List of Homestar Runner characters

This article is a list of fictional characters in the Flash web cartoon series Homestar Runner and episodic video game Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.

Homestar Runner

Homestar Runner as seen in his character video.

Homestar Runner is the namesake character of the series, and "is a terrific athlete" that "everybody loves".^[1] He serves as the star athlete of an unspecified sports team led by Coach Z,^[2] and has partaken in rather rigorous exercise routines.^[3] Homestar, however, has suffered from psychological issues that Strong Bad had described as an "unbelievably loose grasp on the world around [him]",^[4] often forgetting things or interacting with himself as if he were a different person. Homestar is not completely stupid, as he has shown intelligence at rather irrelevant times, such as correctly stating Coulomb's law in response to being asked what 2+2 equals.^[5] His best friend is Pom Pom,^[6] although Homestar has also had an on and off relationship with lone female character Marzipan. Homestar speaks with a moderately severe rhotacism, and also sounds as though he experiences chronic nasal congestion, which makes his nasal alveolars sound like plosive alveolars.

Strong Bad

Strong Sad

Strong Sad is the younger brother of Strong Bad and Strong Mad. He stands somewhere between Strong Bad and Strong Mad in height, and has large, elephant-like feet he calls "soolnds," which has led Strong Bad to believe he is in some way descended from elephants (see the cartoon "DNA Evidence"). His body is round and two shades of grey—a lighter grey from the waist up, a darker grey from the waist down. His head is white and has an odd lump on the top and resembles the Manicouagan Reservoir. Strong Bad refers to the lump as a "disturbing soft serve flip" (see email keep cool). He is usually very calm and soft-spoken, although is hyperactive when given caffeine (see the cartoon caffeine).

He is constantly tortured by Strong Bad. Strong Bad frequently threatens to beat up Strong Sad (and often does). Strong Bad also calls Strong Sad names such as "Dairy Queen," "The Ghost of Christmas Suck," "Trundle Bed," "Diaper Stripe," and "Theloneus Dump."

In early cartoons, Strong Sad's main defining characteristic is his chronic depression, but has since been known to have high levels of intelligence and creativity. His many interests include listening, books, listening to books, calligraphy, safety, being alone, arts, crafts, and arts b/w crafts. Strong Sad also enjoys playing board games, and he seems to enjoy going to science-fiction and fantasy conventions, as seen in the cartoons different town and TrogdorCon '97.

Strong Mad

Strong Mad is an enormous, hyper-muscular, semi-verbal, usually-angry character (much like the Hulk). He is the eldest brother of the brothers Strong; his siblings are Strong Bad and Strong Sad. He often hangs out with The Cheat and helps Strong Bad commit mischief, harass (and occasionally beat up) the other characters. He is also the bassist to Marzipan's music group Cool Tapes. However, he appears to at least try to be friendly to other characters when not told to harm them by Strong Bad. He has also proved to possess a sort of childhood innocence, which he has demonstrated by making macaroni pictures and, once, asking if he could keep Bubs' Concession Stand, claiming it followed him home. His body is a rectangle with different dimensions given in different cartoons, with perfectly square shoulders and no distinct head or neck. He has two dots for eyes, giant, bushy eyebrows that are usually angry. His mouth is always partially open revealing 3 teeth. He wears a purple wrestlers singlet with a white circle in the front containing a large red M and has red shoes. He generally speaks in short, simple sentences, often in an unrestrained roar. His best friend is The Cheat, whom he protects with fervor. He also has a horrible painting in his closet that gives everyone The Jibblies, called the Rocoulm.^[7]

The Cheat

The Cheat is Strong Bad's sidekick and Strong Mad's best friend. Whenever Strong Bad is abusive to The Cheat, Strong Mad stands up for him. He stands at knee-height to most other characters and is covered with yellow fur with prominent black spots down his back. His arms resemble flippers and he does not have any visible legs. He also has a gold tooth. The Cheat lives in The King of Town's grill, which, according to Strong Sad, is a nice place. He can play the flute, as seen in The 200th Strong Bad e-mail (E-mail Thunder), drums in the band Cool Tapes, and keyboard, as remarked by Strong Bad in the email "Guitar" and seen in "Everybody Knows It," and often makes unusual animations, such as "The Cheat Theme Song". In the original book, he helped Strong Bad cheat in the Strongest Man in the World contest, which gave him his name. He is always referred to as The Cheat, not just Cheat, even when being spoken to. The practice even extends to his species. He is also,"to the limit".

He speaks in a language consisting entirely of the word "meh", which the other characters seem to be perfectly able to understand. In one SBemail, Strong Bad tried to get The Cheat to say something normal, and cartoons provide subtitles often whenever The Cheat talks to the camera alone, but it is implied that he provides the voices for his "Powered by The Cheat" cartoons, which are spoken in English. He often has a hostile attitude towards others, threatening to throw things at them. He often sounds rather full of himself, complimenting himself several times in the majority of his videos. The Cheat, according to Strong Bad, came from a giant egg also filled with a lifetime supplies of fish sticks which he won on the same day that he met Homestar Runner in a 10 step foot race to win the egg. Also according to Strong Bad, The Cheat's birthday (aka cheat day) is not known exactly, so they celebrate it on the day that they know for sure is not (04/18/61, the date of birth shown on his fake I.D.).

Midway through the video for The Cheat Theme Song, it was shown that he resembles Pikachu, who flies past the screen. It is not known what type of "animal" the Cheat is, but at other times he has called The Cheat an animal. He has been entered in pet competitions under the name Saberlord Scritchascratch Cakemonger The Cheat, an accomplishment he also shares with Homestar Runner.

Marzipan

Marzipan is the only female character in Homestar Runner. She has a handbell-shaped body with her face on the surface of the "handle". Her eyes consist of two black circles of different sizes. Her mouth is usually seen in a slight curve. She wears her hair in a bright yellow-like golden blonde haired ponytail, and is almost always seen wearing a purple dress embellished with white trim and gold buttons, along with a matching hair band. Like Homestar Runner, she does not appear to have visible arms. Nevertheless, she is still able to pick up and handle objects without any hint of difficulty; for example, she can play the guitar fairly well. She is voiced by Missy Palmer and is one of the few characters not voiced by Matt Chapman. The reason she is the only female character is because Missy Palmer cannot do any other voices.

Marzipan is Homestar's girlfriend (on her terms), and in the early days of the website was listed as the King of Town's daughter; however, in an interview, The Brothers Chaps remarked that this was an idea they had that they did not go through with. She is essentially a feminist "hippie chick" demonstrated in her traits of being a strict vegetarian who spends much of her time singing and playing her guitar; she is lead singer and guitarist in a band called Cool Tapes. Most of her songs are about happiness and nature. She often makes protest signs to express her views on issues of varying and personal interest. She often tends to fight for political correctness and being eco-friendly, but at times can be hypocritical. This is demonstrated in one episode where she criticizes others for doing things that harm the environment, but justifies her own indulgent actions by simply renaming them to sound eco-friendly.

Bubs

Bubs is a businessman who owns Bubs' Concession Stand, which offers a constantly changing variety of goods and services. He has a round blue head and mismatched eyes (his right eye is white with a blue iris while his left is simply a black dot). His upper body is orange, and he has "flipper arms." He has a green stripe around his middle which, according to Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, is a belt, and his lower half is colored dark gray. His voice is reminiscent of Rochester of The Jack Benny Show fame or Mr. Messy from The Mr. Men Show.

Always ready to make a quick buck, Bubs will sell anything, including letters off the sign on his stand and Internet service. Besides the Concession Stand, he seems to run a few other businesses on the side, many of which are decidedly shady in nature. This includes performing almost any service that someone wants done, such as being a "questionable doctor", a "paranormal investigator" or a "normal investigator". It is implied that he is often involved in destroying and/or covering up evidence of crimes. He also sells bologna sandwiches from his truck to the other residents of Free Country, USA. His best friend appears to be Coach Z, although the coach often gets on his nerves. He is also the "Thnikkaman", though nobody (with the occasional exception of Homestar) knows that the Thnikkaman is just Bubs in "cool shades" with a piece of paper taped to his chest that says "tH". Whenever he enters, high-pitched singers singing "Here comes the Thnikkamaaannnn" can be heard (conversely, when he leaves, the same voices sing, "There goes the Thnikkamaaannnn"). He then usually gives awful advice, and his catchphrase is "Shut up, kid." People love the Thnikkaman but it is not obvious why.

Coach Z

Coach Z is the "coach" of the residents of Free Country, USA, though it is unclear exactly which sports he coaches. He has a strong Upper Midwestern accent which sometimes gets him into trouble and is thought to be fake. He almost never says anything negative to anyone, and he often offers more encouragement than is needed. He wears a blue and purple baseball cap and a large gold "Z" emblem around his waist, but it is unclear whether his bright green color is his skin or a body suit.

In addition to frequent mispronunciations, Coach Z also seems to have mental and gender confusion problems, as evidenced by the time he spent "talking to his parents" on a disconnected telephone, and claiming to be a mother in the sbemail "Garage Sale". He has even stated on one occasion that he sometimes "forgets what's real, and what's just in [his] head". He also has trouble managing his money, causing his electricity to be shut off each year. He is quite lonely and has an unrequited crush on Marzipan, very often making inappropriate romantic gestures to her, especially on her answering machines.

He is very fond of hip-hop and often refers to it in conversation. He has also recorded several songs, including "These Peoples Try to Fade Me", "Hip-Hop Dance", and also "Rap Song" accidentally featuring Peacy P. He also seems to not have much talent in rapping, since his "freestyling" occasionally consists exclusively of him repeatedly counting to two (see sbemail "Nightlife").

Pom Pom

Pom Pom is a Pom from the Isle of Pom. Pom Pom, like all Poms, appears to be inflated. His body consists of a yellow sphere with an orange stripe. His oval head, and triangular arms and feet are the same color orange. Pom Pom's eyes are black ovals and he has no visible mouth. He talks by making bubbly noises that only the characters can understand and can absorb objects into his body for storage. Pom Pom is Homestar Runner's best friend, but he sometimes hangs out with Strong Bad as well. Pom Pom is often seen talking on his cell phone to his many girlfriends, and he keeps track of their contact information in his Pom Pilot. It has been not-so-subtly hinted that Pom Pom is a superb athlete, martial artist, and rich to boot. His nationality has been vaguely hinted at a variety of times: his parents are known as General and Fräulein Pom Pom. His father owns a film production company which allows Pom Pom to direct indie films. He appears in the game Dangeresque, as a take-out guy.

The King of Town

The King of Town is the self-proclaimed ruler of Free Country, USA. His head is completely white, with black lines for eyes, a mustache and a beard (though it was suggested in the Strong Bad Email "Diorama" that the white is fur or hair, as he has pink flesh underneath). He wears a gold crown and what appears to be a red robe with white trim with no arms. He is a known glutton that will eat almost anything in front of him (including toilet paper) and anything with the word "butter" in its name (including "Butter-da", an automotive fluid). Apparently, the only foods he doesn't like are those which contain peas. He tends to speak with older but jolly tone of voice, usually saying: "doo hoo hoo hoo" to represent his hearty laughter. He apparently got overweight by eating the lifetime supply of fishsticks that was in the egg that contained The Cheat (As shown in the 100th Strong Bad Email, "Flashback").

The Poopsmith

The Poopsmith is a character whose job is the King of Town's "poopsmith," though it is never explained what this actually entails. His body is peach-colored and egg-shaped, and he has small blue legs and feet, a white head, and an enormous underbite. He always wears a pair of large orange gloves stained with "whatsit", and he is usually seen carrying a large shovel.

The Poopsmith had taken a vow of silence and therefore never speaks. However, in "email thunder," the 200th Strong Bad Email, he breaks his vow to sing the opening song. During a school dance, he is also shown as the band's lead singer, although he is just simply holding the microphone stand. At this time he is voiced by John Linnell of They Might Be Giants. He does not seem to ever display any emotions or facial expressions. He does occasionally hold up signs to communicate, however, and is sometimes seen poking his shovel as a half-gesture.

Homsar

Homsar is an energetic dwarf with red shoes, blue shirt and a bowler hat. He claims to be the captain of the "Gravy Train", a "Song from the sixties", and that his parents are a cup of coffee and a Chipwich (although the former was implied by Strong Bad, and has thus far not been confirmed by Homsar himself). Homsar's speech consists almost entirely of non sequiturs, more often than not prefaced by a bizarre "gah-ahh-ahh-ahh!" uttering, although it is revealed in Strong Badia the Free that Homsar is actually an intelligent being, with his way of speaking being a language of his own. He seems to have the super power of being incredibly awkward, and often defies the laws of physics. In most of his appearances, his hat will either change shape to something, or move around on its own, often orbiting his head. He was created when a fan accidentally misspelled Homestar's name in sbemail #2, "homsar."

See also

• Homestar Runner
• Strong Bad

References

External links

• Characters at Homestar Runner Wiki