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1!!Please take [=YMMV=] items exclusive to the [[YMMV/TheHomestarRunnerEntersTheStrongestManInTheWorldContest 1st]] and [[YMMV/WhereMyHatIsAt 2nd books]], ''[[YMMV/StrongBadEmail Strong Bad Email]]'', ''[[YMMV/TeenGirlSquad Teen Girl Squad]]'', ''[[YMMV/CheatCommandos Cheat Commandos]]'', ''[[YMMV/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople SBCG4AP]]'', ''[[YMMV/PeasantsQuest Peasant's Quest]]'', ''[[YMMV/ThyDungeonman Thy Dungeonman]]'', and ''[[YMMV/Stinkoman20X6 Stinkoman 20X6]]'' to their pages instead of this page.
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3* AdaptationDisplacement: One of the most successful {{Web Original}}s started out as a children's dead-tree picture book, which was only given out to friends. References to that book appear in some animations.
4* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: As of "Marzipan's Answering Machine #4", Marzipan knows that Strong Bad has been leaving prank messages on her machine. Does Strong Bad still do this to keep her entertained, or is it because he has a pipe dream that she'll eventually fall for one?
5* ArchiveBinge: Necessary to get all the in-jokes and references. A lot of the cartoons make little to no sense otherwise.
6* ArchivePanic: The website has been operating since late 1999, and the official wiki has been unable to confirm certain details of the site before 2003.
7* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[https://homestarrunner.com/toons/500-the-cheats 500 The Cheats.]]
8* ContinuityLockout: It's not really a continuity cartoon, but half of the gags will make no dang sense if you don't start at the beginning and work your way forward. Because everything's broken into separate series, there's no way to be sure you're watching it all in the right order, either. They've even referenced cartoons that had already been removed from the site. Thank goodness there's a [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page fan wiki.]]
9* CrossesTheLineTwice: A lot of Strong Bad's abusive behavior would be horrifying in just about any other context, but it often ends up being so ridiculously over-the-top or childish/ineffective that it becomes hilarious rather than disturbing.
10** There is also this joke from "Career Day":
11-->'''Narrator:''' Kids, have you ever wondered who that mysterious man in the picture your mother hides under her pillow is? [laughing] No, it's not your real father! [Space Captainface walks in and pushes the boy aside] Why, it's SBASAF's First Lieuteneral Space Captainface!
12* EnsembleDarkhorse: Has [[EnsembleDarkHorse/HomestarRunner its own page now]].
13* EvilIsCool: Strong Bad was originally the antagonist in Homestar Runner, but he was loved by so many fans that he pretty much became the main character.
14* {{Fanon}}:
15** Fanworks featuring the unused characters Homeschool Winner and Champeen almost always make them related to Homestar, often either his siblings or cousins. (The "Quickstart Overview" rap for the Trogdor board game makes a sly reference to this: when Strong Bad raps "You can play it by yourself or with your stepmom's kids" Homeschool Winner is seen representing "stepmom's kids")
16* FriendlyFandoms: Thanks to their numerous collaborations, many fans of Homestar either are or have become fans of Music/TheyMightBeGiants as well.
17** At the show's height, the Fanstuff Wiki was filled with crossovers with fellow flash animated series ''WebAnimation/BonusStage'', to the point where it seemed to be just as much a ''Bonus Stage'' fanfic wiki as a ''Homestar Runner'' one. Wilson was a fan of the Chaps' creation and would sometimes sneak references to it in his work, culminating in a Strong Bad cameo in one episode.
18* GeniusBonus: Especially true with the Halloween cartoons, where the characters' costumes includes extremely specific pop culture references.
19* HarsherInHindsight:
20** "sick day" is a short entirely focused around the House of Brothers Strong (and Homestar) falling too ill to do their regular duties, including checking email. It has a darker context in light of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, particularly Strong Bad's comment that he can't smell anything anymore, a common symptom of Long COVID.
21** Near the end of "Fall Float Parade", a giant Marshie Balloon feebly controlled by The Cheat rams into the platform where Marzipan and Coach Z are reporting. At the UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade three days later, a balloon accidentally slammed into a streetlight and injured two people.
22*** In a similar vein, three years later a balloon version of Keith Haring's "Figure With Heart" [[http://youtu.be/4lnBDODCC2I?t=1h14m19s bumped into the booth where the hosts were broadcasting from]]. No one was injured, though, and they were quick to make jokes about it afterwards.
23*** And in a similar vein, Marzipan is very uncomfortable on-air for co-anchor Coach Z's "inapprapriate comments." Cut to 2017, when NBC's Matt Lauer, who co-hosted the Macy's Parade coverage, was fired for sexual harassment.
24** "Best Caper Ever", which is about Homestar floating on an ice floe through the Arctic as Strong Bad and The Cheat try to remember what happened, came out February 9, 2009, one day after 134 people were rescued from a freeflowing sheet of ice that broke off into Lake Erie. Because of this, the page title of the cartoon was "Total Coincidence! Not Intentional!"
25** In "Sbemailiarized Entertainment", Mike Chapman says he "can't wait to stop working– start working. On them." Not long after, the franchise would enter a lengthy hiatus.
26* HilariousInHindsight:
27** In the commentary (published early 2001) for ''The King of Town'', Strong Bad complains about not having his own cartoon. The following August, the first WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail was put on the site, and Internet history was made.
28** Now you ''can'' get [[Anime/WelcomeToTheSpaceShow Space Show DVDs]]!
29** "Attention Holiday Shoppers! Bubs Friday starts Thursday!" The last item in a "not Football TV" montage back on Thanksgiving 2007. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)#Black_Thursday Four years]] [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-black-thursday-20111122,0,3635522.story later...]]
30** In the 2008 Halloween cartoon "Most In The Graveyard", Coach Z dresses up as DJ Lance Rock from ''Series/YoGabbaGabba''. Matt Chapman has since become a writer for said show.
31** "A Jorb Well Done" became this after ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s "Goobacks" had its own mispronunciations of "job".
32** "Commandos in the Classroom" (2005) has the Cheat Commandos as fans of the movie ''Pony Fights 2''. Crazy, isn't it? I mean, [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic manly, grown men obsessing over ponies...]]
33*** Even before that. Completing the Homestar Talker and the Strong Bad talker allows you to access Strong Bad's room where he has a poster of a unicorn.
34*** The fact that they're obsessing over a film called ''Pony Fights'' when the alluded-to series got [[VideoGame/MyLittlePonyFightingIsMagic a well-known fangame]] about just that, as well as its [[VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds successor]] broadening the scope to Ungulate Fights.
35** "Later That Night…", the 2016 Halloween special, features Bubs dressing up as Billy Mitchell, a famous gamer known for his achievements in scores and speedruns. In 2018, Mitchell was caught in a massive cheating scandal that resulted in almost all of his high scores and times being invalidated, perfectly fitting Bubs' persona as a con artist.
36** Strong Mad looks ''uncannily'' like a PaletteSwap of Tank from ''WesternAnimation/OscarsOrchestra''.
37* HoYay:
38** Often invoked in Homestar and Strong Bad's interactions, as sometimes he'll talk to Strong Bad with a ''very'' loving voice -- to the latter's horror.
39** In the Homestar Talker game, the code phrase for unlocking the Strong Bad talker was eventually changed from "Making! Out! With! Marzipan! Is! Totally! Awesome!" to "Pom Pom! And! [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome Stwong Bad! Awe!]] Totally! Going! Out!"
40** Homestar almost shows Strong Bad a skimpy negligee in ''8-Bit Is Enough''. ItMakesSenseInContext.
41*** Homestar's reaction to Strong Bad's 'final form' is a bit... surprising.
42** In [[http://homestarrunner.com/xmas10_costumes.html Which 'Ween Costumes?]], Homestar admits to being attracted to Strong Bad's [[Film/AChristmasStory "Leg Lamp"]] costume. Strong Bad is not amused.
43--->'''Homestar:''' Strong Bad, your costume is making me feel ''(suggestively)'' loosey-goosey!
44--->'''Strong Bad:''' Shut your face pile right now, or I'm gonna start feeling a little ''punchy-wunchy''.
45** In [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes05.html the 2005 fan costume commentary]], Strong Bad is making fun of Halloween costumes when one of a girl dressed up as Homestar Runner appears, which leads to conflicting feelings on the subject ("Hot Homestar?! My brain is splitting in half!"). Then Homestar pops up and starts calling Strong Bad 'sweetie.'
46** Homestar alleges that the Goblin and the Rocoulm (from the Horrible Painting) got married in "Later that Night...".
47** In the DVD commentary for "Decemberween in July", Strong Bad gets defensive when Mike teases him about watching Decemberween specials at Homestar's house.
48* LGBTFanbase: Strong Bad's always had a substantial number of male admirers, as evidenced by the email "brianrietta" and one of the ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople''-exclusive emails. A number of LGBTQ fans also identify with the fact that, despite trying to seem like [[HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday a hyper-masculine tough guy with a ton of girlfriends]], Strong Bad actually [[RealMenWearPink has a ton of feminine hobbies and interests]] and [[UnmanlySecret is a lot more sensitive than he'd like to admit.]]
49* MemeticBadass:
50** TROGDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!
51** Mr. Poofers, a cloud-shaped dog that the characters realize is impossible to kill in a story and is worshiped as their dark overlord.
52* MemeticMutation: TROGDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!
53** Homsar himself is memetic.
54** "With Marzipan's radish, we gonna win da comp-a-tee-shun!" [[labelnote:explanation]]A line from "The Reddest Radish"; Strong Bad's bizarre way of pronouncing "competition" is frequently used in reference to the series' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness crudely made early days]].[[/labelnote]]
55** "Is this 2002 (2003/.../2006)?"[[labelnote:explanation]]The official [=YouTube=] channel started to become more active in the latter half of 2017, with more new videos and higher-quality copies of old Strong Bad Emails coming out, so it isn't uncommon for people to joke that "This is just like 2004" or "WE 2006 BOIIIIIS".[[/labelnote]]
56** "Coach Z, you JERK!"
57** Homestar Runner will irrevocably alter your vocabulary[[labelnote:explanation]]The writing in the series has an extremely distinct and identifiable voice, and many fans of the series note that they end up latching onto some of the series' quotes and odder turns of phrase and incorporating them into their normal speech. A common activity among fans is to make lists or compilation videos of their favorite and "most-used" quotes, often titled things like "Homestar quotes that permanently altered my vocabulary/I can't stop saying/live rent-free in my head/etc."[[/labelnote]]
58* MemeticPsychopath: Marshie, no thanks to his disturbing behaviors and AmbiguouslyEvil nature.
59* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Strong Sad is a combined caricature of people with depression, nerds, and hipsters. Guess which groups of people list him as their favorite character? (It helps that Strong Sad's depression is surprisingly relatable, and that his nerdy and hipster-y elements are an AffectionateParody of actual hipsters and nerds)
60** While Stinkoman started out as a ShallowParody of anime (as mentioned below), Homestar fans who are also anime fans tend to LOVE the 20X6 universe, especially if they're more familiar with the old school [[DeadHorseTrope stereotypes and cliches of 80's and 90's anime]] that it parodies. (It helps that over time, it turned into a parody of [[DeadUnicornTrope what Americans who aren't anime fans THINK all anime is like]]). Fans of ''Franchise/MegaMan'' in particular love that his game is an AffectionateParody of the classic games: many Stinkoman-centric fanfics are written as parodies of games in the franchise.
61* {{Moe}}:
62** [[GranolaGirl Marzi]][[TheCutie pan]], just as long as you don't mind her SoapboxSadie habits.
63** Homestar is also very Moe, especially with the voice he had in the older cartoons.
64** Strong Sad is oddly huggable.
65* NauseaFuel: Main Page 7 is as graphically disgusting as the art style allows. Zombie Homestar's exposed, pulsating brain squirts blood and gets partly eaten by a crow, and worms crawl out of his mouth.
66* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Homsar and Senor Cardgage to the other characters.
67* NightmareRetardant: Main Page 7 if you roll over "characters". Zombie Strong Bad rises from his grave, only for his head to roll away from him.
68-->'''Zombie Strong Bad:''' Oh, here I come back from the dead, to ta- ''(head starts leaning)'' whoa-oa! ''(head rolls away)'' Holy crap!
69* PeripheryDemographic:
70** Despite being a mostly secular franchise, the website has a substantial number of Christian fans. Notably, Christian hip-hop artist KJ-52 has expressed a love for the website and name-dropped it in his track "Things I Like", and Music/{{ApologetiX}} have made several references to the website and it's characters.
71** The franchise was popular [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids with children]] in its heyday, owing to the artstyle being cute and bubbly, and the content being almost entirely family-friendly (the worst language the characters use is either PG-rated swears like "crap" or {{unusual euphemism}}s like "sweet genius!") in comparison to many of its fellow web cartoons. A lot of parents who watched the series when they were younger have also introduced it to their kids.
72** Thanks to the frequent references and name drops to the Brothers Chaps' favorite bands and artists, it gained a following among indie rock fans and musicians. It especially helps that the Chapmans have connections to several indie rock legends. [[note]]Aside from the aforementioned collaborations with Music/TheyMightBeGiants, the Chapmans created the music video for "Heimsdalgate Like A Promethean Curse" by Music/OfMontreal, Strong Bad made an apperance in puppet form at an Atlanta concert by Music/TheAquabats, and in 2016 the duo formed a band called Air-Sea Dolphin with Robert Schneider, best known for leading The Apples in Stereo and producing the famous Music/NeutralMilkHotel album ''Music/InTheAeroplaneOverTheSea''[[/note]]
73* PlayAlongMeme: "Mr. Poofers Must Die!" introduces Mr. Poofers, an AdorableAbomination of a dog who cannot be killed or harmed in any story--anyone who tries to speak of harm befalling Mr. Poofers is instead compelled to talk about nice things happening to him. Naturally, fans love to try to kill off Mr. Poofers in their own stories, only for him to suddenly and miraculously escape harm at the last minute.
74* PopCultureHoliday:
75** Fans have done this to Decemberween, celebrating it alongside or in place of Christmas on December 25.
76** Thanks to "Happy Trogday" canonizing the celebration, fans make tribute to Trogdor on January 13, the anniversary of his email debut.
77** Labor Day is a real holiday, but is given extra special attention by Homestar fans, who tend to announce it with "Todaybor Day is Labor Day!" or call it "Labor Dabor," along with singing Homestar's [[https://homestarrunner.com/toons/labor-dabor Labor Day song.]]
78** In 2021, Strong Bad [[https://twitter.com/StrongBadActual/status/1373801094640500744 on his Twitter]] coined March 21st as Marzi (Mar21) Day, in somewhat of a jab towards Mario Day. The following year's Marzi Day marked the release of Marzipan Beef Reverser.
79* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: The King of Town was formerly regarded as a dull, one-trick pony and as such, was far and away the least popular character on the site. A combination of {{Flanderization}} and his own amusingly pitiful attempts to boost his status gradually endeared him to fans.
80* TheScrappy: Crack Stuntman, especially from fans who thought he was becoming a spotlight-stealing character from the Cheat Commandos shorts.
81* ShallowParody: The ''Stinkoman'' series, at least at first. The Brothers Chaps aren't really all that up on anime, and it shows; at least in the site's earlier years, most of the parodied tropes were primarily from video games, particularly ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManX''. This can be partially, though not entirely, [[StylisticSuck blamed on Strong Bad in-universe]], since he created Stinkoman based on his hazy memory of a ''single'' "Japanese cartoon". He's later quoted as saying "Anime? It's called Japanimation! Least it was last time I checked... which was [[TheEighties 1987]]." In later episodes, this has been downplayed and Stinkoman has shifted into being a more accurate parody of the StockShonenHero.
82* SpiritualAntithesis: The Yonder Website universe is a more positive version of the ''Trauncles'' segments from ''WebAnimation/TwoMoreEggs'', The Brothers Chaps' shorts series. While both have simply drawn characters and a calm, interactive narrator, the ''Trauncles'' narrator is much more sarcastic and can occasionally be sadistic to the cast, while the Yonder Website narrator is laid-back and encourages the Characters.
83* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: The "Homestar vs. Little Girl" series of puppet shorts are pure Series/SesameStreet-style silliness and cuteness, with the Brothers Chaps' various nieces/kids.
84* ThatOneLevel: The original Level 27 of the ''TROGDOR'' flash game. Due to the positioning of the cottages, Trogdor was boxed into a fairly small space that rendered most of the spawned peasants inaccessible for stomping (and their escape would mean reducing the Burninator meter), and which gave him little room to maneuver around knights and archers. It was such a massive DifficultySpike that it was actually changed in an update (listed on the site's FAQ) to position the cottages farther apart.
85* UglyCute: Strong Bad and Strong Mad definitely count because of how simplistic the art style is.
86** The Poopsmith as well.
87* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
88** The site got a lot of mileage from parodying the various web design, Flash animation, and online culture tropes of the time -- as time passes, most if not all of these trends have fallen by the wayside or been completely forgotten. Most of the humor in AprilFoolsDay pranks like "[[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Under_Construction Under Construction]]" and "[[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/HomestarRunner.com_PAY_PLUS! HomestarRunner.com PAY PLUS!]]", as well as episodes like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az49aNuYeJs "Virus"]] will likely fly over the heads of many who watch it today.
89** The website design itself is noticeably obsolete -- it is in a tiny box on an otherwise completely black webpage.(The small size was a problem even during the site's heyday -- and on a modern monitor, it looks [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homestar_runner.PNG like this.]]) While using the zoom feature on a browser can alleviate this, the site also suffers from poor audio quality due to Flash's compression (the Podcast Runner and [=YouTube=] versions are noticeably better, however), there's no way to pause, rewind, or fast-forward (outside of unofficial add-ons, the most extensive being [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/User:Phlip/Greasemonkey this one]]), and even prior to Flash Player's December 2020 shutdown, had frequent compatibility problems on certain devices. The newer toons frequently invoke SelfDeprecation to lampshade the dated website.
90--> '''Strong Bad:''' "[[SarcasmMode And I can't wait to be soooo fooled when]] {Cut to the website's welcome screen} my favorite website looks like it's from another time period!"
91--> '''Homestar:''' Oh. Man. This looks just like one of them Flash-y cartoon websites ''{Flash Player Settings popup appears}'' from 2002!
92** That said, however, the [[{{Badbutt}} general content of the site being limited to a light PG/PG-13]] has actually made it age much better than its contemporaries in web animation, which relied on shock humor and have generally not aged well (with many of them, including ''WebAnimation/FredTheMonkey'' -- often thought to be a case of FollowTheLeader to ''HR'' itself -- having been completely forgotten).
93* UnpopularPopularCharacter:
94** Coach Z. While most of the main characters besides Bubs and Homestar have difficulty putting up with his awkwardness, some fans find the same hilarious awkwardness endearing.
95** Strong Sad is considered depressing and annoying by many of the other characters, and is frequently bullied by Strong Bad, but fans consider him an adorable [[TheWoobie woobie]]. It helps that, in later years, Strong Sad stared taking on many traits associated with stereotypical internet fandoms (like writing fanfic and attending con).
96** The King of Town is a strange case where, in the early days of the site, he genuinely was an unpopular character, since he had only one real joke (being a BigEater). Because of this, he was retooled to make his real-world lack of popularity into [[TheFriendNobodyLikes an in-universe trait]], with him becoming something of TheEeyore and regularly making bizarre, unsuccessful attempts to become more well-liked in the community. This worked out fairly well in the fanbase.
97* ViewerGenderConfusion: One of Strong Bad's ''many'' alter egos is a female ghost hunter named Sharpdene. However, given that the only indictor that she's female is that Strong Bad [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext starts wearing a red, long-haired wig on the coat rack strapped to his back]], it's easy to mistake her for male--she's played by the male Strong Bad, he doesn't really pitch his voice up for her the way he does for the Teen Girl Squad (likely meant to be a contralto), and it's easy to interpret her name as the masculine name Dean instead of a pun on the feminine "Charlene." She's referred to as female in her first appearance, but none of her subsequent ones bring it up.
98* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: An unusual example. The content is mostly child appropriate, looks kiddy, and the creators themselves have remarked they purposely seek to keep the website family friendly. Nonetheless the website has a humor style that often appeals to mid-teen to adult audience and often uses pop-cultural references. Plus, Strong Bad commonly uses language that would be rated TV-PG (e.g. "crap" is a common word in his vocabulary and is probably his harshest word).
99* TheWoobie: Now [[Woobie/HomestarRunner has its own page]].

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