Aich-Star-Arr
Compendium
Main Characters
Current Entries:
One of
the Chapman Brothers' strongest merits is their meticulous eye for character
development. Homestar and the gang, after appearing in many cartoons together,
interacting with one another, and forming relationships, have
become a cohesive whole, despite the fact that they were created at a disparity
of times with different roles and ideals. However, few characters clash with
every aspect of their fellows quite so much as Bubs. This is ironic, as Bubs is
easily one of the most affable of all the characters.
Visually, Bubs fringes on the edge of abstraction. His ovoid face is light
blue, his eyes are different sizes, and his mouth is simply a tight thatch of
large teeth covering the bottom of his face. When Bubs speaks, his mouth does
not open; his teeth merely shift slightly. The top of Bubs' body is an orange
lump with rudimentary arms, no hands or fingers. A green sash of some sort
covers his waist, and his bottom half is uniformly black, including his
ridiculously undersized feet. Indeed, his four main components (head, upper
body, sash, lower body) do not appear to be part of a uniform whole so much as
four unrelated elements assembled together as well as they can fit. So
effective is his design that he has gone virtually unchanged since his first
appearance.
Despite this wild incongruity of form, Bubs has a conversely down-to-earth
personality. Were he as offbeat as his appearance, he would be almost
completely inaccessible. His approachability is aided by the zestful quality of
his dialogue, and certainly his voice, which sounds curiously like Louis
Armstrong. The dialogue and voice mesh perfectly to create such a believable
character that his bizarre appearance is forgotten. Indeed, it is only while
one is looking at stills of the character that one realizes how odd he truly
looks!
Like Coach Z, Bubs is one of the few characters that the audience registers as
a full-fledged adult. A large part of this is the fact that Bubs has a
permanent job. He is the sole proprietor of the concession stand where the
characters visit for all of their necessities. The exact location of this stand
is unclear, but it never seems far from where the current scene is taking
place. Being a private businessman has also made Bubs the character the most
likely to pursue the Almighty Dollar. Keeping his business thriving always
seems to have priority over most other things, but this hasn't driven a wedge
between Bubs and his friends, as they need his services just as much as he
desires their money.
But Bubs is no miser, nor is he a recluse. Like his form, Bubs is larger than
life. Everything he does and says carries a true sense of ebullience and the
sheer joy of being alive. His love of singing and dancing accentuates this;
Bubs may not be the most graceful of creatures, but he puts his heart and soul
into every moment. This enthusiasm is contagious; most of the other characters
seem generally happier in his presence. Bubs is not immune to anger or
disappointment, and is occasionally short with people, but it seldom seems to
last, and these moments of negativity only strengthen his character. Were he
perpetually jolly, he'd merely be a two-dimensional buffoon. Bubs' dialogue is
another facet of his character: he joyfully alters the English language towards
his liking, changing and creating words as he sees fit, and creating a dialect
all his own.
Bubs
has boasted that he can "fix anything what needs fixin'",
and when he is not running the concession stand, he is
often using his mechanical skills to aid his friends in some gambit. The
quality of his inventions is suspect, but there are seldom any complaints. Bubs
seems to define who he is by the services he provides; the only times he is
ever at a loss for words is when he is required to talk about himself
personally. This is a common trait among gifted individuals.
Bubs is such a forcefully portrayed character that it is only in retrospect
that one realizes that he never impacts the main thrust of a story in all but
the most trivial ways. Bubs neither moves nor shakes, simply acting as a loyal
companion while simultaneously going through life in his own inimitable way. It
is no mystery why Homestar and friends consider him a reliable ally; one could
easily imagine meeting Bubs in real life and being drawn to him in the same
way. Bubs may have little purpose other than to swell the ranks, but nobody
could call him superfluous or flat. Bubs is a true
original, in every sense of the word.
Owing
something by design to E. C. Segar's
The Cheat is a zoological anomaly. His body is not square so
much as parallelogram-shaped. There seems to be no distinction between his
lower lip and stomach, made odder by the fact that he never opens his mouth (although he is known to smile on occasion to display his prized gold tooth).
His feet (or perhaps simply one solitary foot) are actually the bottom of his
body spreading and flattening at its base. His arms are simple tapered fins.
His snout is an extension of the top of his head, and his eyes appear to be
placed on his cheek. Like most of his fellows, The Cheat is seen virtually
exclusively from the 3/4 perspective, either front or back, and never directly
from the front or in profile. This curious design has changed not one whit from
his first appearance. The Cheat's body is covered in golden-yellow fur, and his
back is decorated with dark spots, which, as expected, make him resemble a
cheetah. His voice is a mishmash of indecipherable gibberish in a child-like
tone.
As can be inferred from his name, The Cheat likes to cheat. This trait is
obviously what attracted Strong Bad to his company, but unlike Strong Bad, The
Cheat is not especially out for personal gain. Unlike the alleged villainy of
Strong Bad, which is based on greed and overachieving, and Strong Mad, which is
based on brute stupidity, The Cheat enjoys breaking rules, conning, and other
manner of subterfuge out of an innocent sense of mischief. This is why The
Cheat's untrustworthy nature is not repulsive; The Cheat acts, above all, in
the manner of an innocuous child. We may not approve of The Cheat's actions,
but we do not hold them against him, because, in some way, we feel a sort of
empathy for his childish misbehaviour; we have all
acted similarly heedlessly in our own lives. The Cheat's machinations seldom
bring about any positive gain for himself or those he
is aiding, so it is hard to begrudge the little troublemaker the temporary
happiness he gets from his minor misconduct. Were The Cheat presented as more
mercenary and actively malicious, he would be far less loveable.
The Cheat has been acting as an accomplice far less often since Strong Bad has
moved away from being an out-and-out villain. Their partnership, therefore, has
been altered, subtly yet meaningfully. Strong Bad fluctuates between enlisting
The Cheat to do him a favour or support him on some
misadventure or other, and sternly giving The Cheat instructions to carry out
for what is perceived to be The Cheat's own good. The Cheat, despite the
occasional grumbled protest, acts obediently and tirelessly. While this could
be written off as Strong Bad relishing the power that he exerts over a smaller
entity (The Cheat is the only character smaller than Strong Bad himself), it
seems that the reality is more convoluted. Strong Bad usually seems to be, in
his own peculiar way, expressing some sort of loving paternal authority over
The Cheat, and is genuinely interested in what he considers to be the best for
The Cheat. This is a side of Strong Bad that is seldom, if ever seen outside of
The Cheat's presence. While Strong Bad would never admit it, he is totally
devoted to The Cheat, and despite the occasional kick or verbal insult, wants
The Cheat to turn out well. Granted, Strong Bad's
methods are hardly orthodox, but the sincerity of his affections, however
misguided, is admirable. The Cheat definitely strengthens Strong Bad as a
character in areas that would otherwise go unchecked.
Despite
his reputation for misconduct, The Cheat is well liked among the rest of the
gang, and they generally speak highly of him. But nobody is more entirely in
The Cheat's thrall than Strong
For all his flaws, The Cheat is certainly an appealing character. However, his
true appeal is the oddly sentimental side he brings out of his friends, which
is visible only in his company. The Cheat is clearly loved, by both his fellows
and his audience.
The
ages of Homestar and his friends are never supplied, nor are they especially
needed. While most of the characters are at least physically in some form of
adulthood, the interaction between Homestar, Marzipan, Strong Bad and the rest
are analogues to the playground hierarchy of irresponsible children. In order to
play on this dynamic further, it was therefore necessary for a more grownup
character to be around, delineating the contrast between the irony and foibles
of adulthood and the fecklessness and selfishness of childhood. This role
ultimately went to Coach Z.
Like most of his companions, Coach Z is an anthropomorphic oddity. His head is
a simple white sphere marked only with two vacant eyes. On top of his head is a
blue and purple baseball cap, the peak facing backwards. Coach Z's body, which
can be accurately described as "beanpole", is green (the issue of whether his
skin is green or whether he is wearing a green tracksuit has been addressed,
but never satisfactorily concluded). His hands are simple lumps with thumbs,
resting on his pipe-stem arms, and his feet are large and long, giving him a
clumsy look in addition to his bent knees and squat lower body. He has a large golden medallion on his chest, on which his initial is engraved.
Coach Z's expressionless face is contrasted with the fact that he is an
extremely vocal character. When one sees stills of Coach Z, one is mildly
disturbed at how empty and featureless his visage is. All factors of Coach Z's
character hinge exactly and precisely on his voice. Fortunately, his voice is
strong enough to carry his bland exterior, and there is never the unsettling
feeling that image and sound are two separate entities. The voice itself is
definitely working class and colloquial, but high and quirky enough so as to
not sound rough. Coach Z's voice meshes with his curious diction; he constructs
all of his sentences as though they are mere fragments of one continuous
sentence, broken only by the necessity of another party speaking. Perhaps the
most important (and certainly the most memorable) aspect of Coach Z's voice is
his indecipherable accent. Its origin is definitely North American, but it is difficult
to pinpoint an exact locality; it seems partly Canadian, partly north-eastern
Coach Z is, of course, a coach. The sport he coaches, and the firm that employs
himself and the team, are never defined. The sport
seems to combine elements of football, basketball and soccer with an
incomprehensible scoring system. This occupation is what formed Coach Z as a
character: when he was originally conceived, Homestar was still a stalwart if
slightly gullible athlete. It was therefore fitting that there would be a de
facto father figure to counsel him and aid him during moments of indecision; a
coach would be the perfect candidate. As Homestar grew away from this
personality, however, Coach Z was forced to either make further attempts to
advise the now imbecilic Homestar, or simply abandon all traces of his wisdom,
becoming as out-and-out eccentric as the rest of the characters in the process.
Ultimately, the latter was chosen. This was a wise decision for two reasons.
Firstly, Homestar and friends gradually abandoned structured set-up-and-punchline style of humour in favour
of a more edgy and anarchic view of the world, and a level-minded coach would
be out of place. Second, and more important, the original incarnation of Coach
Z was a very bland character.
With a
fresh slate, Coach Z was free to grow as a character in new ways. The
aforementioned accent grew more pronounced. His rambling speech patterns became
ridiculously drawn out. His venerable nuggets of advice were replaced with
long, pointless stories. In short, Coach Z had become a self-caricature, but a
very funny self-caricature. Where he would have given Homestar meaningful
advice about relationships, he now babbles idiotically, and even a simpleton
like Homestar knows not to rely on him.
There is some wickedly dark humour lurking beneath Coach Z's benign façade. He
seems harmless enough at a cursory glance, but a closer examination reveals
some downright disturbing details. Coach Z has been intoxicated more than once,
and he seems to react quite forcibly to different substances, including
alcoholic mouthwash. Coach Z also has an unhealthy interest in Marzipan, and
while their relationship is platonic at best, there are times when Coach Z
seems to have more long-lasting intentions. So engaged is Coach Z to his job
that he lives in the locker room, sleeping on a bench at night.
Of course, all of these disturbing habits are wisely kept subtle, leaving Coach
Z an ineffectual but likeable character. And while his days of being a
surrogate parent to the gang are over, he often is the organizer of several of
"Everybody
loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."
Perusing
the above statement, the opening sentence from a modest, low-circulation
children's book in the late 1990s, one would never guess that the character
described would go on to have a beloved following by a decidedly different
audience. And while Homestar Runner has evolved considerably since his genesis in
both image and personality, his essential appeal has
remained. Over the years, Homestar's role has changed
from hero and protagonist to dolt and comedic foil, and as such, Homestar's cartoons in his earlier role are viewed almost
as artifacts from a long-forgotten era. But in all of
the cartoons, the identity of the character is never in doubt.
Homestar's appearance is as simple as his character.
There is no need for resemblance to reality; Homestar is drawn in a basic,
iconic style. His countenance is something human and simultaneously something
not. But Homestar's facile demeanour
is so non-threatening that his appearance never strikes the audience as odd or
alien. Homestar was not designed to resemble anything on a physical level so
much as on an emotional level. In this respect, as in the case of many cartoon
characters, Homestar's actual mien is irrelevant.
Homestar's head is skull-white, with inquisitive yet
naïve eyes and a rounded scalp. The only physical feature that truly keeps
Homestar from looking entirely childish is his lower jaw, which protrudes in a lunkish manner, accentuating the general obtuseness of his
form. To contrast this, a ridiculous propeller-beanie perches on his head,
which he obviously wears with desire to be jaunty, but it only adds to his
general look of childish ignorance. Homestar's body
is covered with a red jersey, which resembles a small skirt, as Homestar
possesses neither arms nor sleeves. A surprisingly bold-looking star is affixed
to his chest. This is presumable part of the origin of his name. Homestar's legs are lengthy and thin, and his feet are
large and cumbersome. There are soles at the bottoms of his feet, indicating
that he is wearing boots, the tops of which must be hidden underneath his
shirt. As one might guess, Homestar's physiology does
not bear close examination!
Above all else, this must be said: Homestar is dumb. He is obtuse and gauche to
the extreme, and is entirely oblivious to the frustration his friends show at
his continual falsehoods, ignorance, and unwitting insults. However, Homestar
is not an idiot because of a lack of effort or willingness to achieve
equivalence with his fellows. Instead, Homestar's
stupidity comes from the untested mind of a child. It is this juvenility, and
indeed, innocence, that lets Homestar affect his audience so well. As well,
part of Homestar's gullibility is due to his innate
kindness and trust in the honesty in his friends, despite the many times that
trust has been betrayed. Were Homestar portrayed as an adult, someone who
should know better, the humour would wear thin. Adults who never outgrow their
period of childish self-indulgence are often depressing and irritating, but
Homestar, despite his physical maturity, still hasn't gained the ability to see
how his words and actions affect others, and we forgive him, as we forgive
children in similar stages of development. To be certain, Homestar considers
himself a grown-up; he has a somewhat glib way of speaking, considers his
relationship with Marzipan to be a triumph (in truth, it is a cacophonous
farce), and generally thinks that he is on top of everything. The truth,
however, can't be denied; he's nothing more than a big kid, with a sincere love
for simple things such as marshmallows and "melonade".
A great part of this is due to his voice: while it has been torn slightly by
the strains of adolescence, there is an unadulterated curiosity and exuberance
that only exists within a child's psyche. And of course, Homestar endears us
further with his speech impediment, pronouncing his every "r" as "w".
Homestar's role, as noted, has changed considerably since his creation.
Initially, he was an eternal do-gooder, always ready to help out in a crisis,
stand up to injustice, and embark on an adventure. His
heroic status was somewhat romanticized by his status as a star athlete. In
short, he was a prototypical protagonist, one-dimensional and dull to the
extreme. While Homestar has always had a sort of passive blandness to his
character, in his early years he was literally defined by the blandness. For a
brief period, he was also something of a shape-shifter, altering his form, mass
and constitution depending on how it fit the scene. This, of course, was before
the animators began their standard practice of reusing frames. Homestar, while
not an intellectual by any means, at least had some semblance of competence,
and often explained his contentions with a chalkboard, whilst wearing a
graduate's cap. This aspect of Homestar's early years
especially rankles with his modern persona. Above all, there was nothing
especially funny about Homestar. He advanced the plot, but there was nothing
about his demeanour to make the audience especially
care about him. Changes were needed, and while it took a relatively long time
before his evolution was complete, the resulting character was well worth the
wait.
Gradually Homestar grew away from his role as a hero. He became passive; not
one who does things rather than one who has things done to him. His mental
dexterity eroded, and his affability and unquestioning trust in the decency of
his fellows became stronger than his common sense. His athleticism, while
retained, was pushed aside, likely to avoid the inevitable "dumb jock" jokes.
It cannot be stressed enough that Homestar's
acquisition of genuine comedy was in tandem with Strong Bad's
definition of character; while Strong Bad is capable of being humourous on his own, Homestar absolutely needs another
party to act as his foil. Indeed, Homestar and Strong Bad are both at their
best when playing off each other, something they never could do when they were
nominal arch-rivals. Strong Bad's eventual succession
of the best role has meant that Homestar can no longer rely on his own strength
of character, but that is hardly a detriment. Homestar is infinitely funnier
and thus more affecting when he is idiotically reacting to things, rather than
attempting to change them.
Why are so many fans in the thrall of this bungling half-wit? Everybody has his
or her own reason, but the truth of the matter is that he is so delightfully
innocent of his own stupidity, so unaware of how little respect he has, that
one is attracted to him as one would a small child. Homestar occasionally
recognizes a blunder on his part, often with a
self-effacing laugh, but he never learns from his mistakes, and continues to
bungle his way through life, time and time again, with unrepressed cheerfulness
and a genuine wonder about the world around him. All of his flaws on endear him
closer to his audience. Truly, everybody loves the Homestar Runner.
A
typographical error by an e-mail author, one Vinnie
C., became the inspiration for a new character, who has gone on to be one of
the website's biggest success stories, even though he was originally conceived
as a one-off joke.
Vinnie C.'s e-mail
suggested that Strong Bad end his long-standing rivalry with Homestar by
killing him. However, Homestar's name was
ridiculously misspelled "Homsar". Following his unerring literalness, Strong
Bad went out straight away and killed a character named Homsar. That was as far
as Homsar was intended to grow, but he proved so popular that the character was
resurrected beyond his seeming death and his career continued. He has since
become a member of the main gang, in addition to the long since established
eleven, which no other character introduced since has been able to do. This is
even more incredible when one bears in mind what kind of character Homsar is.
Visually, Homsar is conceived as a grotesque caricature of Homestar. His face
is similar, but his lunk-jaw is exaggerated and his
eyes are empty and devoid of emotion. A disreputable little derby is perched on
his head, giving him a clownish vaudevillian look. A shapeless blue jersey, his
name engraved on the front, covers the majority of his body. This is a good
thing, as it helps disguise his figure. His legs and feet are stubby and
ungainly, in contrast to Homestar's. Adding to his
discordant appearance is the way he is animated. Compared to the smooth and
precise movements of his fellows, Homsar is deliberately animated in a jerky,
disjointed fashion. Homsar's voice lilts and wavers
as he speaks, matched by the spastic contortions of his face.
Homsar's demeanour is just
as random and unstructured as his appearance. He has no emotion, no
personality, and no comprehension of anything. Homsar's
sole purpose in life is to show up at inopportune times, completely oblivious
to everything, and cry out absurd non-sequiters. When
utilized properly, Homsar's abrupt appearances are
killingly hilarious, and indeed, his demented exclamations seldom fail to
entertain. However, the Chapman brothers have wisely determined that Homsar
would become unbearably rebarbative and irritating
with excessive exposure. Homsar could hardly carry a cartoon on his own, or
even a full scene. Random and spontaneous humour are
best when used in a similarly random fashion. Therefore, Homsar has remained
elusive, leaving his fans to anticipate his next appearance, rather than
becoming a regular performer, which would surely destroy his status as a wild
card.
Homsar's relationship to the rest of the group is
tenuous at best. After he makes his appearance, he is quickly ignored or
forgotten. The only character who attempts to form an actual friendship with
him is Strong Sad, although it is unclear whether this is a product of Strong Sad's desperation for any sort of companionship, or Homsar's latching onto somebody who he can speak to who
will not attempt to ignore him. In any event, communication between the two is
trite, and it is difficult to tell who is tolerating whom.
Homsar has a loyal following, and in some respects he matches Homestar and
Strong Bad in popularity. But unlike them, Homsar is not personable or
sympathetic. To infuse anything deeper into his character would be to burden
him and thus kill him. He forever will be nothing more than a clown, albeit a
very funny one. And that, bearing in mind how he was designed, is exactly how
it should be.
As a
character and as an individual, the King of Town is a relic from another era.
Rather than letting this become a detriment to the character, his obsolescence
has been used as a marvellous source of comedy, which
is infinitely funnier than the King himself is by design.
The King's design conjures memories of fairy tales of old (particularly Tenniel's illustrations in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland), as well as the kings from playing cards. He is a facile Santa
Claus figure, with a round head and an even rounder body. He has no discernible
arms or legs, and his entire body is shrouded in frumpy red robes with white
trim. His head is white, and his face is adorned simply with perpetually
squinting eyes, a thick white moustache, and a series of scroll-shaped curls
forming a beard. An undersized crown is perched on his bald scalp. His voice is
that of a precocious child grown old, full of odd ditherings
and silly mutterings.
Food is the King's raison d'être. His entire life seems to consist of finding sustenance, eating it,
and ensuring that more food will continue to be available. Such is his
privileged upbringing that he eats any edibles he comes across without hesitation,
whether or not said edibles are even rightfully his. Perhaps this is his
interpretation of the Divine Right of Kings. At the core of everything the King
does is an innate selfishness. This excessive self-indulgence, however, is not
the cruel, bitter greed of adulthood, but the unquestioning self-service of a
child who simply does not know better. Things such as sharing and sacrifice are
alien to the King simply because he, in his decadent lifestyle, has never had
to consider them. This is precisely why the King's personality, which would be
unbearably repellent in person, does not offend the audience. The King clearly
enjoys the privileges of royalty far more than the responsibilities; when
anything disrupts his peaceful existence, he panics and must rely on others to
aid him. Indeed, aside from his dress he hardly makes any effort to act in a
manner that could be considered regal. For all his flaws, the King is a rather
likeable fellow, and this amicability is only strengthened when it becomes
obvious that the King's life is not as altogether pleasant as it appears.
When the King made his debut, the world in which Homestar and his friends lived
was undefined, and it was therefore not an issue that Homestar and Pom Pom could be summoned to a 16th century-era castle to solve
a mystery for a King and his retinue of servants. Shortly thereafter, however,
it was irrevocably established that
An
interesting piece of trivia is that early documents named the King as
Marzipan's father, obviously in an effort to forge a link between the King and Homestar's more contemporary companions. This gambit
apparently didn't have the impact it was intended to have and was discarded, as
Marzipan has never acknowledged the King as her father and vice versa. Without
any true friends among the gang, the King's obtrusive impact on the proceedings
is only made funnier, and a vintage character has been preserved, rather than
claimed by obscurity.
A
cursory glance at lists of characters from any classic animation series reveals
an interesting trend: original cartoon characters are, by and large, a "boys'
club", with room for very few female characters. Most female characters either
take familiar roles as matrons or siblings, and the most memorable female
characters have generally been created to keep the series from excluding
females as a whole, with the added bonus of being a love interest. Popular
tastes, unfortunately, have changed very little in 80 years, and this trend
continues to this day, with the rare exception (most of which, however, go too
far in the opposite direction and patronize females in a manner that is even
more insulting than ignoring them). It is therefore no surprise to see that
among
Marzipan's anatomy is a curiosity, to say the least. Her general physique resembles a straw broom, bristles downward, or perhaps a bell (a "Southern belle" reference, perhaps?). The structure of the handle is
pink, and serves as her head, and possibly her neck (it is hard to tell). Her
face is gently rendered with small but lively eyes, and a smile, which was
initially insipid but has gradually evolved into a myriad of expressions, which
are impressive considering the simple lines of her face. From the top of her
head sprouts a ponytail of blonde hair. The broom's bristles, her lower body,
is a half-sphere covered with some sort of purple skirt, decorated with a
simple frill segmented with baubles. No arms or feet are visible. It is a
triumph of the animators that, despite lacking most of the familiar cues of
femininity, Marzipan immediately registers in the mind of the audience as very
feminine, and nothing less.
Marzipan's personality is defined by her various dualities of character. One
might write this off as self-deceiving hypocrisy, but in truth it makes
Marzipan one of the more deeply layered characters. Such traits are, after all,
fairly common in the real world.
One of her main discrepancies is her temperament. There is a genuine tenderness
to a lot that Marzipan does; it is no coincidence that she shares her name
with an almost unbearably saccharine confection. The easiest way to illustrate
this is her affinity for nature. Marzipan is deeply connected to the plant and
animal kingdoms, to the point of being oblivious to everything else at times
when this connection is the strongest. Only Marzipan would go to the trouble of
holding a "concert for birds", or adopt an anthropomorphic sandwich. This facet
of her character definitely grates with most of the other characters, who have little patience for her strict dietary habits and
constant reprimands when they fail to accommodate nature in some way. To call
Marzipan a bohemian would not be inaccurate, or particularly unkind, especially
bearing in mind her penchant for performing syrupy, lightweight songs on Carol,
her acoustic guitar. Despite this gentility, however, there is a certain steel
deep within Marzipan. She is very opinionated and strong-minded, and does not
let any of her assertions be shaped by anybody but herself. She also has no
qualms whatsoever about pointing out when her companions say or do something
idiotic. She is by far the character who has come the
closest to diffusing the imbecility of
The
other main disparity of her character is her intellect. As mentioned before,
Marzipan is smart enough to see that every endeavour
of her fellows is sheer folly. Her dealings with Homestar accentuate this:
emotionally and maturity-wise he is definitely her junior,
and her tone when addressing him is patronizing and condescending to such an
extent that we wonder why she puts up with him, and vice-versa. Why, then, does
she never put an end to the foolishness? The simple answer is that Marzipan is
not nearly as intelligent as she thinks she is and appears to be. A main factor
of this is her stubborn belief in her own infallibility. Everything Marzipan
says and does is executed secure in the knowledge that she is absolutely right.
So content is she in her self-inflation that when she is finally put in a
position where she can no longer deny that she was at fault, she acts with a
revealing lack of maturity and self-control. This aspect is helped immensely by
Missy Palmer's marvelous characterization of Marzipan's voice, which is crisp
and resolute, even as she makes some laughably ignorant statements.
Serious-minded yet capricious, loving yet candid, highly mentally developed yet
childishly arrogant, this seeming dichotomy of character does not diminish
Marzipan as a character in our eyes. In fact, it is refreshing to see a cartoon
take an honest viewpoint and observe that sometimes females are just as thick
and petty as males. That Marzipan is not made faultless solely on the grounds
that she is female is an admirable decision. While she is cute in most
conventional senses, Marzipan does little to adhere to the stereotypes of other
perfunctory female characters. She is nominally Homestar's
girlfriend, but we see little in their dealings that indicate any developed
form of romance, or even affection. Summarily, they seem to be in a
relationship because it is felt that it simply must be that way. This, combined with Marzipan's infinite patience with Homestar's juvenile stupidities and Homestar's
bemused reaction to Marzipan's fastidiousness, makes for humour far greater
than that of typical sitcom romance shtick.
Marzipan is lovable by design, but a great amount of her appeal derives not in
spite of her flaws but because of them. Were she flawless, she would clash
horrendously with the down-to-earth vices of her colleagues, and they would
likely have as much reason to resent her as the audience would. Instead, she is
revealed to be just as addled as they are, and because we realize that, we
forgive her the occasional haughtiness and irrationality. Few people count
Marzipan as their favourite character, but even fewer
find reason enough to hate her. Not bad for the "only girl"!
Pom Pom
Of all
the characters, Pom Pom has endured the fewest
alterations. In part, this is due to the simplicity of his design: Pom Pom's body is a simple sphere, with rudimentary cones
forming stubby limbs, and a simple ellipse for a head. His face is adorned with
nothing more than two simplified eyes. This simplicity of form could easily be
interpreted as simplicity of character, but nothing could be further from the
truth. Pom Pom is an intriguing and complex
character, but the constant enigma that surrounds his true nature deliberately
keeps him at arm's length from establishing a true emotional bond with his
audience.
Pom Pom, it is established, is a Pom, hailing from
the island of the same name. Little is known about Pom Pom's
life in his birthplace, however. In the transition between his home and the
world of
This needn't indicate that Pom Pom has no connection
with his fellows. He is Homestar's best friend, as
the latter is quick to point out. And while Homestar is genuinely and
enthusiastically in Pom Pom's thrall, the Pom, while
a true friend, keeps a detached and cool attitude about their relationship. In
fact, Pom Pom is just as often seen enjoying the
company of Strong Bad as he is with Homestar. Curiously, this rebounding does
not seem to constitute disloyalty or betrayal on Pom Pom's
part. At times, the Pom seems to be everybody's friend. At others, he is
nobody's. While the other characters have frequent contentions with one
another, nobody has any reason to resent Pom Pom, and
he likewise has no ill feelings towards them.
The relationship between Pom Pom and Homestar has
evolved as Homestar's character has changed. In the
beginning, when Homestar was an insipid do-gooder, Pom Pom
was always at his side, not in the spirit of a tagalong or, even worse, a
sidekick, but providing genuine companionship at times when Homestar would have
been very much alone. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine what Homestar would be
doing, left to his own devices. As Homestar grew away from his role as
protagonist and gradually became less mentally adroit and more child-like, Pom Pom's role in their relationship became more like a
parent-guardian; watching over Homestar and keeping him out of serious trouble
without necessarily leading him around by the nose. This transition is obvious
in the similar plots of "The Strongest Man In The
World Competition" and "A Jumping Jack Contest". In the first, Homestar
discovers Strong Bad's treachery and forfeits so Pom Pom can win. By the latter, Pom Pom
is the one who learns the truth and surrenders his chances of winning. One can
hardly imagine the latter-day Homestar being so self-sacrificing.
There
is more to Pom Pom than his bland exterior indicates,
and several hints of his true nature are exposed from time to time. Pom Pom, despite his unimpressive physique, is an accomplished
athlete, even in the wrestling ring, despite the seeming fragility of his form.
His only link to his home is via cell phone, where he is often seen conversing
with one of his storied seventeen girlfriends, a trait which Homestar admires
but in no way resents. Pom Pom is also reportedly
very intelligent, and is possibly the smartest of all of his friends. This
intelligence comes in handy when acting as a guardian for Homestar, of course.
Pom Pom has no memorable dialogue and generally is
content to be in the background and let the more strongly portrayed
personalities shine, and thus he is often overlooked when viewers recall their favourite characters. But with the use of hindsight, it
soon becomes clear that Pom Pom is never far from the
goings-on of his friends, always watching. The constant enigma surrounding him
makes Pom Pom a character the audience constantly
wants to know more about, ensuring his continued appearances in the years to
come.
In his
first appearance, the King of Town was given a small collective of servants for
Homestar to encounter as he solved the mystery of the missing sheep. The
Bugler, the Knight, the Blacksmith and the Chef have since appeared in bit
parts at best and disappeared at worst, but only one servant was destined for
greater things.
The Poopsmith is constructed so freakish and idiosyncratic that merely looking
at him is often enough to provoke laughter. His chalk-white head is elliptic,
but his jaw is slightly slung forward. His eyes are different sizes, shapes and
colours, and four scraggly hairs sprout from atop his
skull. His most defining facial feature is his protruding lower lip which,
combined with his ovoid body, makes him look curiously avian, like some sort of
deformed duck. His body, in contrast to his head, is a curious flesh tone. His arms are completely contained in large orange work gloves, and his legs are two
gnarled stripes. And in his hand he likely as not is holding a shovel.
Although all of the characters skirt around the issue, the Poopsmith's
unenviable occupation is the handling and management of bodily waste; the
origin of this bodily waste is unknown, but perhaps it is better that way. It
therefore is a curiosity to note that the Poopsmith is not a repellent
personality, as one might expect. Perhaps this is because the nature of the Poopsmith's job is not played up or exploited for cheap
shock humour. It is merely portrayed as a job that needs to be done by someone,
and nobody could say that the Poopsmith does not do his job well. He is almost
always seen at his designated pile, tirelessly shovelling
away without complaint or resentment. Nothing is known about his character
beyond his job, but one suspects that he is defined solely by his trade. He has
no identity, no personality, and no ambition to be anything but a Poopsmith.
On occasion, the Poopsmith socializes with the rest of the gang, but he seldom
contributes much to the proceedings. His powerful stench understandably keeps
him at arm's length, and he is also unable to communicate. The Poopsmith is
mute; he reportedly has taken a vow of silence, but it is obvious that no voice
could ever match his character. The Poopsmith's
humour derives purely from visual slapstick, and a voice of any sort would be
unnecessary. On rare occasions, the Poopsmith communicates via signboard in the
classic cartoon tradition.
Like the King of Town, the Poopsmith is not especially funny because of what he
says and does. His biggest laughs come from the sheer discrepancy of his
presence among Homestar and the others. While it is hard for a medieval-era
king to fit in among modern-day characters, it is equally difficult for a mute
abnormality who shovels excrement for a living. But he tries, and by all
accounts it appears that the Poopsmith is here to stay.
Listing
Strong Bad's attributes - he is selfish, dishonest,
conniving, rude, and motivated entirely by his own interests; one would suspect
that the character would be utterly unsympathetic and totally unlovable. In
truth, the exact opposite is the case; Strong Bad has become the most
personable, likeable and strongly portrayed characters on the website, and his
popularity eclipses all of his cast-mates, including Homestar himself. Strong
Bad is not the star of the show so much as the supernova; his presence holds
together the plots of the cartoons he is in, he galvanizes the rest of the cast
one way or another, and he is the most consistently funny character. Even in
the event that everything else could be forgotten, Strong Bad places an
indelible image on his audience.
Visually, Strong Bad is no beauty; he is ostensibly a Mexican wrestler, in the
tradition of larger than life characters such as Santo. Although Strong Bad
lacks a cloak, he is topless and clad in the requisite costume of a mask, pants
and boots. Strong Bad's mask is adorned with a jewel
in the centre, framed by a forked protrusion. His
eyes are a deep green and shine like emeralds (the colour
blending technique of his eyes is unique; virtually every other character is
given "flat" colours). His mask is predominantly red,
with a pair of black crests spiking downward from his forehead to his cheeks.
His mouth is simply a rectangular hole in the mask, through which flesh can be
seen. Strong Bad's mouth appears to be open even in
repose. Mexican wrestlers of the days gone by have often been so intimately
intertwined with their wrestling personas that they were never seen in public
without their masks. Strong Bad takes this ideal one step further; he never
takes his mask off because the mask is his face. Another link to his wrestling
roots is his name; only a few would remember the archaic, woefully translated
Nintendo game Tag Team Pro Wrestling, in which the benevolent "Ricky Fighters"
fought the villainous "Strong Bads".
The rest of Strong Bad's body is hardly impressive;
his torso is nothing more than a potbelly, and his arms and legs are short and
stubby. His hands are a pair of boxing gloves (as with his mask, they are a
part of his body rather than a costume), although this has not hindered him
from performing fine manual skills with surprising dexterity. Another physical
blow against him is his lack of height. Strong Bad is short and squat, and is
smaller than any of his friends, The Cheat excluded.
His diminutive form is contrasted by the sheer size of his voice, which is
unabashedly loud, coarse, and candid; clearly his bark is much worse than his
bite. Strong Bad's voice is a masterpiece of voice
acting: in total contrast to the stilted delivery of the rest of the cast (who
often speak as though by rote), Strong Bad speaks in an entirely realistic
manner, albeit in a humorous tone. Strong Bad's voice
is deep, gruff, hoarse, and fluctuates between gruffly muttering and
flamboyantly self-aggrandizing. Strong Bad has an accent; while this accent was
once unashamedly Spanish, it has altered to a dialect not readily identifiable.
However, the accent, as with the voice, is immediately realized as uncouth and
disreputable, as is his habit of affixing the word "crap" to sentences. All of
Matt Chapman's voices are brilliant creations, but Strong Bad's
voice requires the most acting skill to pull off successfully. It is a fine
piece of work.
The
smallness of his stature also helps to build up Strong Bad as what theologians deem
the "Little Man". Strong Bad is the weakling who charges blindly into battle
against giants, the fool who considers himself a genius, the self-absorbed boor
who considers himself irresistible to the opposite sex. Strong Bad is
infinitely secure that he can handle anything that comes his way, and that
anything he does is incontrovertibly right. Strong Bad's
philosophy seems to be that if he doesn't do things for himself, nobody else
will, and that if he fails to go for the gusto, the best things in life will
only end up in somebody else's hands.
In short, Strong Bad boldly demonstrates every character flaw and selfish behaviour that the rest of the world frantically attempts
to keep hidden. There are many times in which
everybody would like to act as Strong Bad does, if they thought they could get
away with it! Strong Bad, however, has no such fear of retribution; he lives
the way he pleases, and if anybody has a contention with that, it's their
problem, not his. It is notable that, despite the carefree hedonism of Strong Bad's life, he does not especially have a better existence
than the rest of the cast. Many of Strong Bad's
gambits fail, and the gains of his few victories are so trivial that his effort
is hardly worth it (although Strong Bad would certainly claim it to be a moral
victory). Through it all, however, Strong Bad continues undaunted and
unchanged.
There is some stupidity and stubbornness to this determination, of course, but
Strong Bad's strength of character and mettle,
however misguided, are admirable. In this sense, Strong Bad is an analogue of a
Jack of all trades; while no different from the rest of us, an Everyman, a Jack
finds the courage to do things that most of us will not or cannot do. While
Strong Bad is rather more skewed for comic effect than most Jacks, the dynamic
still works; if we are not like Strong Bad we would like to be, and in the act
of watching him and experiencing what he endures, we can, for a short time,
become him. This is the most important aspect contributing to Strong Bad's endurance of character; audience identification never
occurs with such a broad character such as Homestar, for example. But a small
piece of Strong Bad exists within the psyche of humanity at large: to call
Strong Bad a personification of id would be simplistic, if not inaccurate, but
Strong Bad carries with him not only the joy of hedonistic existence but also
the folly. Strong Bad is truly a tragicomic character, speaking to something
fundamental in the human mind, while still being richly funny. This complexity,
however, was a long time in coming.
Strong Bad's character history is as long as Homestar's, and is just as convoluted as well. He and
Homestar both debuted in "The Homestar Runner Enters The
Strongest Man In The World Contest", and both made their first
full-length animated appearances in "Marshmallow's Last Stand". Physically,
Strong Bad is recognizable in both stories, although his proportions are
somewhat different. Personality-wise, however, the character is almost
irreconcilable with his modern counterpart. In the book, Strong Bad comes off
like a prototypical version of himself. He boasts, makes a big show of himself,
and tries to win with the aid of The Cheat, and ultimately meets his
comeuppance.
This
version of Strong Bad, however, is much more appealing than the version seen in
"Marshmallow's Last Stand". In this early cartoon, Strong Bad cruelly harasses
Homestar and Pom Pom for no reason, calling them
"babies". He constantly promotes himself and Strong Mad as the "greatest
tag-team wrestlers in the world", and approaches the pals for a challenge (the
early Strong Bad's obsession with challenges and
fighting were later parodied by a rather different character). When Homestar
refuses, Strong Bad steals Homestar's prized star,
and refuses to return it until they are beaten in the ring. In the actual
match, Strong Bad proves to be a pitifully incompetent wrestler, unable to lay
even a single blow on his opponents. He is forced to rely on Strong Mad's strength, and when his larger brother is
incapacitated by Pom Pom, Strong Bad is virtually
impotent to avoid a further beating. Thrown out of the ring, Strong Bad resorts
to actively malicious subterfuge (on his own: The Cheat is nowhere to be
found), with intention of murdering Homestar. This backfires and a large
portion of Strong Bad's head is blasted off. Even
having lost, Strong Bad spitefully tears up Homestar's
star, only to receive a further beating. It is clear that the character had
some major overhauling to endure if he were to return; not only was he a
villain without a cause, but he wasn't even a threatening villain in any way.
Furthermore, there was no joy or humour in any of Strong Bad's
actions. He was mean for the sake of being mean.
After this debacle, Strong Bad was largely absent from later cartoons,
appearing only in guest shots. His next major role was in "A Jumping Jack
Contest", which, while largely rehashing "The Strongest Man in the World
Competition", was a step up. Strong Bad shows a more sophisticated villainy:
gone are his sadistic and cruel streaks, replaced with a burning desire to
prove himself to be the best. Little things, like
Strong Bad resorting to elaborate costumes and psychological warfare to get his
competitors to drop out, helped define Strong Bad as a character, and perhaps
the most important addition was his improvising of a triumphant song when it
appeared as though things were going his way. The journey was far from over,
but it appeared as though the character could be salvaged. Strong Bad continued
his role in bit parts, bullying and playing pranks, but not really altering the
flow of the story, until the most important event of his character and, by
extension, the entire website, took place.
When
"Strong Bad E-mail" debuted, it was obviously an experiment: each week, Strong
Bad would answer an E-mail from one of his fans (actual E-mails from real
people), and each E-mail showcasing his response would be an animated short.
Despite a few false starts, the Strong Bad E-mail became a runaway success
story and the most popular segment of the website. This not only propelled
Strong Bad into the starring role at last, but it also helped him make a
connection with his audience. Part of this was Strong Bad's
breaking of the fourth wall, and addressing the audience directly, but more
importantly, he began reacting to his fans' entreaties in different ways.
Frustration, curiosity, amusement, defiance, embarrassment; a gamut of hitherto
untapped emotions soon became part of Strong Bad's
oeuvre. This rapidly growing personality soon outshone the rest of the gang,
and Strong Bad gradually moved to the role of the lynchpin. Now, it is
difficult for anything of note to happen in
Strong Bad was once a villain of the darkest stripe, but those days have been
left in the dead past. Today's Strong Bad, with his jokes, songs, schemes and
creations, is not only a thoroughly three-dimensional character, but also a
richly comic and even an affecting one. By being a fully formed personality,
complete with highs and lows, loves and hates, desires and fears, Strong Bad is
so identifiable that the audience feels as though they have met him personally.
We may not want Strong Bad living in our homes, but we love every moment he is
on screen.
A
monolith of muscle and hostility, Strong Mad is not an especially complex
character, but his sheer physical presence leaves an impression on every scene
he is in. He provides a welcome contrast within the group of villains. He adds
a needed physical threat in addition to Strong Bad and The Cheat, who are
hardly fear-inspiring, but he has none of their cunning or wit. Without them,
one suspects, he would be lost.
Strong Mad is vast in both height and width, and his figure is virtually
square. However, he is seen almost exclusively directly from the front and the
back, and the few views of him from other angles suggest that he is not overtly
broad. This subtly adds to the hint of fragility of character behind his
strength, almost as though his image of power hides an inner weakness. This is
not to say that Strong Mad lacks muscle; the majority of his body mass consists
of his chest and arms, which are massive and powerful. Strong Mad has no true
head to speak of; his facial features are placed roughly around his collarbone
area. His habitual facial expression is a scowl of pure belligerence, made all
the more unnerving by the fact that the scowl is usually focusing
directly at the audience. His entire physiology reminds one of a gorilla, or
perhaps a Neanderthal. This is ironic, in the respect that Strong Mad is the
closest visual approximation to a human being out of the entire cast (notably,
he is the only character to sport a nose). It is a good visual gag that
characters lacking certain limbs and sporting odd tones of skin strike the
audience as more "human" than the relatively more humanistic Strong
Strong Mad, understandably, has been cast in the role of a heavy. His towering
frame, limited brainpower, and short temper make him the perfect backup for
when Strong Bad and The Cheat are physically threatened. However, Strong Mad's only true loyalties are towards The Cheat, to whom he
is fiercely devoted. Otherwise, Strong Mad's fury is
expended in any direction he chooses, and almost every character has suffered
somewhat at his hands. This is not a characteristic of evil, but merely an
immature lack of self-control. Fortunately, this paucity of emotional restraint
works both ways: usually a more verbal character (usually Strong Bad or Coach
Z) is capable of temporarily pacifying him. However, Strong Mad can never be
totally controlled, and most characters have a healthy fear of getting on his wrong side. It is interesting to note that Strong
Bad, who doesn't suffer fools gladly by any means, is surprisingly patient with
his hulking brother. He takes the time to calmly correct or reassure Strong
Mad, to the point of almost being patronizingly kind. This is, of course, out
of respect to the consequences of insulting Strong Mad, but there is also some
genuine camaraderie between them.
Strong Mad's voice, while comparatively simple, has
evolved considerably since his earliest appearances. Initially, he was only
capable of wordless growls and grumbles. At a later point he developed a
speaking voice, which was deep and ponderous. While he only spoke in monosyllabic
fragmented sentences, his voice was curiously clear. Note how in "A Jumping
Jack Contest" he is successfully able to do a passable imitation of Strong Bad's voice! Gradually, he developed a voice that, while
still deep and loud, is considerably more throaty and slurred. This latter-day
voice bears something of a resemblance to the speech patterns of the similarly
muscular Lou Ferrigno and Andre the Giant.
Unlike
most of the rest of the characters, Strong Mad is less defined by what he says
than what he does. And while this does leave the consequence of him being
outshone by the more complex and delineated characters, this should not be seen
as a weakness. A more forcefully portrayed Strong Mad would have been a
distraction and harmed the chemistry between the characters. Strong Mad's role is limited, but he plays it well and to its
fullest, rather than becoming the shambling plot device he may have become
under less skilled hands.
The
history of the Strong family is shrouded in mystery; little is known about
Strong Bad and Strong Mad other than the fact that they hail from Parts Unknown
and have an affinity for wrestling and evildoing in general. It wasn't long,
however, that The Brothers Strong's secret shame made
itself public: the disowned third Strong Brother, Strong Sad.
Strong Sad is so completely dissimilar to his brothers that on physical and behavioural evidence alone one would never believe they
were related. Unlike his brothers, Strong Sad is not aggressive or dishonest,
nor is he a wrestler, which is a pretty good indication of the reason for his
siblings' abandonment. However, Strong Sad is also different in the fact that
he is far less human-like in his appearance. Strong Sad's
face is deathly pale, and the hollowness of his simplistic eyes and mouth give
him something of a ghoulish aspect. The back of his hairless head sports an
indeterminate curl, which only adds to his ghostly appearance. The rest of his
body, however, is far from ghostly. His body is large and round; to call him
chubby would be extremely kind indeed. Strong Sad's
arms are large and thick, but they hardly appear threatening straddling his
ponderous stomach. But the strangest aspect of Strong Sad's
physique is the fact that his body below the waist is that of an elephant,
complete with the stump-shaped, three-toed feet. It is notable that Strong Sad
draws from his elephantine half all of the bulk but none of the might of his
pachyderm counterpart. Indeed, the general paunchiness of his form softens his
girth to such extent that we do not find it odd in the slightest that Strong
Bad, who is a fraction of his size, is able to abuse and torment him regularly.
Strong Sad behaves in a way totally antithetical to his brothers. He is shy,
guileless, and generally prepared to leave the world at large alone. An
indication of his withdrawal from the turmoil of society is his hobby as an
artist, as well as his soft, mellow voice, which, while sounding childlike, has
a tone of gravity, and some sort of world-weary maturity. Strong Sad regularly
writes poetry which, while slightly skewed for humorous effect, nonetheless
speaks of despair and a lack of self-worth.
Of course, this mellow personality has put Strong Sad in the unenviable role of
the "goat". His brothers and The Cheat routinely abuse him, of course, but such
unthinking cruelty is part of their nature. These attacks are unprovoked, but
Strong Sad does not make much of an effort to prevent or avoid them, either. He
seems to have accepted his regular harassment as part of his life, and does his
best to detach himself emotionally from the pain with a sense of resignation to
the inevitable. Unfortunately, Strong Sad gets very little support from the
rest of the gang, either. They do not actively mistreat him like his brothers
do, but it is the fact that they have a tendency to overlook him and his
feelings that truly discourages him. This is, in some ways, even worse - Strong
Sad at least feels some sort of satisfaction that being tormented constitutes
somebody paying attention to him.
However,
Strong Sad does not hold his plight against the rest of the gang, assuming that
it is part of his nature to be ignored, and indeed, sometimes his self-loathing
becomes so much that one hardly blames Homestar and the rest for looking past
him. But despite his many disappointments, Strong Sad has made an effort to
make friends with the rest. He is often willing to associate with Homestar, but
the latter's lack of reserve and tact usually results in Strong Sad ending up
inadvertently insulted. Strong Sad has also looked to Coach Z for guidance, but
seems mildly disgusted with the result. However, Strong Sad has occasionally
bonded with Marzipan, the only other character who shares his penchant for
artistic expression and comes close to matching his emotional maturity. This is
a common dynamic among school-age children. Strong Sad's
dealings with Marzipan are on a completely different level than those of the
basically childish Homestar and Strong Bad. In fact, Strong Sad seems somewhat
fond of her, but has the foresight to not set himself
up for a disappointment. As it stands, the only character who offers Strong Sad
unconditional friendship is Homsar. Strong Sad is sometimes frustrated by his
dull-witted cohort, but he genuinely appreciates the companionship.
It took Strong Sad a surprisingly long time (relatively) to find his role.
Initially, he was portrayed as a pessimistic complainer who whined and moaned
at the prospect of doing just about anything. It was unclear as to why anybody
would even bother to associate with such a bore. Wisely, the character was
completely overhauled when it was decided that there is a vital difference
between a character that complains and a character that has a reason to
complain. Indeed, it was soon apparent that Strong Sad was funnier when, rather
than complaining, he began patiently making profound observations on his plight
(although he retained his bitter, whiny voice for some time). In this sense,
Strong Sad bears a strong resemblance to the character of Charlie Brown (a
relationship made explicit in the opening scene of "The Best Decemberween Ever"), as both characters are touchingly
funny in a nonetheless sad way. This makes Strong Sad a difficult character to
write, as he must be light enough to keep from being depressing, but serious
enough to avoid being idiotic. But when the balance is correct, Strong Sad
affects his audience in a way that the more broadly drawn characters never
quite do.
Strong Sad constantly divides his time between our laughs and our pity, and
there are always aspects of one response within the other. Strong Sad is
reasonable, intelligent, and, despite his many hardships, never truly gives
into his despair. Strong Sad, perhaps more than any other character, strikes an
emotional chord with the viewer that can only be made by injecting a bit of the
hardships of reality. Therefore, Strong Sad is not only the most affecting
character, but also the most real.
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