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Homestar_Runner_logo.png
The Homestar Runner logo
Homestar Runner (often abbreviated HSR or H*R) is an animated cartoon series available mostly through HomestarRunner.com (http://www.homestarrunner.com/). It has an absurdist sense of humor similar to that found in H.R. Pufnstuf. Although originally conceived as a book written for children, the site is perhaps most popular with (and has been gravitating toward) young adults, with its short movies, games, charmingly naïve music, and plentiful opportunities for interaction.
The series is the product of Matt and Mike Chapman, who typically call themselves "The Brothers Chaps". Matt Chapman provides the voices of the male characters, while Missy Palmer (Mike's wife) does that of Marzipan. Mike Chapman provides the stilted voices for The Cheat's amateurish Flash cartoons.
Because "The Brothers Chaps" run their website, they have a creative freedom that they would not have doing a regular TV show. Though the site sells Homestar merchandise, it has no commercials, and a few of the cartoons parody advertising, with products like "Fluffy Puff Marshmallows". The Internet has allowed them to reach a large audience that they wouldn't have access to otherwise. Originally, they developed Homestar Runner as a labor of love, and for their own amusement. It has grown large enough that merchandise sales pay for all of the costs of running the website.
The website, built mostly out of Macromedia Flash animations, is filled with hidden Easter eggs: if a certain area on the page is mouse-clicked at the right time, an additional cartoon or screen will appear. These eggs typically include short cartoons, video clips, songs, or alternate versions of the site's main page.
Cartoons
Homestar Runner and Coach Z interrupting a night-time caper by Strong Bad and The Cheat. The cartoons nominally center on Homestar Runner, a clumsy and unintelligent athlete. The character Strong Bad, however, is often more popular among fans, mostly through his near-weekly updates of Strong Bad Emails (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html), short cartoons in which he answers viewer email. Strong Bad works closely with his sidekick The Cheat and uses his brother Strong Mad as the muscle in his operations. Together, the three prey on Strong Bad's gawky and constantly-depressed brother Strong Sad, and many of the site's features—music, games, main pages, etc.—are based on things from the Strong Bad E-mails.
Several other characters fill out the world: Homestar's hippie girlfriend Marzipan, his best friend Pom Pom, their coach Coach Z, local concession stand operator and dancer Bubs, the King of Town, and the Poopsmith. Rounding out the cast is Homsar, a gibberish-speaking character created due to a poorly-spelled e-mail to Strong Bad.
Nearly every Monday, some sort of update (a short, a longer cartoon, a Strong Bad e-mail, a video game, or real-life merchandise like CDs and action figures) is added to the website.
Sub-cartoons
The Homestar Runner world features several sub-cartoons. These cartoons take place outside the normal Homestar Runner world, and the main characters of the normal cartoons do not appear in them.
Teen Girl Squad
Teen Girl Squad is a crudely drawn comic strip narrated by Strong Bad. It began after Strong Bad received an email asking him to make a comic strip. The comic strip features four ditzy teenage girls (Cheerleader, So-And-So, What's-Her-Face and The Ugly One) who Strong Bad often subjects to gruesome and unusual deaths. Some of the most recent TGS comics also feature a boy named Tompkins.
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes is another cartoon created by Strong Bad in response to an email request. The cartoon, designed to be as "kah-razy" as possible, takes place on a surreal multi-colored plane resembling a disco dance floor.
The central character, "a cross between a cow and a helicopter" who communicates through a series of weird noises, spends each episode trying to catch a worm that crawls in and out of the ground. While the most common name of this character is "Cowcopter" (a name given to it by fans due to Strong Bad's description of it), creators Matt and Mike Chapman claim its name is Sherlock.
Other characters include "Eh! Steve", an anthropomorphic polygon that appears once an episode to deliver his self-referential catch phrase, and the Wheelchair (voiced by Bubs), whose goal in life is to destroy Eh! Steve. Strong Bad also placed himself in the cartoon, although his head is an old Casio VL-Tone keyboard.
Powered by The Cheat
Some sketches are portrayed as being drawn by The Cheat, who has his own distinctive animation style. It has appeared in many forms, such as in Strong Bad e-mails, cartoons, even its own welcome page. It is rumored that the Brothers Chaps tried this animation before settling on the current type. In Powered by The Cheat segments, Mike Chapman provides poor (which he concedes) imitations of his brother Matt's normal voice work.
Cheat Commandos
The Cheat Commandos are a line of action figures that all resemble The Cheat wearing different outfits. The Commandos are an extensive parody of the popular '80s version of the G.I. Joe dolls and cartoon. As with G.I. Joe, the Cheat Commandos figurines are all nearly exactly the same; the cartoon has silly dialogue, bad animation, mindless action sequences and zero characterization; and the entire series exists to sell merchandise (The Cheat Commandos theme song even states "Buy all our playsets and toys!").
The Cheat Commandos fight an evil villain known as Blue Laser (or Blue Lazer), a clear parody of G.I. Joe's arch-nemesis Cobra, and its leader Cobra Commander (known in the UK as "Red Laser").
History
Homestar Runner came to life in 1996 with two bored college students.
Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel were working that summer in jobs related to the 1996 Summer Olympics. On a day off, they visited a bookstore where they found that the state of children's books was dismal.
Intending to rectify this, they wrote the original story The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest. This story featured Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, The Cheat, and quite a few characters that soon disappeared from the Homestar Runner world. This hand-drawn book was the only incarnation of the characters for several years.
By 1999, Mike and Matt Chapman were learning Flash and looking for something to practice on. Digging out the old children's book provided a solution. By January 2000, homestarrunner.com was live. Later in 2000, the first Strong Bad email was published. The number of visitors to the site grew, and by March 2003 had outgrown its original host.
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