan: Pom Pom apparently gets a lot of chicks, despite being a giant bouncy ball thing. |
| 156 | * OnlySaneMan: As such, he tends to get annoyed whenever Homestar acts particularly stupid. |
| 157 | * ParodySue: In-universe example. Strong Bad seems to think so. |
| 158 | --> ''Stupid Pom-Pom and his boring physical superiority.'' |
| 159 | * SatelliteCharacter: Was first introduced as Homestar's best friend and nothing more, but CharacterDevelopment has been kind enough to give him a few unique traits of his own. |
| 160 | * SilentSnarker: Despite being TheUnintelligible, Pom Pom can often come across as this towards the others through his facial expressions alone, usually when they're acting especially weird. |
| 161 | * StraightMan: Being the OnlySaneMan in a cast full of cuckoolanders, he acts as the straight man to their antics. |
| 162 | * TookTheBadFilmSeriously: InUniverse. It can be reasonably inferred that Pom-Pom, given his reputation as TheAce and that he is a classically trained actor, is one of the few actors in Dangeresque 3 who made an effort to give good performances. That said, he does blunder at least three times, as the extended play reveals. |
| 163 | * TheUnintelligible: He can only speak in bubbling sounds. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | !The Brothers Strong |
| 167 | [[folder:Strong Bad]] |
| 168 | !!Strong Bad |
| 169 | [[quoteright:239:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/currentbad.png]] |
| 170 | [[caption-width-right:239:"You don't know it yet, but [[JustHereForGodzilla I'm the real reason you're here]]. Check me out! No, seriously, check me out."]] |
| 171 | ->Debut: ''"Literature/TheHomestarRunnerEntersTheStrongestManInTheWorldContest"'' |
| 172 | |
| 173 | Arguably the real main character of the website. Strong Bad is an egotistical little man who appears to be wearing boxing gloves and a ''luchador'' mask, though according to him, those are what his face and hands actually look like. His hobbies include tormenting his neighbors (especially Homestar Runner, Marzipan, and Strong Sad), [[Main/FourthWallMailSlot responding to e-mails from his fans]], and playing [[Main/PacManFever retro video games]]. His pet peeves include Homestar and people asking him "How do you type with boxing gloves on?" |
| 174 | |
| 175 | He is [[GuestFighter one of your opponents in]] ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'', along with [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 The Heavy]], [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Max]], and [[WebComic/PennyArcade Tycho]]. |
| 176 | |
| 177 | And he's [[SelfDemonstrating/StrongBad here on TVTropes]], too. |
| 178 | ---- |
| 179 | * AbandonedCatchphrase: Earlier, Strong Bad used to say "Holy crap!" This has now been largely abandoned and he gets annoyed whenever an email is signed with a variation of "crap". |
| 180 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: Strong Bad's reaction to the question: "If spaceman makes bafroom in his pants, does he go boom?" He initially took insult to the question but found it funnier after thinking about it more. |
| 181 | * {{Angrish}}: He once devolved to this when his Compé pretended to crash upon starting up. |
| 182 | * AssholeVictim: He's the biggest jerk on the show, and he also gets hurt a lot. A lot of the pain he suffers tends to be from his villainous schemes blowing up in his face. |
| 183 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Every now and then, he's nice to Strong Sad, suggesting he does care about him deep down. Perhaps best exemplified in email "alternate universe," where Strong Sad plays the guitar for his email song. Strong Bad sincerely thanks him for his help, and Strong Sad replies with a friendly, "No prob, Bob." They also spend most of "concert" genuinely getting along and bonding over their shared love of Sloshy. |
| 184 | * BadBoss: Strong Bad can be pretty cruel to The Cheat, sometimes for no reason at all. It's implied he's kept in check by Strong Mad, however. |
| 185 | * BadLiar: To the point where he forgets that he's even a part of what he's lying about. One such example has him telling someone that he doesn't think The Cheat has a computer despite using it to check an email once. His attempts at prank-calling Marzipan also qualify, not even bothering to change his voice or doing a poor job of disguising it. Many of his pranks consist of telling Marzipan to do stupid things no one with any common sense would do. Marzipan even seems to enjoy hearing his prank calls and gives him suggestions and constructive criticism on them. |
| 186 | * BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: PlayedForLaughs in "for kids", when Strong Bad, in the middle of a meltdown, shouts "I'LL KILL YA! I'LL KILL ALL YOUR DOGS!" |
| 187 | * BerserkButton: He gets annoyed when e-mails ask him how he can type with boxing gloves on or end with any form of the word "crap". |
| 188 | * BigBad: He sure WISHES he was, but he's usually too busy playing video games and doing petty pranks. |
| 189 | * BigBrotherBully: While his villainous side has mostly been {{Flanderized}} away, he still regularly bullies and abuses his younger brother Strong Sad. Even his less physically harmful treatment of Strong Sad is well into psychological abuse territory. |
| 190 | * BlatantLies: One of his defining attributes, as a consequence of his BadLiar status and his SmallNameBigEgo attitude. He'll lie about things that just happened, right in front of the person listening to him. |
| 191 | * BoisterousWeakling: Though his level of physical prowess depends somewhat on the cartoon, between "reasonably competent" and "laughably outclassed", it's consistently far less than whatever he claims it to be. |
| 192 | * BreakoutCharacter: He started out as the bad guy who opposed Homestar Runner, before eventually becoming the face of the whole site, even getting [[VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople his own video game series]]. |
| 193 | * BuffySpeak: He has a habit of making up his own words. Strong Sad even called him out on it in the "Fan Club" email. |
| 194 | * BullyingADragon: He ''intentionally'' ticks off [[DumbMuscle Strong Mad]] sometimes. |
| 195 | * CardCarryingVillain: He sometimes thinks of himself as this. Why ask to borrow Homestar's newspaper when you can steal it dressed as a cat burglar? |
| 196 | * CasanovaWannabe: He considers himself a ladies' man, yet he's never seen with any around. In fact, the only woman he does interact with hates him. |
| 197 | * CharacterBlog: Has a Twitter account that can be found [[https://twitter.com/strongbadactual here]]. |
| 198 | * CharacterCatchphrase: Aside from "Holy crap!", which he has largely abandoned, his catchphrase is any variation of "DELETED!" Earlier, he occasionally says "Haselos theselos, haselos theselos" whenever he gets excited. |
| 199 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: He's gone from being the main villain and Homestar's foil to just a jerk who occasionally inconveniences people. His relationship with Homestar has also improved dramatically from the days of their rivalry; especially since the April Fools Day 2015 cartoon and on. He seems much less annoyed with Homestar and even tries to get him to come to the fallout shelter when Flash is 'dying.' His treatment of his brothers and The Cheat has also evolved as well; early on he was downright ''abusive'' towards Strong Sad and treated the Cheat more as an underling, but as the episodes went on, he changed to actually getting along with Strong Sad on occasion (while still throwing the occasional jab) and treating The Cheat more as an endeared pet/surrogate little brother. |
| 200 | * CheatersNeverProsper: Most of the time. |
| 201 | * TheChewToy: Getting HundredPercentCompletion in ''[[VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople Baddest of the Bands]]'' requires the player to find all five ways of Strong Bad getting abused. |
| 202 | * ChildishOlderSibling: To Strong Sad, who is smarter and more sane and often points out holes in Strong Bad's schemes. |
| 203 | * CloudcuckoolandersMinder: He spends a fair amount of time looking after his not-all-there older brother Strong Mad, up to and including arranging play dates with Homestar for him. It's [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold one of his kinder traits,]] and just about the only one he doesn't hide away in shame. |
| 204 | * ComedicUnderwearExposure: He's been caught in his tighty-whities sometimes. |
| 205 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: He often misinterprets the e-mails he receives, although sometimes he does this on purpose. |
| 206 | * CoolMask: He wears a luchador mask, or rather, his luchador mask is his face. |
| 207 | * CruelToBeKind: One way of interpreting his relationship with Strong Sad. At times, Strong Sad has stated that he wants to be miserable. With that taken into consideration, Strong Bad's bullying could be seen as this trope, in that he is giving Strong Sad exactly what he wants. The 2022 Decemberweenvent Calendar seems to confirm this; when he refers to the calendar as "Disappointo," Strong Sad gets offended because he thought ''he'' was "Disappointo". |
| 208 | * DeadpanSnarker: Since he strives to be a bad guy, he doesn't bother trying to be polite. |
| 209 | * DefiantStoneThrow: He, or rather, his headless body, once opposed the King of Town by throwing stones at him. |
| 210 | * {{Defictionalization}}: In-universe, a lot of things Strong Bad makes up become real, like the bands Limozeen and Taranchula and the cartoon Sweet Cuppin' Cakes. |
| 211 | --> '''Strong Bad''': I kinda black out a lot lately and when I wake up sometimes things I made up in my brain come to life. I practically pee my pants every time a Cheat Commandos comes on. |
| 212 | * DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Strong Bad's attempts to cheat often backfire on him. |
| 213 | * DiscoDan: |
| 214 | ** Aside from the New Paper and the Compé, he has ridiculously outdated technology. For starters, he considered [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Mode 7]] to be state-of-the-art. He also seems to have quite an affinity for video games OlderThanTheNES. When he does use new technology, he's shown to be very out of touch with it, such as trying to enter the email command in The Cheat's [=iMac G3=] from 2002. When he gets the out-of-his-competence-zonely modern Compé, he mistakes the wallpaper for a full-colored photo taped to the monitor, and when it's crushed by six years worth of dust into another older-style computer, the Lappier, he considers it a step ''up''. |
| 215 | ** Strong Bad's tastes in media appear to be locked into the early 90s at best (and frequently much older). The biggest example of this is probably Limozeen, a hair metal band which Strong Bad continues to follow years on from the genre's mainstream collapse. |
| 216 | * DrunkOnMilk: He once acted drunk after drinking soy sauce. |
| 217 | * EpicFail: He once tried to ruin The Cheat and Marzipan's date by acting as an Italian chef... despite being in Marshmallow's L'est Stand, a ''French'' restaurant. |
| 218 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Strong Bad does care about his friends and family deep down, but out of all the characters, he especially has a soft spot for The Paper. He mourns his green striped friend ever since it died. |
| 219 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 220 | ** While the canonicity of this is up for debate, in ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'', when [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 The Heavy]] delves into RussianHumor about [[ColdBloodedTorture what he did to an Engineer]], Strong Bad replied "'''That is some [[SoundEffectsBleep [BLEEP]-ed]] up [[SoundEffectsBleep [BLEEP] ]], man!'''" The Heavy also tells a story about [[KidsAreCruel a boy killing a sparrow, then running away, leaving the Heavy to bury it]]. Strong Bad replies "That's not even a little bit funny, man". This time, the Heavy agrees with this statement. |
| 221 | ** When he believed he had popped Pom Pom at the request of an emailer, he starts to feel bad and berates the emailer for making him do it. He then writes a sorrowful letter to Pom Pom's parents. |
| 222 | * EvenTheGuysWantHim: A couple of instances with Homestar, plus an email from a lovestruck dude named Brian. Strong Bad takes the time to answer him in an email to ward him off: |
| 223 | -->Look, man, unless Brian is short for... "Brianrietta" or "Brian-Sue" or something like that, it's just not gonna work out between you and me, alright? Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams, Strong Bad. |
| 224 | * EvilIsCool: {{Invoked}} and ZigZagged. Undoubtedly the reason why he keeps trying to proclaim himself a villain when he [[HarmlessVillain clearly]] [[PokeThePoodle isn't]]. Meanwhile, when he's genuinely abusive to his brother, it's never played as ''cool''. |
| 225 | * ExpressiveMask: Justified in that his mask is actually his face. The one time he took it off ([[TheUnReveal offscreen]]), it caused him extreme agony and gurgling noises. |
| 226 | * {{Expy}}: Strong Bad gets both his name and the red-masked luchador appearance from the Data East NES game ''Tag Team Wrestling''. |
| 227 | * GenreSavvy: He often incorporates his knowledge of video games and movies into his logic. |
| 228 | * GoryDiscretionShot: The viewer never sees what happens while Strong Bad is removing his "mask". Given that the experience was incredibly painful, it was probably for the best. |
| 229 | * GrammarNazi: Strong Bad will always make fun of people whose emails have bad spelling and grammar. |
| 230 | * HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday: He often reminds people that he has many girlfriends, none of which are ever actually seen. |
| 231 | * HiddenDepths: There's many layers to Strong Bad's character, even if he'd deny it. |
| 232 | ** He's an avid metalhead, a decent if amateurish director in the ''Dangeresque'' movies, and occasionally shows a more keen awareness of the world than others, usually when [[JerkassHasAPoint pointing out the moronic activities of his neighbors.]] |
| 233 | ** In the email "lures & jigs", Strong Bad admits that he is a CasanovaWannabe and does not know anything about the ladies... but then he immediately catches what he is saying and runs off in embarrassment. |
| 234 | ** His comical edits of children's books usually make things worse for the characters but in "Strong Bad Classics!", he modifies the ending so the porridge maiden is able to make a name for herself as an internet star in the afterlife instead of becoming Death's stay-at-home housewife. |
| 235 | * HypocriticalHumor: |
| 236 | ** He enjoys criticizing people's grammar, but his own grammar isn't perfect either. |
| 237 | ** He finds it ridiculous that someone would still use Windows 98 even though his technological preferences are even more outdated |
| 238 | * ImNotDoingThatAgain: Strong Bad says this immediately after he removes his mask (or rather, rips his face off) and promptly puts it back on. |
| 239 | * IneffectualSympatheticVillain: |
| 240 | ** The emails "rampage" and "your edge" has Strong Bad getting called out on it and trying his absolute best to assure everyone that he's not, [[PokeThePoodle with mixed results]]. |
| 241 | ** Zig-zagged with his career as a thief. He's been known to break into the King of Town's castle not just unopposed (there's usually only one actual guard, The Poopsmith) but also undetected until the next day. At the same time, his absolute lack of a budget and the ClosedCircle nature of Free Country means there aren't a lot of places for him to hide. |
| 242 | * InsaneTrollLogic: In the sbemail "caffeine", his science project consists of pouring coffee into Strong Sad's orange juice, which makes him hyperactive, say weird, random things, and eventually have a caffeine crash. Somehow, this leads him to the conclusion that [[AdoptionDiss Strong Sad is adopted]]. |
| 243 | * InsufferableImbecile: In addition to being very mean, he is often shown to be not very smart. |
| 244 | * InsultBackfire: His prank calls on Marzipan are so bad, that in "Marzipan's Answering Machine version 4.0", Marzipan actually suggests Strong Bad call her with a particular prank call because it's her favorite. |
| 245 | * {{Jerkass}}: Strong Bad has been a jerk to ''everyone'': his friends, his family, and even his fans; the email "your friends" in particular really highlights how much of a jerk Strong Bad can be. The only person he has never been mean to is the Little Girl. |
| 246 | * JerkassHasAPoint: On occasion, he's quick to point out the idiocy of others, such as in "A Decemberween Mackerel". |
| 247 | -->'''Strong Bad''': What's goin' on here?\ |
| 248 | '''Marzipan''': Help, quick! I think Senor Cardgage is dying!\ |
| 249 | '''Strong Bad''': And what makes you think that?\ |
| 250 | '''Marzipan''': He told me so when I brought him a hot covered dish to brighten his dismal life.\ |
| 251 | '''Strong Bad''': ''He'' told you. [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter You decided to take, at face value, something]] [[CrazyHomelessPeople the guy who lives in a bush and talks to melty candy bars said]].\ |
| 252 | '''Marzipan''': Maybe?\ |
| 253 | '''Strong Bad''': And, who not fifteen minutes ago, told me I "[[{{Malaproper}} might paste away if I Dinty Moore.]]"\ |
| 254 | '''Senor Cardgage:''' You rally might, Pez Dispenser. |
| 255 | * JerksUseBodySpray: In keeping with his characterization as a wannabe "cool dude", Strong Bad douses himself in body spray while preparing for a night at Club Technochocolate in "nightlife". Though he insists to Strong Sad that it's "the blood of slain warrior-mammoths". |
| 256 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: There have been occasions where Strong Bad gets along perfectly fine with other people, even helping them out. He has a reputation as the resident {{Jerkass}} to uphold, but he also cares about his family and friends and ''does'' spend actual quality time with him. This also includes ''Strong Sad''. |
| 257 | * KarmicButtMonkey: He's not as big of a ButtMonkey as Strong Sad and The King Of Town, but Strong Bad's attempts at various schemes tend to end in embarrassment and pain that he very much deserves due to how mean and antagonistic he is. |
| 258 | * KickTheDog: While Strong Bad is generally a HarmlessVillain with a tendency to PokeThePoodle, he does have these moments when he gets a little more aggressive/violent. |
| 259 | * LargeHam: He can be over-the-top sometimes. |
| 260 | * LaughablyEvil: In spite of aspiring to be a villain, he is the source of a lot of the show's humor because of his schemes and antics bordering on immature and nonsensical as well as his tendency to be set off by very trivial things. |
| 261 | * LittleBigBrother: Much smaller than his younger brother Strong Sad. |
| 262 | * LovingBully: There are occasional hints that, despite constantly harassing and insulting Marzipan, Strong Bad secretly has a crush on her. The most blatant example is [[http://www.hrwiki.org/w/images/8/89/TwitterActuallyDene.jpg his list of prank ideas]], where a scribbled-out entry reads, "Tell Marzipan how you really feel about her. Time is running out!" |
| 263 | * ManOfAThousandVoices: He provides the voices of all the characters of Teen Girl Squad. In addition, he could speak in Stinkoman's voice perfectly. |
| 264 | * MaskedLuchador: He used to be a wrestler with all sorts of gimmicks. The only kind he didn't use was being a masked wrestler, despite having a mask for a face. |
| 265 | * MatureYoungerSibling: To Strong Mad, he orders him around and sometimes looks after him like a younger brother. |
| 266 | * MenaceDecay: Acknowledged in the sbemail "Your Edge". |
| 267 | * MetaGuy: He breaks the fourth wall more than most of the other characters combined. |
| 268 | * MetalScream: And the Trogdor comes in the NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!!!! |
| 269 | * {{MST}}: [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes.html On]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes05.html some]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes06.html Costumes]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes2007.html made]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes08.html by]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes2009.html fans]] They are quite funny. Not to mention [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemailintro.html the site intro]]. |
| 270 | * TheNapoleon: Strong Bad is the shortest of the Brothers Strong (and one of the shortest main characters), and is easily the biggest jerk among them. |
| 271 | * {{Narcissist}}: He's convinced that he is the paragon of handsomeness, to the point where he once got distracted by a dancing toy of himself. Interestingly, he often imagines himself as being more buff than he actually is. |
| 272 | * {{Neologizer}}: So much so that he's written an entire dictionary of his expressions. [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Glossary Many of them are here]]. |
| 273 | * NostalgiaFilter: Strong Bad frequently shows a preference for old technology instead of new technology. He's repeatedly shown his disdain towards the New Paper for being worse than the old Paper, and once mocked The Cheat for using "new computers." When he discovers that the sound the Compé-per makes could be changed, he replaces its pop-up sound with the first Paper's sound. This quote from when the original Paper failed sums it up best: |
| 274 | -->The Paper, NOOO! Why do all my thirty-year-old electronics keep breaking on me? |
| 275 | * NotAMask: Strong Bad's "mask" is actually his face. In the sbemail "the chair", he removes his "mask", but his new chair was blocking everything. Considering that the experience was incredibly painful for him (and that he actually ripped his face off), it was for the better. |
| 276 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: Despite his "PokeThePoodle" behavior he can have pretty nasty moments, such as the abuse he heaps on Strong Sad and The Cheat and his more violent tendencies. This is also parodied in "Best Caper Ever", where he and The Cheat [[MindScrew can't seem to remember how they got Homestar stuck in the Arctic after peeing in his melonade]]. |
| 277 | * OnlySaneMan: Will occasionally play this part, usually snarking about the moronic activities that the others do. |
| 278 | * OohMeAccentsSlipping: {{Lampshaded}} in the April Fool's 2014 return when Strong Bad notes his voice doesn't have a Mexican accent anymore. |
| 279 | * PetTheDog: Though it's usually on Strong Sad's part, there are times when Strong Bad actually gets along with him or even does not bully him at all. One particularly moving example is when Strong Bad plans to throw a pie at Strong Sad, but he catches him playing "Some Things Last A Long Time" by Music/DanielJohnston, who at the time recently died. He could not bring himself to see the plan through and decided to give Strong Sad a day to grieve in peace. |
| 280 | * PokeThePoodle: As the years wore on, Strong Bad's ideas of evil acts shifted toward not inflating a deflated basketball, throwing feathers at people (he claimed he couldn't afford the hot tar), and spreading mayonnaise all over the living room and waiting almost half-an-hour before cleaning it up. |
| 281 | -->"'''THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES!! Can you believe!!'''-yeah okay, we're losing our edge." |
| 282 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Played for laughs. Strong Bad doesn't seem to like the English and once made remarks that brought the entire royal family to tears. When asked to comment on the matter, Strong Bad replied "Screw all ya'll!" |
| 283 | * PromWrecker: Attempts to humiliate everyone at the local prom with [[TheNudifier a device that will make everyone's pants disappear]]. However, it turns out that [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he's the only one who actually wears pants]], so he's the only one humiliated. |
| 284 | * RealityWarper: Somehow, a large number of things that start out only existing in his imagination later become real. ''Cheat Commandos'' and ''Sweet Cuppin Cakes'' were things he just invented on the spot, yet they later became a real [[ShowWithinAShow cartoons within a cartoon]], and, as the above quote under {{Defictionalization}} implies, he's not entirely sure of how this happens (all he knows is that he'll pass out for a bit and when he comes to, whatever he made up is now real). Perhaps best exemplified in-universe in the Sbemail "pizza joint," where midway through making a fake pizza joint to attract girls, he "somehow created a successful and well-reviewed pizza joint!" |
| 285 | * RealMenWearPink: [[UnmanlySecret Not that he'd admit to it,]] but he's been shown to like a lot of "girly" things, like pretending he's a grandma baking, female empowerment songs, and swim aerobics. Mostly, it's to show that his "tough guy" persona is ''very'' much an act, and he's more sensitive than he lets on. |
| 286 | * RedBoxingGloves: His boxing gloves are actually his hands. |
| 287 | * RedeemingReplacement: A downplayed example twice over. Unlike his earlier coutnerparts (Old Timey Strong Bad and Tiny Handed Strong Bad) he's not a villain for villain's sake and has a hidden softer side that he denies. In turn, his replacement down the line, Stinkoman is an anime protagonist out to fight the bad guys rather than a prankster, even if he's still rude and dissmissive of his allies. |
| 288 | * RoguesGallery: Refers to himself, Strong Mad, and The Cheat as a "multi-purpose criminal element" in his character video. However, they are [[HarmlessVillain not much of a threat.]] |
| 289 | * SelfServingMemory: As he puts it, his memory is less photographic, and more of a doodle. It's pretty heavily implied that the more outlandish parts of his flashbacks are the result of this. He seemed genuinely convinced, for instance, that Pom Pom exploded when he pricked him with a pin, as opposed to what happened, which was that he missed and Pom Pom kicked his ass. |
| 290 | * SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The heavy-metal-listening, skirt-chasing, bare-chested Manly Man to Strong Sad's Sensitive Guy... in his mind, anyway. In reality, it's shown that he [[RealMenWearPink is a lot more feminine and sensitive than he lets on,]] and he and Strong Sad actually have a ''lot'' of interests and preferences in common. His love of heavy metal and other "edgy" things is genuine, but he also likes mud baths with {{Cucumber Facial}}s, for example. |
| 291 | * SmallNameBigEgo: One of his most defining characteristics is how inflated his ego is compared to his actual accomplishments. |
| 292 | * SmokingIsCool: Zig-Zagged. The private office he works in sometimes almost always has a lit cigarette in an ashtray next to him, especially when he's playing the hardboiled P.I. Dangeresque in his homemade ''Dangeresque'' films. However, he's rarely seen actually holding it, and usually uses it just to fill the air with smoke. He actually DID smoke a cigar [[http://www.hrwiki.org/w/images/d/d7/Thank_You_2.PNG once]], but there's no way of seeing the short toon anymore.[[note]]To see it, you had to buy something from the store between 5 AM and 11:59 PM, but even then there was only a 1/3 chance that that was the one you would see. And on top of that, they discontinued the store messages in 2008.[[/note]] Coach Z once found him "smoking," but Strong Bad denies being a smoker, and admits it's just a white crayon he lit on fire so he can use it to get a smoke break after he used all his other breaks that day, including maternity. |
| 293 | * SpotlightStealingSquad: He's had more screen time and importance than the character the website is actually named after. |
| 294 | * TalkingInYourSleep: For some reason, he tends to mumble names of various Platform/SuperNES games while dozing. |
| 295 | * {{Technopath}}: We've actually seen how he types with boxing gloves -- he just bumps his fists against the keys and magically gets the letters he wants. However, this isn't limited to just his fists; not only can he type with his forehead and feet, the words that result still match his mood (despair, hyperactivity, etc.) |
| 296 | * UnexplainedAccent: While his Hispanic accent [[VocalEvolution has been toned down over the years]], and it does fit with his luchador mask-styled face, there's still no explanation for why he has it when neither of his brothers speaks with the same accent. |
| 297 | * UnmanlySecret: He absolutely does not like to admit that he takes swim aerobics classes down at the rec center, or that he likes pretending he's a grandma baking cookies with her friends. |
| 298 | * UnreliableNarrator: His massive ego, combined with his "doodle memory", means his recollection of past events is usually warped beyond recognition. One flashback from his perspective is told like a storybook, while another showed his high school years as a hip Creator/HannaBarbera-style AmateurSleuth cartoon. |
| 299 | * TheUnreveal: In a sbemail, Strong Bad takes off his mask... [[spoiler:only for his chair Le Restige to block the view. Considering that his "mask" is actually his face, it was probably for the best.]] He also showed pictures of his parents in the same episode. [[spoiler:Again, Le Restige blocked that, too.]] |
| 300 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: Sort of, he at least showed Strong Sad some affection when they were little. |
| 301 | * UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Thanks to being a {{Jerkass}}, a lot of bad things that happen to him are PlayedForLaughs. |
| 302 | * VillainDecay: Started out as a genuine menace and rival to Homestar, before sliding into more of a HarmlessVillain, before finally turning in a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who's VitriolicBestBuds with Homestar. Despite all this, Strong Bad is still absolutely convinced that he's a full-on badass. Suffice it to say, he's not. Perhaps best summarized by the email "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE197YourEdge your edge]]", where he's confronted about it by a fan and tries (and fails) to counter their point. |
| 303 | * VillainProtagonist: He aspires to be one, and is to a degree when one considers some of his crueller acts. However, he's a HarmlessVillain for the most part. |
| 304 | * VitriolicBestBuds: What his relationship with Homestar evolved into, becoming his co-star in the ''Dangeresque'' films and co-workers at some unnamed cubicle corporation. |
| 305 | * VocalEvolution: In early cartoons, he has some kind of Hispanic accent. There's even a DVD-exclusive email entirely about Strong Bad's old accent. There are still traces of the accent in his current voice, but it's nowhere near as thick as it was in his earlier appearances. |
| 306 | * WalkingShirtlessScene: He's almost never seen wearing a shirt. |
| 307 | * WouldHarmASenior: He regularly bullies the King of Town, both verbally and physically. |
| 308 | * WouldHitAGirl: He insults Marzipan on a regular basis and has tried to hurt or even kill her several times throughout the series, but he's never actually succeeded. |
| 309 | * WrongGenreSavvy: His genre savviness can end up being this sometimes. |
| 310 | [[/folder]] |
| 311 | |
| 312 | [[folder:Strong Mad]] |
| 313 | !!Strong Mad |
| 314 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strong_mad_1184.png]] |
| 315 | [[caption-width-right:180:"I'M STRONG MAD!!!!! ''[beat]'' I DON'T LIKE THIS MOVIE!!! ''[another beat; smiles]'' I LIKE THE CHEAT! Ummm... BREAKING STUFF!"]] |
| 316 | ->Debut: ''"Super NES"'' |
| 317 | |
| 318 | Strong Bad's [[DumbMuscle hulking brute]] big brother. Doesn't say much, but what he does say is always said in a sort of guttural half-shout. Best buds with The Cheat. |
| 319 | ---- |
| 320 | * AffectionateNickname: Strong Bad sometimes calls him "Graw Mad" as a term of endearment. According to the commentary for the Strong Bad E-Mail "car", this name came about because it was how the creators' niece pronounced Strong Mad's name at the time. |
| 321 | * AndCallHimGeorge: He once stayed over at Homestar's house to play. Homestar got buried under cinderblocks, had the Concession Stand thrown at him, and got hit by a meteorite. Though the meteorite wasn't Strong Mad's fault. |
| 322 | * BecomingTheMask: If given a role, he takes it ''very'' seriously. |
| 323 | * BerserkButton: Whatever you do, do ''not'' harm The Cheat unless you want to face his wrath. |
| 324 | * BigBrotherBully: He sometimes torments Strong Sad, though not to as great of an extent as Strong Bad does. He is also not above tormenting Strong Bad, especially if he lashes out at The Cheat. |
| 325 | * TheBigGuy: When he's not helping Strong Bad in his schemes, he acts like the dumb, strong guy of the group. |
| 326 | * BoisterousBruiser: He's big and strong, highly protective of The Cheat, and has NoIndoorVoice. |
| 327 | * BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: He has a big letter "M" on his singlet. |
| 328 | * BruiserWithASoftCenter: As much of a DumbMuscle guy that he is, he really likes The Cheat. |
| 329 | * TheBrute: He serves as the muscle in Strong Bad's schemes. |
| 330 | * ChildishOlderSibling: Strong Mad is the eldest, but is a man-child who acts like a younger brother to Strong Bad and Strong Sad. |
| 331 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Although he is the eldest of the Strong brothers, he's also the most naïve. Not only does he [[NoIndoorVoice not have an indoor voice]], but, according to Strong Bad, he also has "a pretty tenuous grasp on the English language." Example: |
| 332 | -->'''Strong Bad:''' Hey, Strong Mad, what's my favorite movie?\ |
| 333 | '''Strong Mad:''' GARBLEDINA! |
| 334 | * TheDitz: Possibly the dumbest character in the series. |
| 335 | * DumbMuscle: He's strong enough to carry Bubs' Concession Stand, yet dumb enough to fall for Homestar's PaperThinDisguise as The Cheat. |
| 336 | * ExtremeOmnivore: He eats everything but guitars. Yes, he also eats The Cheat. Several times to give him baths, if Strong Bad is to be believed. [[ExaggeratedTrope He can even drink internet bandwidth.]] |
| 337 | * FormerlyFat: In his teenage years, Strong Mad had more fat than muscle, especially in the sbemail "high school". |
| 338 | * GentleGiant: For all his muscle and hostility, he also has a big heart and a soft side, especially towards The Cheat, [[PapaWolf of whom he is quite defensive]]. |
| 339 | * GiftedlyBad: He's got quite the creative streak; from computer art to animation to origami, he's often shown dabbling in some kind of arts and crafts project... and they're all absolutely terrible. (His "origami" is just crumpled paper balls, for example.) That said, RuleOfFunny is in full effect, so he can occasionally make incredible things (like a lifelike standee of [[ItMakesSenseInContext the back of his head]]) when it'd be most humorous. |
| 340 | * HairTodayGoneTomorrow: He has no hair aside from his eyebrows. The sbemails "high school" and "imaginary" portray him with red, curly hair in his teenage years. |
| 341 | * HiddenDepths: Strong Mad seems to have hidden levels of intelligence. He has musical talent, as he is an excellent death metal singer, plays bass for Marzipan's band, and has played the drums in high school. He spent an entire night making a hiding spot (a copy of himself attempting to hide behind The Stick, where he usually hides every game) which impressed Strong Bad. He cracked a joke Strong Bad admitted was funny. He also helped Marzipan with income taxes to get her to make papier-mâché skulls for him. |
| 342 | * ManChild: While Strong Mad is the oldest of the Strong brothers, he is also the most childish and naïve. One good example is the short "Play Date", when he gets sent to Homestar to be babysat. |
| 343 | -->'''Strong Bad:''' [[WhamLine Hey, thanks for babysitting the little guy for me, Homestar]].\ |
| 344 | '''Homestar:''' [[BigWhat What]]?\ |
| 345 | '''Strong Mad:''' [sadly] Awwww, time to go?\ |
| 346 | '''Strong Bad:''' Yeah, sorry, man. Cinder blocks, structural damage, and meteors? It is definitely time for your nap.\ |
| 347 | [Strong Mad sulks and follows Strong Bad.] |
| 348 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''STRONG MAD.'' And when he's acting in the Dangeresque movies, he's called "Killingyouguy," and as such, is the page image for this trope. |
| 349 | * NoIndoorVoice: He shouts nearly all of his lines in a loud, grunting voice. Lampshaded by Strong Bad in "the facts", where he says Strong Mad has "zero volume control" and demonstrates it thusly: |
| 350 | -->'''Strong Bad:''' Hey, biggest bro. Mom says to keep it down 'cause baby Strong Sad's sleeping.\ |
| 351 | '''Strong Mad:''' I CAN BE THE QUIETEST MOUSE! '''I LIVE IN THE QUIETEST HOUSE!!''' |
| 352 | * NobodyLovesTheBassist: He serves as the bassist in Marzipan's band, but he doesn't get much recognition. On Cool Tapes' song in Weclome Back, when one of their songs listed the names of the band members, he's only referred to as their bass player. |
| 353 | * NoNeckChump: The one quality about him that barely disqualifies him as AmbiguouslyHuman. |
| 354 | * OddFriendship: With Marzipan. Not only does he play bass in her band Cool Tapes, but he apparently helps with her taxes in exchange for help with his craft projects. They seem to bond over their mutual artsiness, even though Strong Mad's craft skills are... questionable. |
| 355 | * OffscreenTeleportation: In "[[VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople Homestar Ruiner]]". |
| 356 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: A caffeine-crazed Strong Sad freaks him out so badly in one sbemail, he actually speaks in a normal tone of voice ("Did you just say 'parakeet'?!") |
| 357 | * OverlyNarrowSuperlative: He once set the record for "Most Macaronis Nailed To A Paper Towel Tube... By Strong Mad."[[note]]Just one![[/note]] |
| 358 | * PapaWolf: Towards The Cheat. |
| 359 | * PerpetualFrowner: His default expression is a big, angry frown. He has smiled on occasion though. |
| 360 | * SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Averted, even when he wears glasses, he doesn't get any smarter. |
| 361 | * TerribleArtist: He apparently has a creative streak and has dabbled in the arts from time to time, but his creations aren't really that good. His attempt at drawing a dragon is just carving the word "DAGRON" into his desk, his attempts at origami are just a bunch of crumpled-up paper balls, he once sent Strong Bad a childish MS Paint drawing of a brontosaurus having breakfast, his macaroni art portrait version of Strong Bad leaves plenty to be desired, and the first cartoon he made (called "Doug the Dino") was a crude and nonsensical claymation short. Much later, his "magnum opus", "[[https://twitter.com/StrongBadActual/status/1048253954524700672 Swordguys vs Skullguys]]", was revealed, and it's, er... [[DamnedByFaintPraise considerably better than "Doug the Dino."]] |
| 362 | [[/folder]] |
| 363 | |
| 364 | [[folder:Strong Sad]] |
| 365 | !!Strong Sad |
| 366 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strong_sad_9578.png]] |
| 367 | [[caption-width-right:180:"Each day, we die a little more."]] |
| 368 | ->Debut: ''"Super NES"'' |
| 369 | |
| 370 | Strong Bad's depressed, sarcastic and possibly undead punching bag of a younger brother. Years of being picked on by his brothers have given him an outlook on life that's as grim and gray as he is. Strong Sad is fairly smart, though, and occasionally gets one over on Strong Bad. He's also noted for his elephant or rhino feet, which he calls "soolnds." |
| 371 | ---- |
| 372 | * AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: Has a habit of pronouncing words as if they had accented letters when they don't, to sound fancy or erudite or something. |
| 373 | * AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Downplayed; Strong Bad certainly considers him this, but he's still a huge BigBrotherBully who picks on Strong Sad far more often than the other way around. There are occasions where Strong Sad will mess with Strong Bad, though, [[http://twitter.com/StrongBadActual/status/1020068584964481025 like in this video]]. |
| 374 | * ArbitrarySkepticism: Finds the idea of a bear holding a shark preposterous, on the basis that "these strange creatures just aren't real". As Strong Bad points out, he's saying this despite being "an elephant-footed ghost man". |
| 375 | * TheBore: He's rather resigned to the fact that nobody except Marzipan and Homsar is interested in his art, poetry, and music. (And it's hard to tell with [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Homsar.]]) |
| 376 | * ButtMonkey: He suffers more abuse than everyone else on the site, usually from Strong Bad. |
| 377 | * BigLittleBrother: He's the youngest of three siblings but is taller than Strong Bad. |
| 378 | * CharacterBlog: [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sadjournal/index.html Here]], though "I haven't updated that thing in years." In keeping with his EmoTeen characterization, it's modelled on Website/LiveJournal. |
| 379 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "Each day we die a little more..." |
| 380 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: His original primary characterization was being whiny and depressed. As part of his generally depressing persona, he picked up a preference for TrueArtIsAngsty. This artsy side of him gradually took over more of his character, until he morphed from a depressed sadsack to a nerdier-than-thou hipster who's more geeky than gloomy. |
| 381 | * DeadpanSnarker: His most frequent way of getting revenge on Strong Bad is to snark at him whenever possible. |
| 382 | * DeathSeeker: In "Most in the Graveyard", he's thrilled at the thought of having willed himself to death. |
| 383 | * TheDogBitesBack: Strong Sad does get Strong Bad back every once in a while, such as pelting him with snowballs in "rough copy", tasering the living crap out of him in ''[[VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople Baddest of the Bands]]'', or writing a poem in which he tortures the other characters with some form of punishment in "[[Recap/HomestarRunnerDoomyTalesOfTheMacabre Doomy Tales of the Macabre]]", where he gives his most macabre punishment to Strong Bad: replacing his boxing gloves with ''[[BodyHorror human hands!]]'' |
| 384 | * TheEeyore: He even tries his best to ''avoid'' being happy sometimes. If a viewer takes this and Strong Bad being a BigBrotherBully into consideration, then it would suggest that Strong Bad is making Strong Sad miserable because this is what Strong Sad wants. |
| 385 | * EmoTeen: He may or may not be a teenager, but he fits otherwise. |
| 386 | * FakeHigh: Strong Sad somehow gets caffeine high from Sanka (a ''decaffinated'' coffee).[[note]]It more resembles a ''sugar'' rush, so maybe Strong Bad put too much sugar in it, which would explain Strong Sad coming down hard.[[/note]] |
| 387 | * {{Fanboy}}: In the email "fan club", it's revealed that Strong Sad heads the fan club devoted to Strong Bad Emails, the "Deleteheads". |
| 388 | * {{Flanderization}}: His status as TheEeyore has steadily taken a backseat to his {{Hipster}} qualities over time. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "Marzipan's Answering Machine 17.2'', where he starts to feel depressed about not getting to be depressed very much anymore. |
| 389 | * FourFingeredHands: Unlike his brother Strong Mad, he has four fingers on his hands. |
| 390 | * GloomyGray: His body is made up of shades of gray, fitting his depressive personality and name. |
| 391 | * HappierHomeMovie: Strong Sad has a box of "fond reminiscences" which contains one of these. It shows that he and Strong Bad used to have a happier relationship when they were kids. |
| 392 | * HiddenDepths: In ''Doomy Tales of the Macabre'', Strong Sad takes his time to write a poem in which he inflicts all sorts of punishments on his peers because he was not invited to the Halloween Party. This implies that he is capable of holding ''very'' nasty grudges. |
| 393 | * HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Which continues onto adulthood, thanks to Strong Bad! As a kid, Strong Sad was once bubble-taped to the ceiling for the crime of standing and blinking. And that visible belly button you see on Strong Sad as an adult? That wasn't there when he was a kid. It's actually an old scar he got when Strong Bad power drilled him a "belly-button" when they were children. And Strong Sad has been locked and chained inside a bathtub every [[YouMeanXmas Decemberween]] to the point that he doesn't know or understand that people gave each other gifts during that time of year. |
| 394 | * {{Hipster}}: Among all the cast he's the most natural source of jokes on this, like his Fugazi-referencing "This is not a the geddup noise t-shirt" and calling the Geddup Noise a "freakin' sell-out". His favorite band is sloshy (all lower case), a lo-fi alt-rock band which prides itself on being obscure -- and having broken up at least four times. |
| 395 | * ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: He acts like he's on a caffeine high after Strong Bad pours Sanka (a brand of decaffeinated coffee) into his orange juice, talking rapidly and nonsensically. |
| 396 | * IHaveNoSon: In the old version of the website, it was constantly stated that Strong Sad was disowned by his brothers. However this seems to have been retconned. |
| 397 | * IntoxicationEnsues: Bad things happen when Strong Sad drinks coffee. It doesn't even matter if it's decaf or not. Just don't give him [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail91.html caffeine]]. |
| 398 | * IronButtMonkey: It's often glossed over, but he suffers through some stuff that would probably be fatal in real life, like being boarded up in a full bathtub on a yearly basis. |
| 399 | * LeFilmArtistique: He seems to have a fondness for making artsy "faux-budget" films. To wit, the soundtrack of his latest independent film in the [=SBEmail=] "independent" has him crying into the wrong side of a saxophone. |
| 400 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: His one close friend in the cast is Marzipan, particularly as his {{Flanderization}} set in and he became artsier and more hipster-ish. It's especially sibling-like in that she still tends to make fun of him, but she has been shown to voluntarily hang out with him on many occasions. |
| 401 | * MadEye: When he gets caffeinated, one of his eyes gets bigger. |
| 402 | * MatureYoungerSibling: Despite being the youngest, he is the most smart and sane of his brothers. |
| 403 | * MetaGuy: He often remarks how weird life can be in the series. |
| 404 | * {{Narcissist}}: Downplayed. While he usually has low self-esteem, there have been occasions where Strong Sad tries to stroke his own ego, such as in the Strong Bad Email "pizza joint" where he calls himself a fan favorite, and the "fan club" email where he inserts a ParodySue version of himself into his [=SBEmail=] fan fiction. |
| 405 | * NerdsAreVirgins: In "Fan Costumes '07", Strong Bad claims the only inaccuracy with a fan in a Strong Sad costume is that they're "hugging someone of the female persuasion". |
| 406 | * NightmareFetishist: At times, he has stated that he wants to be miserable. To name a few examples, he considers being horribly sick to be the best day of his life and was happy about the prospect of being struck blind. Once, he rejoiced over the fact that he got cursed for life upon watching footage of Senor Cardgage's "family might/could". |
| 407 | -->'''Strong Sad:''' Strong Bad, I think you just made us all watch one of those urban legend cursèd video tapes! I think we all may be cursed for life! Finally! |
| 408 | * NoRespectGuy: The rest of the cast generally [[ButtMonkey treats him pretty badly]], even though he's the [[TheSmartGuy smartest (intelligible) person in the cast]]. |
| 409 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Although he usually has one of the most grounded personalities of the main cast, there are occasions where he contributes to the wackiness, such as when he is one of the people laughing at Andy Griffith's head taped to the turned-off TV in "extra plug", in the same email, he sings with Homestar about having to pee, when he takes a dose of caffeine, and when he gets overly excited about topics like poetry or Boolean operators. In [[http://twitter.com/StrongBadActual/status/1020068584964481025 this video]], Strong Sad was poking Strong Bad, presumably just to infuriate him. "Best Caper Ever" implies that Strong Sad has a yearly schedule of aimlessly drifting through hemispheres. |
| 410 | * OnlySaneMan: One of the few rational characters in the series, when he's not wallowing in self-pity. |
| 411 | * PretentiousPronunciation: Strong Sad has a habit of pronouncing words as if they have accented letters when they don't. |
| 412 | * ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Often, other characters will assume Strong Sad is dead for little to no reason. |
| 413 | * SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Strong Bad views him as the wimpy, soft-spoken, poetry-loving Sensitive Guy to his Manly Man. Strong Sad, however, clearly recognizes that [[RealMenWearPink Strong Bad is nowhere near as tough as he brags about being]], and they actually have several shared activities (like swim class at the rec center and getting mud baths and {{Cucumber Facial}}s) that Strong Bad doesn't like to admit to. |
| 414 | * ShipperOnDeck: As seen in "fan club," he's written fanfic about his brother, Strong Bad, giving a "deep tissue massage" to Homestar, suggesting he ships them in an Internet sense if not in a real-world one. |
| 415 | * TheSmartGuy: Probably the smartest character of the main cast. He deduced a way to return King Bubsgonzola (Supreme) back to his normal size by using a bowl of Kashi and is also capable of calculating the temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure using no tools when asked. At one point he transcribed ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' on a single grain of rice in four languages. |
| 416 | * StageMagician: Strong Sad is apparently a skilled illusionist, as shown at the end of [[http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail198.html magic trick]]. [[TheDogBitesBack He pulls a trick on Strong Bad (by appearing to have his head fall off and then appearing behind him) and manages to scare him]]. |
| 417 | * StrawNihilist: Played for laughs in [[VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople Strong Badia the Free]]'s Maps and Minions minigame. He's so bleak and depressing that the only way to counter him is to pit him against [[CloudCuckoolander Homsar]], who simply isn't affected by his depressing statements. |
| 418 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: He enjoys various Indian curry, such as rogan josh and saag paneer, causing Strong Bad to mock him for liking "grody ethnic food." |
| 419 | * TwitchyEye: When he gets high on caffeine, one of his eyes gets twitchy. |
| 420 | * VagueAge: In SBMAIL #164: Looking Old, Strong Bad hopes to appeal to the 18-24 year old demographic with his new facelift. The first person he immediately goes to show it off to is Strong Sad, hinting that this is Strong Sad's age range. |
| 421 | * VocalEvolution: His voice started out as low and rather monotone, but over the years it's become higher and more expressive. Best shown in the "2022 Costume Pack Now Available" Halloween toon, where Strong Sad's voice from "Homestarloween Party" is replaced halfway with his modern voice. |
| 422 | * WeakenedByTheLight: Not him personally, but his depressive personality is implied to be suppressed by excess daylight, as seen in "Happy Hallow-day", which makes him slowly start to get happier, much to Strong Sad's own chagrin. |
| 423 | --> '''Strong Sad:''' Ahahahaha...ohohohohohoho....[[AndIMustScream Somebody shoot me.]] |
| 424 | [[/folder]] |
| 425 | |
| 426 | [[folder:The Cheat]] |
| 427 | !!The Cheat |
| 428 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-The_Cheat_Character_Video_5480.PNG]] |
| 429 | [[caption-width-right:180:"Meh!"]] |
| 430 | ->Debut: ''"Literature/TheHomestarRunnerEntersTheStrongestManInTheWorldContest"'' |
| 431 | |
| 432 | Strong Bad's small, yellow, [[TheUnintelligible unintelligible]], and snarky pet/lackey. He supposedly lives in the King of Town's grill, but hangs out in the house of the Brothers Strong to work on his computer, Tangerine Dreams, where he makes his own Flash cartoons (usually with [[StylisticSuck badly-drawn and voiced]] members of the rest of the cast [[HerCodenameWasMarySue singing the praises of The Cheat and giving him trophies]]). |
| 433 | ---- |
| 434 | * AbsurdPhobia: Much to Strong Bad's amusement, The Cheat is terrified of a wooden cut-out of a Bear Holding a Shark that Strong Bad rigged up and the sight of it will send him running away screaming. He also got frightened once by the loud noises of the engine in Bubs' Halloween pumpkin, though it's implied [[SmartAnimalInconvenientInstincts it was just his animal instincts kicking in]]. |
| 435 | * AssholeVictim: The Cheat gets kicked a lot, but given his criminal tendencies, he definitely deserves some of that kicking. |
| 436 | * CartoonCreature: As Strong Bad put it once, "[[http://hrwiki.org/w/images/3/32/thecheat_physiology.png The Cheat's physiology]] just plain baffles me." The Cheat is some sort of mammal, but is established to have hatched from an egg, possesses some ability to fly, and can even molt his skin whole like a snake. |
| 437 | * TheChewToy: People like kicking him. One game even features Strong Bad building a machine (comprised of a giant replica of his foot) designed to kick The Cheat into a brick wall. There is also a gag where The Cheat's [[YourHeadASplode head would suddenly explode]] for whatever reason. |
| 438 | * CrazyJealousGuy: A non-romantic example. The concept of somebody else replacing him as Strong Bad's lackey really seems to anger The Cheat. In the sbemail Superhero Name, him overhearing Strong Bad making joking remarks at an email-sender to be his new sidekick just gets him all jealous and wound up at Strong Bad. And he is very annoyed whenever he gets side lined in Homestar Runner Goes for The Gold by Dijjery Doo or The Sneak. When Dijjery Doo frees himself in the end of the cartoon, The Cheat immediately gets him locked up again. |
| 439 | * ADogNamedDog: Going by other characters' reactions to referring to his species, The Cheat's species is also called The Cheat. |
| 440 | * TheDragon: Often serves as the sneaky sidekick to Strong Bad during his more antagonistic roles. |
| 441 | * DrunkOnMilk: He got drunk once after drinking soy sauce. |
| 442 | * EvilCounterpart: He started out as one to Pom Pom, both being IntelligibleUnintelligible {{Hypercompetent Sidekick}}s to their respective best friends, but he gradually lost the "Evil" bit over time and became a ButtMonkey to Pom Pom's TheAce. |
| 443 | * {{Expy}}: Of both [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] and Eugene the Jeep, the latter of ''Thimble Theater'' and ''{{ComicStrip/Popeye}}'' fame. |
| 444 | * {{Foil}}: To Strong Bad's extremely short-lived minions The Sneak and Didgeridoo. |
| 445 | * HerCodeNameWasMarySue: His "Powered by The Cheat" animations either have him stealing the spotlight from someone else, or inserting himself into them for no reason. |
| 446 | -->'''"Strong Bad":''' Here, The Cheat, have a trophy!\ |
| 447 | '''"Homestar":''' Here, The Cheat, have another trophy!\ |
| 448 | '''"Coach Z":''' Here, The Chort, have a trophy!\ |
| 449 | '''All three:''' Three trophies for The Cheat! |
| 450 | * HypercompetentSidekick: ZigZagged. Sometimes The Cheat can accomplish tasks remarkably well, such as stealing a cantaloupe from Marzipan's garden in a matter of seconds. Other times he causes things to fall apart, such as using fireworks instead of explosives on a door, causing him and Strong Bad to get caught. |
| 451 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His "Powered by the Cheat" cartoons make it pretty clear The Cheat thinks that he's far above other people and desperately requires validation to convince himself of that. Many of his cartoons feature the other characters [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue giving him gifts or saying how great he is]]. |
| 452 | * IntelligibleUnintelligible: He only communicates in squeaks around the other characters, but they usually have no trouble understanding him. |
| 453 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's an antagonistic narcissist who assists Strong Bad in his schemes often, but he really cares about the Strong brothers and even [[EvenEvilHasStandards he was upset by Lil' Brudder.]] |
| 454 | * KavorkaMan: Strong Bad calls him a "little yellow squeaky thing that somethetimes steals my ladytypes" and is established to be more successful at attracting ladies than Strong Bad, despite being mostly an unintelligible animal thing. The Cheat has even seduced Marzipan at least twice and went on a date with her. |
| 455 | * ManOfAThousandVoices: He provides the voices of all the characters in "Powered by The Cheat". |
| 456 | * MeaningfulName: He's a known ''cheater''. His black-and-yellow spots are also reminicent of a ''cheetah''. |
| 457 | * OddNameOut: While technically not one of The Brothers Strong, The Cheat is treated like a member of the Strong family when they're all together, but his name is The Cheat instead of "Strong (word that rhymes with Ad)". |
| 458 | * PartiallyCivilizedAnimal: The Cheat is established to be Strong Bad's pet, as Strong Bad enters him in pet shows, takes him to the vet, and being trained to be housebroken. However, he also has his own computer and, aside from sleeping in the King of Town's grill, basically lives in the Brothers Strong's household as if he's their human roommate. |
| 459 | * PingPongNaivete: Depending on the toon, The Cheat can either be rough and egotistical (For example, in his character video where he makes threats at the viewer), or act like a little child with AmbiguousInnocence. (like being inconsolably upset when the local Blubb-O's ran out of the kid's toy he wanted) |
| 460 | * PrimaDonnaDirector: In addition to being self-aggrandizing, Strong Sad complains about this of The Cheat. |
| 461 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: He's been likened to Pikachu in-universe, and has been described as "holy crap adorable" by Strong Bad. |
| 462 | * SpellMyNameWithAThe: He is "The Cheat." The "The" is always capitalized and is emphasized as being part of his name, not an article ("And out of that egg popped a The Cheat!"). |
| 463 | * SuddenlyVoiced: He speaks for the first time (with the voice of [=PBTC=] Strong Bad) in "The Homestar Runner Enters the Spooky Woods", confirming once and for all that he does all the voice acting for his "Powered by The Cheat" cartoons. [[LampshadeHanging Strong Bad is quick to point this out the second The Cheat starts speaking]]. |
| 464 | * StylisticSuck: His "Powered by The Cheat" animations have poor animation, are filled with mistakes, and have bad voice acting. |
| 465 | * TheUnintelligible: A strange case. The Cheat is otherwise completely unintelligible but he is fully capable of coherent speech as it's been confirmed he does all the voice acting for his animations; he sounds like an even raspier Strong Bad. Even more strangely, The Cheat provides the voice over for Firebert in ''WebAnimation/CheatCommandos'' but unlike in his own cartoons, he just voices the character with his regular unintelligible The Cheat noises. |
| 466 | * VillainousGoldTooth: He is an antagonistic narcissist who often assists Strong Bad in his schemes, though he's ultimately a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. When his teeth are shown, one is gold. |
| 467 | * WeaselMascot: Especially his old-timey counterpart, "The Sneak", which is a rat/possum-like creature. |
| 468 | * YourHeadASplode: One RunningGag involves The Cheat's head exploding for whatever reason, leaving him with an AshFace. |
| 469 | [[/folder]] |
| 470 | |
| 471 | !Other Main Characters |
| 472 | |
| 473 | [[folder:Bubs]] |
| 474 | !!Bubs |
| 475 | [[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bubs_5676.png]] |
| 476 | [[caption-width-right:220:"I'm a self-made man, I am, I am! I sell hot dogs, chili dogs, slaw dogs, ketchup dogs and mustard dogs. I got drinks, drinks, drinks, candy and snow cones. I can fix everything what needs fixing. Like cars, [=TVs=]... marriages... [...] I guess the best word that describes me is... "personality". Um, because I have a good personality."]] |
| 477 | ->Debut: ''"Literature/WhereMyHatIsAt"'' |
| 478 | |
| 479 | An enthusiastic but not entirely honest salesman and handyman, and proprietor of Bubs' Concession Stand. Also something of a party animal. |
| 480 | ---- |
| 481 | * AmoralAttorney: When Bubs served as Coach Z's defense attorney, he decided that Coach Z was guilty without even knowing what the crime was. Granted, Coach Z had previously all but admitted to having committed premeditated murder in cold blood in ''I Killed Pom Pom!'', while standing next to Bubs. Though Bubs' lines heavily imply he might've also killed someone... |
| 482 | * BerserkButton: |
| 483 | ** Don't ever say he's not the original Bubs, as Strong Bad found out when Bubs beat the ever-living crap out of him for doing so. |
| 484 | ** Also, don't make fun of his weight as Homsar and Coach Z can attest to. |
| 485 | ** And don't set up a shop ten feet away from his concession stand. |
| 486 | ** Don't eat his chicken wings. Because they're ''his'', and they're ''good''. |
| 487 | ** And don't insinuate you want to [[BigBrotherInstinct date his sister]], as Coach Z learned by getting sucker-punched during ''Most in the Graveyard''. |
| 488 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "That'll be five dollars!" He also uses "Yeah, shut up, kid!" as the Thnikkaman. |
| 489 | * EveryoneHasStandards: |
| 490 | ** He may be a terrible internet service provider who openly admits to ripping Strong Bad off in ''99 different ways'', but throttling him down isn't one of them. |
| 491 | ** His black market goods are quality, as he has a reputation to uphold. |
| 492 | * FatBastard: He's pretty big, and he's neither particularly honest nor easy to work for. |
| 493 | * FingerlessHands: He has no fingers, yet he has no problem holding things normally. |
| 494 | * FormerlyFit: Bubs claims to have the ability to fly. After letting himself go, he can now hover no higher than three inches off the ground. |
| 495 | * HonestJohnsDealership: |
| 496 | ** And how! [[http://hrwiki.org/wiki/Bubs%27s_Shady_Business_Practices Here's a list of his more questionable practices.]] |
| 497 | ** Turns out it's enforced or invoked. He sells his legit quality merchandise on the black market and his inferior and often dangerous products at his storefront because he has a reputation to uphold. Though one of the piñata's he sold on the black market was full of broken glass. |
| 498 | ** Ironically, Bubs himself is pretty susceptible to being swindled, like the time The Cheat tricked Bubs into accepting pencil shavings as legal tender. |
| 499 | --->'''Bubs:''' ''(as an invisible Strong Bad carries them off)'' My chocolates! Come back, chocolates! I didn't mean what I said! |
| 500 | * JiveTurkey: Strong Bad mentions that some of the things he says don't make sense. |
| 501 | * {{Kaiju}}: He briefly becomes one in the Strong Bad Email "unnatural", as King Bubsgonzola (Supreme). After he's brought back to normal, he admits that it happened after he accidentally flushed himself down the toilet. |
| 502 | * LegacyCharacter: Subverted. Strong Bad says he's not the first Bubs, but Bubs threatens him into backing down from this stance. Considering Strong Bad sometimes subconsciously warps reality to fit his tenuous grasp on it, Bubs had good reason to make him admit otherwise. |
| 503 | * LoanShark: As seen in "other days", Bubs sends Strong Bad a letter in which he threatens to turn him to a "cut off your toes"-style collections agency if he doesn't pay him back $3.62. |
| 504 | * LongPants: At least they ''look'' like long pants. He has been known to wear other pants over these when wearing Halloween costumes. |
| 505 | * MeanBoss: |
| 506 | ** Toward Strong Bad, as seen in the email "[[http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail121.html part-time job]]". It turns out Bubs forced Strong Bad to buy [[BadJobWorseUniform his sad clown hot dog costume]] himself. |
| 507 | ** As seen in "On Break", Bubs only gives one smoking, bathroom, coffee, and maternity leave break per day, and doesn't allow Pom Pom to take any breaks at all since he is not in the union. |
| 508 | * MrFixit: If something's broken, you go to Bubs. His solutions can be pretty shoddy sometimes, such as fixing a broken clock by taping a working clock to it. [[spoiler:Or fixing a computer virus by shooting the computer with a shotgun!]] |
| 509 | * MySisterIsOffLimits: Bubs apparently has a sister, as he was quick to attack Coach Z when he brought up the idea of dating her. |
| 510 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: |
| 511 | ** Until about 2004, when [[Main/VocalEvolution his voice changed]], his voice was Matt Chapman's best attempt at sounding like Redd Foxx. |
| 512 | ** Post evolution, he voice turned into a Scatman Crothers impersonation. |
| 513 | * OnlyShopInTown: His Concession Stand is this to Free Country, USA. |
| 514 | * OrangeBlueContrast: He has a blue face and an orange body. |
| 515 | * PaperThinDisguise: His "Thnikkaman" disguise is literally a piece of paper taped to his chest and a pair of sunglasses. Oddly enough, only ''Homestar'', of all people, can see through the disguise; even the normally sensible people, like Strong Sad and Marzipan, don't seem to see it. |
| 516 | * PerpetualSmiler He has a permanent toothy grin on his face which merely moves around as he talks. The only time he wears a frown is when he is red-faced pissed, such as when Homestar and Strong Bad pressed his BerserkButton as noted above. |
| 517 | * TheScrooge: His stinginess is the main reason why many of his products are so subpar. |
| 518 | * SelfMadeMan: He is, he is! |
| 519 | * ThemeSong: "Here comes the Thnikkaman!" |
| 520 | * TopHeavyGuy: Strong Bad once described him as having "ample top portions." |
| 521 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Coach Z. The two frequently argue, he's not above taking advantage of Coach Z, and he even made a parade float once hating on Coach Z simply because market research told him it was the "in" thing. However, the two are nonetheless both frequent collaborators, and when it seems like Coach Z's in trouble, it's often Bubs who tries to help him (often by letting him hide in the Concession Stand). |
| 522 | * WeSellEverything: He seems to sell anything the characters need at the moment. |
| 523 | [[/folder]] |
| 524 | |
| 525 | [[folder:Coach Z]] |
| 526 | !!Coach Z |
| 527 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coach_z_7947.png]] |
| 528 | [[caption-width-right:200:"I have more than two praerblems!"]] |
| 529 | ->Debut: ''"Literature/WhereMyHatIsAt"'' |
| 530 | |
| 531 | A lonely, vaguely creepy, and quite possibly crazy coach and aspiring rap artist with an exaggerated northern Midwestern accent ("Great jaerb, Homestar!"). He was originally just someone to whom Homestar came for advice, but the Brothers Chaps have played up the seedy side of Coach Z's life to the point that [[Main/{{Flanderization}} it now dominates his character]]. |
| 532 | ---- |
| 533 | * TheAlcoholic: Unconventional, as he prefers to get his alcohol from Listerine, of all things. |
| 534 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He tried to get into prison so he'd get three square meals a day. Once he did end up there (possibly wrongfully), he was practically begging to get out. |
| 535 | * BewareTheSillyOnes: As funny and pathetic as he seems, he all but admits to having committed premeditated murder in ''I Killed Pom Pom!'' |
| 536 | * BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: "Z" on his medallion. |
| 537 | * ButtMonkey: Things very rarely ever go well for Coach Z. At best they'll go slightly less bad. |
| 538 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "You can't just rush into the score zone!" |
| 539 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: His grasp on reality can be pretty tenuous, such as the time he had a conversation on a broken phone. {{Deconstructed}} in that he acknowledges he is mentally ill, and has "[[PerpetualPoverty more]] [[TheFriendNobodyLikes than]] [[TheAlcoholic two]] [[ThePigPen prablems]]". |
| 540 | * CreepyGymCoach: He has a very blatant obsession with Marzipan and he is known for "butt-patting". |
| 541 | * DiscoDan: He rivals Strong Bad in this department, as much of the technology he uses is really outdated. |
| 542 | -->"I'm so old-school / They tore the school down!" |
| 543 | * [[DreadfulMusician Dreadful Rapper]]: Some of his lyrics just consists of counting. |
| 544 | * ElderlyAilmentRambling: Coach Z apparently has a bad habit of talking about his collection of "embarrassing physical problems" at inappropriate times. |
| 545 | -->'''Coach Z:''' And my back still hurts, and my knees still hurt, and my head still hurts... |
| 546 | * EveryoneHasStandards: As bad as his hygiene is, even he thinks drinking melonade from a toilet with slippers is too gross. And he also finds Senor Cardgage and Marshie creepy. |
| 547 | * ExtremeOmnisexual: In keeping with his [[StalkerWithACrush creepiness]], he seems to have shown interest in not only [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Marzipan]], but also Bubs, Bubs' sister, Homestar, Pom Pom, and even a drawing. And he [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/strong_badathlon#Commentary_Transcript apparently]] had a crush on "a hot blonde" at one point. |
| 548 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: Nobody in the main cast seems to enjoy his company (and it's hard to blame them most of the time), but they still hang out with him on a fairly regular basis. Bubs notes WeUsedToBeFriends and even had a rap group called "The Two-O Duo". |
| 549 | * FunnyForeigner: He's "a crazy man from another country," at least according to [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/yearbookcz.html this old character page]]. Might help explain his [[UnexplainedAccent ridiculous accent]], at any rate. |
| 550 | * GiftedlyBad: With a few exceptions (like [[AWildRapperAppears his verse]] in "Loading Screens"), his raps are rather lackluster. |
| 551 | * HairTodayGoneTomorrow: Flashbacks show him sporting a [[FunnyAfro large brown afro]] and mustache. |
| 552 | * InformedAttribute: |
| 553 | ** It is well known in the H* R universe that Coach Z is ThePigPen. It's just not that obvious to us. Averted later in the series where his poor hygiene is made more explicit. |
| 554 | ** There's an in-universe version, where Coach Z likes to boast about having "fairly good teeth" despite having NoMouth. |
| 555 | * InformedFlaw: He's supposed to be a pretty bad rapper. In reality, while his ''freestyle'' skills are nonexistent, when he has actual material to work with, he does pretty well, as seen in the likes of "Loading Screens" and "Fish-Eye Lens." |
| 556 | * JiveTurkey: And unlike Bubs, he doesn't make it sound cool. |
| 557 | * LongLostRelative: One Halloween episode showed Bubs and Coach Z finding out they are very distantly related, though Bubs doesn't believe it. |
| 558 | * LongPants: It's unknown if the green part of his body is supposed to be his skin or a jumpsuit. |
| 559 | * MemeticLoser: InUniverse. When Strong Sad is indulging in some RevengeViaStorytelling in "Doomy Tales of the Macabre", Coach Z asks why ''he'' doesn't get a doomy fate. Strong Sad replies he's ''already'' Coach Z, and there's no reason or way to make things ''worse'' for him. Coach Z agrees without hesistation. |
| 560 | * MinnesotaNice: Both aspects are ZigZagged. |
| 561 | ** He normally speaks with an Upper Midwestern accent, but there are times when he either tones it down or loses it completely. |
| 562 | ** His personality can also range from helpful to creepy. He has also frequently gotten into spats with Bubs. |
| 563 | * MisterSeahorse: He alludes to being a mother (both by buying up a bunch of "great for baby" items and by claiming it's okay for him to use a "mom joke") in "garage sale," and in "Flash is Dead!" he claims Bubs let him into his fallout shelter, along with a bunch of other male characters, because "somebody's gotta carry on the human race." The implications thoroughly creep Strong Bad out. |
| 564 | * MonochromaticEyes: His eyes are completely white. |
| 565 | * PerpetualPoverty: He lives in a locker room, he wants to go to prison so he can have three square meals a day, and then there was that time he ran out of power. |
| 566 | -->"Aw, crackles! I forgot to pay my bills again this year." |
| 567 | * ThePigPen: |
| 568 | ** He has been known to have questionable hygiene. At one point, he also leaked what could only be crude oil after [[FanDisservice taking off a ratty thong]] in the swimming pool. |
| 569 | --->'''Strong Mad:''' PUT IT BACK ON! '''PUT IT BACK ON!!''' |
| 570 | ** He also makes an offhand comment in VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople that implies that the track's showers are so disgusting and poorly cleaned that the ''[=CDC=]'' has to step in periodically to bleach the place to prevent a biological disaster. |
| 571 | * ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Originally, he just called himself a coach because he thought [[http://homestarrunner.com/oldflash.html "Coach Z sounds cooler than just Z"]], but this idea [[RetCon has been pretty thoroughly abandoned]]. Doesn't stop him from doing just as much rapping and janitorial work as coaching nowadays, though. |
| 572 | * PissTakeRap: He's made dozens of songs, only two of which could be considered "good" ("Fisheye Lens", a collaboration with Strong Bad, and "Loading Screens", a collaboration with Homestar and Strong Bad). One of his songs consists entirely of him counting to four and counting to two. |
| 573 | * PretentiousPronunciation: The Z in his name is pronounced as "Zee" like in America, not like "Zed" in the UK, Commonwealth, and Canada. Lampshaded in "Where My Hat is At" when his name is spelled as "Coach Zee" and in "Do Over" where Strong Bad jokes that a Canadian viewer would probably call him "Coach Zed". |
| 574 | * PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Subverted. He tries to be, but he's not very fly at all. |
| 575 | * SpeechImpediment: Established in "A Jorb Well Done" in that he has trouble pronouncing the word "job" and other similar words, which might explain how strange his accent is. |
| 576 | * StalkerWithACrush: Shown in the Answering Machine tapes. He has probably broken into Marzipan's house at least once, and as of one episode in Marzipan's Answering Machine, she actually has a restraining order on him. |
| 577 | * SuddenAnatomy: Coach Z, while dressed as [=DMC=] from Music/RunDMC, has fingers in "2022 Costume Pack Now Available", much to Strong Sad's horror. |
| 578 | * TotallyRadical: He desperately tries to sound cool with bad rap and dated slang. |
| 579 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Bubs. He and Bubs often argue, and Bubs even once made a Thanksgiving float solely to call Coach Z a jerk, but the two are nonetheless always seen hanging out and chatting. (Not to mention, in the DVD commentary for "Fall Float Parade," The Brothers Chaps [[WordOfGod explained]] that Bubs only made that float because market research told him hating Coach Z was cool--they're still friends.) Best put by Coach Z himself: |
| 580 | --> He loves me like a brother! Hates me like a brother too, come to think of it. |
| 581 | * VocalEvolution: His accent. It was an Upper Midwestern dialect initially, but then evolved into its own accent. |
| 582 | * WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: It's speculated, in fact, that his accent may be entirely his own, as Marzipan referred to his speech as "speaking 'Coach Z'". The Brothers Chaps themselves say that his accent is supposed to be a heavily corrupted parody of a "Midwestern-Canadian" accent. Suffice to say, it's very, ''very'' corrupted. His accent is so strange that [[LampshadeHanging other characters occasionally accuse him of making it up]]. |
| 583 | ** For example, when he and Bubs go trick-or-treating in "Three Times Halloween Funjob": |
| 584 | --->'''Coach Z:''' Trick 'er trort!\ |
| 585 | '''Bubs:''' ''Come on'', man...\ |
| 586 | '''Coach Z:''' Okay, trick 'er treat... |
| 587 | ** Then, in the same scene, if given a packet of Swedish Fish: |
| 588 | --->'''Coach Z:''' Ooh, the Swordish Forsh!\ |
| 589 | '''Bubs:''' What did I just tell you?\ |
| 590 | '''Coach Z:''' Cut me some slack! It's a crowd pleaser. |
| 591 | * YourAnswerToEverything: His advice to Homestar is always "It's like a great sports play -- you can't just rush into the score zone", regardless of whether it actually applies to the situation. This is even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "The Best Decemberween Ever": |
| 592 | -->'''Coach Z:''' Buying a Decemberween present for Strong Bad is like a great sports play.\ |
| 593 | '''Homestar:''' ''(listlessly)'' Lemme guess: I can't just rush into the score zone.\ |
| 594 | '''Coach Z:''' Hey, that's right!\ |
| 595 | '''Homestar:''' ''(annoyed)'' Coach, that's your answer for ''everything''! |
| 596 | [[/folder]] |
| 597 | |
| 598 | [[folder:The King of Town]] |
| 599 | !!The King of Town |
| 600 | [[quoteright:221:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kot_3377.PNG]] |
| 601 | [[caption-width-right:221:"Now, despite rumors to the contrary, I did not just buy a crown at the costume palace and ask people to start calling me the King of Town. I earned my title the same way I earned a free combo meal: by purchasing one of equal or lesser value. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I also did not ever try to eat my own mustache]]."]] |
| 602 | ->Debut: ''"[[Recap/HomestarRunnerMarshmallowsLastStand Marshmallow's Last Stand]]"'' |
| 603 | |
| 604 | The self-proclaimed ruler of Free Country, USA, who's really just a fat, gluttonous old man who happens to have a crown, a castle, a retainer of servants, and a painful awareness of how unpopular he is with the other characters. He's tried to make himself more popular, with limited success, by doing things such as learning to play the guitar and trying to get his very own quite popular cartoon show. |
| 605 | ---- |
| 606 | * ADayInTheLimelight: [[https://homestarrunner.com/toons/the-king-of-towns-very-own-quite-popular-cartoon-show The King of Town's Very Own Quite Popular Cartoon Show]] |
| 607 | * AuthorityInNameOnly: The only people he's the king of are his loyal servants. Everyone else just considers him a lame old man. He even used to be the TropeNamer. However, the Poopsmith often keeps the rest of the cast in line. He also has his own army. When Marzipan mentions that he has the authority to try people for treason and execute them, he's more than pleased (later having Homsar guillotined.) |
| 608 | * BenevolentBoss: He's shown to be pretty nice to his servants, such as defending the Poopsmith when Strong Bad made fun of his costume. |
| 609 | * BerserkButton: Do not steal or tax his food. [[spoiler:Strong Bad [[BatmanGambit uses this]] to get King back in the castle in ''[=SBCG4AP=]'' by raising the tax on snack food.]] |
| 610 | * BigEater: He's a huge glutton and can put away large amounts of food. Some of his feats include eating an entire Thanksgiving banquet and drinking a pool filled with jello and people. |
| 611 | * ButtMonkey: Nobody likes him except for his loyal servants. |
| 612 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "Doo hoo hoo!" |
| 613 | * DoesNotLikeSpam: The only thing he won't eat is peas. He used to have an aversion to [[ToiletHumor "whatsit"]], but later toons heavily imply he eats that too now. In "Halloween Hijinks" he is shown also to disdain Ding Dongs, calling them "Devil's Food hockey pucks". |
| 614 | * DrunkWithPower: A running gag in later cartoons and ''[=SBCG4AP=]'' is the King steadily increasing his power throughout Free County with the aid of "The Municipality", his own private goon squad. |
| 615 | * EatsBabies: An easter egg in the sbemail ''rated'' has him demand the Poopsmith to pack his bags for Transylvania because he heard Strong Bad say that you're required by law to eat puppies for breakfast there. |
| 616 | * EmbarrassingMiddleName: His middle name is Wad. Both Strong Bad and Bubs made fun of him when they found out. |
| 617 | * ExtremeOmnivore: He's eaten toilet paper, lightbulbs, and even piles of whatsit, among other inedible objects. In "Later That Night", he claims he eats Scrubbing Bubbles to clean his insides of the previous inedible objects. Strong Bad is GenreSavvy enough that to get a world record, he just waits for King to eat because whatever he eats will be at least disgusting enough to warrant a record no one will want to break. |
| 618 | * {{Flanderization}}: Had little to no personality at first, but then his unnatural appetite and unpopularity became his main character traits. |
| 619 | * FormerlyFit: In the Strong Bad email "flashback", he is depicted as the "svelte, young Prince of Town", looking much slimmer and having a visible chin. An Easter Egg at the end of the cartoon shows him claiming a lifetime supply of fish sticks for himself -- presumably, this was his first step towards becoming the morbidly obese King of Town we know today. |
| 620 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: Though he's ostensibly part of the main friend group, nobody likes or respects him barring maybe his servants (who aren't really characterized enough to give opinions). It's been suggested a few times that this unpopularity even extends to reality. |
| 621 | * InformedDeformity: His morbid obesity. While he ''is'' rather round, so is a substantial chunk of the rest of the cast. |
| 622 | * SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: InUniverse. When playing mob boss Perducci in Strong Bad's "Dangeresque" movies, he notably gets much more into his role than the other characters, and while their performances are rife with BadBadActing, [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously he gives it his all]] and is clearly getting into it. |
| 623 | * IntangibleTheft: The King of Town's gluttony has sometimes enabled him to eat intangible concepts like holidays. |
| 624 | * InvisibleAnatomy: Much like Homestar and Marzipan, he has no arms. |
| 625 | * JabbaTableManners: Among other examples, he eats cake batter straight out of the bowl and simply inhales a pile of salt. |
| 626 | * LukeIMightBeYourFather: Mixed with EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Early character bios listed him as being Marzipan's father, but this was never brought up in the videos and was quietly dropped. In "Marzipan's Answering Machine V.17.2", the King of Town leaves a message to Marzipan revealing that he read something online that said that he was, at least at one point, her dad. He himself can't remember whether this is true or not and claims that performing a DNA test would be impossible since he had all of his DNA replaced by MSG. |
| 627 | * ManipulativeBastard: In the second episode of [=SBCG4AP=], [[spoiler:he uses a [[BatmanGambit surprisingly well-thought-out plot]] to trick Strong Bad into usurping him, allowing the KOT to take over Strong Bad's email show.]] |
| 628 | * MasochistsMeal: Some of the things the King of Town has eaten are downright hazardous to normal people, such as automotive fluids, deodorant products, tapeworms, a Wii Remote, and even the Poopsmith's pile of whatsit. Once, he gulped down a heaping plate of ''salt'', which caused him to seemingly hiccup repeatedly (according to the King, they were ''heart attacks''). |
| 629 | -->'''Strong Bad:''' "I can't believe I ate that entire pile of whatsit!" said the King of Town.\ |
| 630 | '''King of Town:''' I wish that ''were'' fiction. |
| 631 | * PatheticallyWeak: It's been shown or suggested more than a few times that the King is badly out of shape, though he rarely does anything involving physical fitness. In the ''Super Kingio Bros'' UnwinnableJokeGame, he moves like a slug and struggles to jump more than an inch off the ground. |
| 632 | -->"My life is a joke." |
| 633 | * PetTheDog: He'll sometimes offer to ''share'' his food, though often it's inedible junk. |
| 634 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: He claims to be about 300 years old in "Which 'Ween Costumes?", and is implied to have been around for the first Decemberween in "A Decemberween Pageant". |
| 635 | * SatelliteCharacter: He has a group of these: most notably the Poopsmith, but also the rest of his retinue: the Blacksmith, the Hornblower, the Knight, the Cleric, and the Little Chef Guy. |
| 636 | * ShowWithinAShow: The above "Quite Popular Cartoon Show". |
| 637 | * SmarterThanYouLook: [[spoiler:Episode 2 of [=SBCG4AP=] shows that he's more than capable of outsmarting and manipulating Strong Bad.]] The "2nd Annual Homestarloween Awards" also shows the King of Town being able to read the prompt held upside-down with little effort. |
| 638 | * ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: His eating ability came in handy when Strong Bad and Homestar were drowning inside a pool of Jell-O. One thick straw later, both were freed. |
| 639 | * TookTheBadFilmSeriously: InUniverse. In Strong Bad's ''Dangeresque'' movies, he plays mob boss type Perducci, and unlike all the other characters, he actually seems to get into his role and gives it his all. He has less BadBadActing than them and even [[EvilIsHammy hams it up]] a little. |
| 640 | [[/folder]] |
| 641 | |
| 642 | [[folder:The Poopsmith]] |
| 643 | !!The Poopsmith |
| 644 | [[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/psmith_7293.PNG]] |
| 645 | [[caption-width-right:220:"..."]] |
| 646 | ->Debut: ''"[[Recap/HomestarRunnerMarshmallowsLastStand Marshmallow's Last Stand]]"'' |
| 647 | |
| 648 | The King of Town's most prominent (and disgusting) servant, the Poopsmith is an odd fellow who, as the name suggests, shovels whatsit for a living. Also, for some reason, he has taken a vow of silence. According to Homestar, "The Poopsmith is a good guy. He's just got a [[{{Pun}} crappy]] job." |
| 649 | ---- |
| 650 | * AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: He doesn't wear anything except for those big orange gloves. |
| 651 | * BerserkButton: Do not steal or [[BreadEggsMilkSquick eat]] the Poopsmith's pile of whatsit. |
| 652 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: The Poopsmith is the King of Town's personal law enforcement agent. |
| 653 | * ElectiveMute: |
| 654 | ** He doesn't speak because he has taken a vow of silence, which seems to be a requirement for his job. [[spoiler:Until he broke that vow in [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemailtwohundred.html email thunder]], in which he finally sings. And he is voiced by [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants John Linnell]].]] |
| 655 | ** [[spoiler:He breaks his vow of silence again in [[https://youtu.be/DQO1RHETKy4?t=795 Marzipan's Answering Machine 17.2]]. In his message to Marzipan, he reveals that he's disillusioned with his vow of silence and his occupation as the Poopsmith. He also wants to be a different type of -smith.]] |
| 656 | --->[[spoiler:'''The Poopsmith:''' It was nice talking to you. It was nice... talking.]] |
| 657 | * EveryoneHasStandards: In "Halloween Hide & Seek", he admits that not even he would hide inside Senor Cardgage's bush. |
| 658 | * FourFingeredHands |
| 659 | * HiddenDepths: He consistently dresses as characters from science fiction works on Halloween. |
| 660 | * TheLancer: He's the more controlled Number Two to The King Of Town. |
| 661 | * ThePigPen: Considering his job, he always has some whatsit on his gloves. |
| 662 | * SatelliteCharacter: He doesn't have much personality other than being The King of Town's Poopsmith and sometimes, enforcement officer. |
| 663 | * TheSilentBob: He doesn't have much difficulty communicating with the other characters despite his vow of silence. |
| 664 | * TalkingWithSigns: Despite the fact that he doesn't talk, he has, on rare occasion, used this to communicate. |
| 665 | * ToiletHumour: Basically all the humor that revolves around him either involves this or his unexplained vow of silence. |
| 666 | [[/folder]] |
| 667 | |
| 668 | [[folder:Homsar]] |
| 669 | !!Homsar |
| 670 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-homsar_evolution_current_6605.png]] |
| 671 | [[caption-width-right:180:"I'm a song from TheSixties!"]] |
| 672 | ->Debut: ''"[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE2Homsar Email homsar]]"'' |
| 673 | |
| 674 | A short, pudgy fellow that vaguely resembles Homestar, and speaks in warbling non-sequiturs. He came to be when a fan e-mailing Strong Bad misspelled "Homestar". He's apparently capable of defying the laws of physics whenever he feels like it and is an even bigger {{Cloudcuckoolander}} than anyone else in the cast (or maybe anyone else in the world). |
| 675 | ---- |
| 676 | * AscendedExtra: He was originally a one-off gag. He's now one of the main cast members. |
| 677 | * ArmlessBiped: Just like Homestar, he has no arms, yet has no trouble doing any activities that require them. |
| 678 | * BlackBeadEyes: His eyes are just black dots. |
| 679 | * BrickJoke: Homsar was "raised by a cup of coffee" and "the son of a Chipwich". One Easter egg shows a picture of his "parents" (coffee, Chipwich), which also appear on the [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Countries_in_Strong_Badia_the_Free#Homsar_Reservation Homsar Reservation Flag]]. |
| 680 | * BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: "Homsar" is written on his shirt. |
| 681 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: In his early depictions, Homsar's ramblings actually made sense. Notwithstanding his drawling accent, his first-ever spoken line was, "What is it, Strong Bad?" and his appearance in Marzipan's Answering Machine v5.0 (which went up a month later) had him thanking Marzipan for visiting him at the hospital in perfect, coherent English. Nowadays, any sense of logic with his words seems to have left him. Of course, this is eventually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in Marzipan's Answering Machine v17.2, where a coherent Homsar discovers he only makes sense when on the phone and even [[SelfDeprecation laments over the fact he'll have to go back to spouting nonsense eventually]]. |
| 682 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: A definite resident. And only seems to speak in his native tongue too. |
| 683 | * TheDitz: Practically everything Homsar says has no sense of logic. Played with in that, depending on what you view as canon, he is either speaking a different language, or is physically incapable of speaking coherently unless it's over the phone, and is completely aware of that fact. |
| 684 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: His genesis was a misspelling of "Homestar", and his physical appearance and personality all follow suit, being a distorted and exaggerated take on Homestar's looks and ditziness. |
| 685 | * EloquentInMyNativeTongue: As seen in episode 2 of [=SBCG4AP=], his nonsensical phrases all apparently translate. |
| 686 | -->"I'm a knock-knock jokes about jogging suits!" = "Hello, Strong Bad, what's the haps?"\ |
| 687 | "Sign me up for soccer class, Debra!" = "Why are you talking gibberish, Strong Bad? You sound like a two-years-old boy."\ |
| 688 | "Pucker up, dice man! I'm as upholstered as I wanna be!" = "Why should my people risk open war for you and your considerable style?" |
| 689 | * HiddenDepths: |
| 690 | ** Once Strong Bad learns to understand him (through copious use of NoodleImplements), Homsar turns out to be soft-spoken and intelligent. The fact that his country apparently has free health care may be a sign. |
| 691 | ** As Marzipan's Answering Machine v17.2 reveals, he's able to talk coherently when speaking over the phone and is perfectly aware that he talks gibberish otherwise. He's also not happy about it, and would really like to have a proper conversation with someone. |
| 692 | * InheritedIlliteracyTitle: He was created to poke fun at a fan's misspelling of "Homestar," then stuck around. |
| 693 | * InvisibleAnatomy: If he does have arms, then they're invisible. |
| 694 | * LongPants: Just like the character he's based on. |
| 695 | * MagicalNativeAmerican: A parody of this in episode 2 of [=SBCG4AP=]. Despite still being voiced by Matt, he even somewhat sounds like [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill John Redcorn]] for a few minutes of gameplay. |
| 696 | * NiceGuy: He's the only main character who has never been a {{Jerkass}}, and being a RealityWarper, that's probably a good thing. |
| 697 | * NoSell: Homsar is immune to a lot of things. For example, he doesn't get the Jibblies; in fact, he gives the painting the Jibblies. He's also apparently immune to a [[DarkerAndEdgier 90's revamp]] as he's the only one who doesn't change designs in ''Xeriouxly Forxe.'' |
| 698 | * OddballDoppelganger: Not that Homestar himself wasn't already an oddball, but Homsar takes it to a completely new level. |
| 699 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Assuming anything Homsar says can be interpreted as sane, he claims to be a "song from the 60's." |
| 700 | * OnlyOneName: Unlike Homestar Runner. |
| 701 | * RealityWarper: One of his defining traits. Gravity has no power over him, he's shown to be able to warp the world around him by yelling and, according to Strong Bad, [[https://twitter.com/StrongBadActual/status/900352220331376640 anyone who makes physical contact with him gets warped horribly as well]]. |
| 702 | * RougeAnglesOfSatin: He owes ''his very existence'' to this trope. |
| 703 | * SillyWalk: His pigeon-toed feet oscillate rapidly whenever he walks, regardless of his actual walking speed. It even comes with its own sound effect. |
| 704 | * TalkativeLoon: |
| 705 | ** Almost everything he says is a word salad, minus the things he says early on before Strong Bad drops the Heavy Lourde on him, possibly implying the injury caused him to speak in word salads. He occasionally drifts back into sense-make (more or less) for a few seconds, as seen in the sbemail "for kids": |
| 706 | --->'''Homsar''': That's a real popular song! Who wants to hear of it fifty times more? |
| 707 | ** Apparently, calling Marzipan's answering machine allows him to make sense for a few minutes, according to the 2016 April Fools' toon. |
| 708 | * TheyKilledKennyAgain: One of his powers seems to be coming back from the dead. His death was highly implied at the end of "A Decemberween Mackerel," which was one of the last toons before the website's 4-year hiatus. Then he reappeared unharmed in the 2014 Halloween Toon, "I Killed Pom Pom", only for him to apparently be executed without trial in the 2015 Halloween Toon, "The House That Gave Sucky Tricks", before coming back again in "Marzipan's Answering Machine 17.2". |
| 709 | * VerbalTic: He prefaces almost everything he says with a drawn-out "A-a-A-a-A-a-A!" |
| 710 | * VocalDissonance: When Strong Bad is briefly able understand him in episode 2 of [=SBCG4AP=], Homsar's voice changes to that of a stereotypical MagicalNativeAmerican. |
| 711 | -->'''Homsar:''' Hello, Strong Bad. What's the haps? |
| 712 | -->'''Strong Bad:''' Hey, I can understand you now! Your voice is so soothing! |
| 713 | -->'''Homsar:''' Thank you. I do radio ads for local jewelry and watch repair shops. |
| 714 | * YourCostumeNeedsWork: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Homsar once took part in a Strong Sad Lookalike Contest and dressed as Strong Sad. However, his costume was so good Coach Z mistook him for the real Strong Sad and was disqualified. It was not until his hat pops out and his mouth becomes large while speaking that Homsar reveals his identity, but Coach Z was already walking away and did not realize this. |
| 715 | -->'''Coach Z:''' [mistaking him for Strong Sad] Strong Sad, you're not eligible for this contest! I thought I told youse to go on home!\ |
| 716 | '''Homsar:''' A-a-A-a-A-a-A I'm cryin' on the inside... |
| 717 | [[/folder]] |
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