The King of Town
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| Character in Homestar Runner |
Principal characters
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The King of Town (sometimes abbreviated as the KOT) is a fictional character in the Homestar Runner series of animated cartoons. The overweight and mustachioed King of Town appears to be ruler of nothing he surveys, and is merely humored by the other characters. By coincidence, his personality is similar to King Toadstool of the Mario comics (In one Halloween scene, he even dressed up as Mario himself). The King's most notable attribute is that he will eat just about everything he can get, like a giant pile of salt and even his own head and robe. He won't eat peas and whatsit. On several occasions he has been shown consuming items that would not normally be considered edible, such as toilet paper, automotive fluid, and deodorant. When it comes to normal food, his favorites usually involve anything with butter, or 'butter' in the name of the food. The King of Town is not thought to be cool by any of the other main characters. In his debut cartoon, he ate an entire flock of sheep (except one), forgot, then summoned Homestar Runner to uncover what happened. The King of Town has been regarded by Strong Bad to be "everybody's least-favorite character".
As one of the Strong Bad Emails reveals, the King of Town was not always the overweight, Santa-like, unpopular character he now is. In the Strong Bad Email "flashback", the King of Town is depicted as the "svelt [sic] young Prince of Town." After coming across an unclaimed lifetime supply of fishsticks, he was never to be the same again.
The King of Town employs The Poopsmith to shovel whatsit at the castle for "reasons [the King doesn't] care to disclose." He also has a few other servants, including a blacksmith, a bugler, a knight, and a "little chef guy," although they are rarely seen. He keeps large stores of poor-quality food such as "Butter-da" (butter soda, which could possibly be for automotive use only), "Pork Snagglins," "1983 Awwww Gratin Potatoes," and "Ice Style Cream."
The King of Town has his own website, which nobody visits, and his own answering machine, although nobody ever calls him. Bubs sold him Strong Bad's old Tandy 400 computer, which didn't work due to the fact that it had exploded before Strong Bad threw it out, and therefore the King cannot check his e-mail. Even so, it is established that "no one really wants to email the King of Town. For real." Despite — or because of — his overwhelming unpopularity within the cartoons themselves, he does have a fan following. The King of Town has his own secret mainpage. To get to it, go to the King of Town cartoon main menu. Click on the shield with the swords behind it. It will swing away. Then, click on the block in the wall that was behind the shield.
One of the King's primary motivations, besides hunger, is the desire to be seen as "cool" by the rest of his "kingdom"; such a monumental task requires reinvention of himself, most recently evidenced in his "new jam" recorded Marzipan's answering machine in which he revealed that he plays the guitar, apparently.
The King of Town was originally envisioned as Marzipan's father [1], but this has never been referenced in any toon and is no longer part of the Homestar Runner canon.
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[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] 1936 - The Kaiser
One 1936 variation on the King of Town is "The Kaiser." This character has only been seen briefly, but appears to be modelled loosely after Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The possibility exists that another 1936 character, "The Bossman," is the King of Town's equivalent, but this is unclear (it has also been speculated by fans that The Bossman is actually Homsar's Old-Timey equivalent).
A final possible 1936 version of the King of Town is seen in an easter egg scene at the end of the "Parsnips A-Plenty" cartoon. Strong Bad, who earlier fell off a cliff, is seen in hell; behind him sleeps a King Of Town-like devil.
[edit] The Prince of Town
Strong Bad tells us through a storybook that the King of Town was once the "svelt [sic]" Prince of Town; he probably became a glutton once Strong Bad won (and subsequently failed to claim) "a lifetime supply of fish sticks" that were contained, along with The Cheat, inside a mysteriously huge egg.
[edit] The Castlefunnies
Strong Bad has also claimed that the King of Town was the star of an unfunny comic strip called The Castlefunnies, co-authored by the prolific Lem Sportsinterviews. In the strip, "King Castlefunny's" primary action was complaining to The Poopsmith (then named "Mushy Chamberpot") about his ailing hip joints. The strip was canceled when its only reader died, and it bore a very strong resemblance to other comics that are considered unfunny by modern standards.
