Homestar Runner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Homestar Runner |
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Homestar Runner logo
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
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| Original release | 2000 – present |
Homestar Runner is a funny animated web series and website. It was created by two brothers, Mike and Matt Chapman, also known as The Brothers Chaps. The series is about the adventures of many different characters. The main character is Homestar Runner.
The show uses silly humor, makes fun of itself, and refers to popular culture. This includes video games, old television shows, and popular music.
Homestar Runner started in 1996 as a book written by Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel. It was meant to be a funny copy of children's literature. When Mike and his brother Matt learned how to use Macromedia Flash, they turned the idea into a website. It launched on New Year's Day in 2000.
At first, the website focused on Homestar Runner. But the Strong Bad Email cartoons quickly became the most popular part. Strong Bad, who was first the main bad guy, became a favorite character. Since 2000, the website has grown to include many cartoons and web games. They feature Homestar, Strong Bad, and lots of other characters.
When it was most popular, the website was one of the most visited sites for Flash cartoons. People found out about it by word of mouth. The site makes money by selling merchandise (like T-shirts). It has never used advertisements. The Brothers Chaps have even said no to offers to make it a TV show.
After a break from 2010 to 2014, Homestar Runner came back. A new holiday Toon was released on April 1, 2014, for April Fools' Day. Since then, co-creator Matt Chapman said they plan to update the site sometimes.
Since Flash software stopped being supported on December 31, 2020, homestarrunner.com still works. It uses a special program called Ruffle that lets Flash content play. More cartoons have been released on the website and its YouTube channel. They usually come out for holidays.
How Homestar Runner Started
Early Ideas (1996–2000)
Homestar Runner began in Atlanta in 1996. It was created by Mike Chapman and his friend Craig Zobel. They were students at the University of Georgia. They wrote the first picture book, The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest. They worked on it during summer jobs around the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Matt Chapman explained where the name "Homestar Runner" came from. It was an inside joke with their childhood friend, James Huggins. They grew up in Dunwoody, Georgia.
It actually comes from a friend of ours [James]. There was an old local grocery store commercial, and we live in Atlanta, and it advertised the Atlanta Braves. It was like, "the Atlanta Braves hit home runs, and you can hit a home run with savings here!" And so there was this player named Mark Lemke, and they said something like "All star second baseman for the Braves". And our friend [James] knows nothing about sports, and so he would always do his old-timey radio impression of this guy, and not knowing any positions in baseball or whatever, he would just be like, "homestar runner for the Braves". And we were just like, "Homestar Runner? That's the best thing we've ever heard!"
Mike and Craig thought children's books were "awful" in a bookstore. This gave them the idea to write their own. They spent about two hours designing Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and The Cheat. They finished the book in one day. They only printed a few copies for friends.
Their father secretly sent the book to about 80 publishers. But they only got rejection letters back. The pair started working on a second book, Homestar Runner Goes for the Gold. It would have shown Strong Bad's brothers, Strong Mad and Strong Sad. But they stopped working on it. Later, they used the Super NES video game Mario Paint to make the first cartoon with the characters.
Website Launch and Growing Popularity (2000–2009)
Around 1999, Mike saw how popular Flash animation was becoming. He and his younger brother Matt Chapman started to learn Flash. They used their old "children's" book for practice. Their first cartoons were put on their website, homestarrunner.com, by 2000. Mike animated the cartoons. Matt did the voices for the male characters. Mike's girlfriend (now wife) Missy Palmer voiced Marzipan.
They started with short cartoons where Homestar Runner was a hero and Strong Bad was the bad guy. But these didn't get many viewers. Mike and Matt then thought of animating the scenes between the competitions. Matt said that "the stuff happening between the plot points" was funnier.
From May 2000 to February 2001, the website and cartoons had different art styles. In February 2001, it got a new look. This look has mostly stayed the same, with small changes.
The site grew slowly at first, mostly by word-of-mouth. By 2001, they sold "a few dozen" T-shirts. Mike moved back to New York in mid-2001. He and Matt started making the first Strong Bad Email, some kinda robot. They planned for it to be a weekly show.
The Strong Bad Email series became very popular. It brought a lot of interest to the site. When the brothers were late in posting a new Strong Bad Email, they got angry emails. Matt said it was "a cool feeling to know you're as important as a cup of coffee or morning crossword to some folks". Their father suggested Matt quit his full-time job to work more on Homestar Runner.
The number of visitors grew. By January 2003, the site needed a bigger web host than Yahoo. Sales of merchandise paid for all the website costs. It also paid for the creators' living costs. Their retired parents helped manage the business side.
The brothers felt that 2002–2005 was their most creative and successful time. They tried different ways to make shorts and had lots of merchandise. Matt thought a day in February 2004 was a highlight. They got a song demo from They Might Be Giants for a Strong Bad Email. On the same day, they got a life-sized replica of Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000 producer Jim Mallon.
They also noticed how Homestar Runner was a common topic for new couples. Joss Whedon also put references to Homestar Runner in his TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. These were more signs of their success.
Taking a Break (2009–2014)
By 2010, Homestar Runner still made enough money for the brothers through merchandise sales. But both brothers were married and had children. They knew they needed other jobs to support their families. When Matt had a second daughter, they decided to put the series on hold. They knew they wanted to come back to it but couldn't say when. Mike also said they had made a weekly cartoon for almost ten years. He felt they needed a creative break.
Because Homestar Runner was so successful, Matt and Mike got writing jobs for other animated TV shows. These included Yo Gabba Gabba!, Gravity Falls, The Aquabats! Super Show!, and Wander Over Yonder.
During this break, the brothers released a few Homestar Runner cartoons. These included ones for April Fools' Day and Decemberween holidays in 2010. They also made a special video with Homestar and Strong Bad for the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. It introduced a panel about the history of W00tstock.
The Return (2014–Present)
After finishing work on Gravity Falls, Matt moved back to Atlanta in 2014. Mike was living there. They agreed they could now return to Homestar Runner sometimes. Their first short in almost four years was posted on April 1, 2014. It made fun of how they hadn't updated the site in years. Matt confirmed in July 2014 that they would keep the series going.
Since then, the site has had occasional updates, usually for holidays. Until 2017, this was mostly because the brothers were working on the Disney XD animated show Two More Eggs.
Adobe Flash was going to stop working in December 2020. So, most new Homestar Runner animations were released directly as videos on YouTube. The brothers also worked to turn older Flash content into video format to save it. Before Flash stopped, the Internet Archive included Homestar Runner Flash animations and games.
Now, the content can be viewed directly in modern web browsers. This is thanks to the Ruffle Flash emulator. The Homestar Runner website itself was also updated to use Ruffle. This brought back most of its original features.
Meet the Characters
Homestar Runner cartoons usually focus on Homestar Runner, Strong Bad, and ten other main characters. These are The Cheat, Marzipan, Coach Z, Bubs, Strong Sad, Strong Mad, Pom Pom, the King of Town, the Poopsmith, and Homsar. The Brothers Chaps have called them “dumb animal characters”. All these characters live in a made-up town called Free Country, USA. Each character also has different versions of themselves, like "Old-Timey" and "20X6" versions.
Fun Cartoons and Series
Homestar Runner has several spin-off series from its main "shorts" and "big toons." The most famous one is Strong Bad Email.
Strong Bad Email
Strong Bad Emails (or "sbemails") are a series where Strong Bad answers emails from fans. They started in August 2001. The episodes were short at first but grew longer and bigger. They introduced new spin-offs, characters, and inside jokes. Some examples are Homsar, Trogdor, Senor Cardgage, 20X6, the Teen Girl Squad shorts, and Homestar Runner Emails (or "hremails").
The way the show works has mostly stayed the same. Each episode usually starts with Strong Bad singing a short song while turning on his computer. He checks fan emails. When he replies, he often makes fun of the sender's name, spelling, and grammar. He rarely answers questions directly.
Early episodes mostly showed Strong Bad at his computer. But over time, there were more detailed cutaways (scenes away from the computer). This allowed for more complex stories to develop from the email. Each episode ends with Strong Bad finishing his reply. A link to email Strong Bad appears on "The Paper," a dot matrix printer at the top of the screen. In later episodes, it's replaced by the "New Paper" (an inkjet printer), then the "Compé-per" (a pop-up balloon), and finally a CGI version of the original Paper. This last one promotes Strong Bad's Twitter account.
As of April 1, 2022, 209 Strong Bad Emails have been released on the website. Six more are only on DVD. They can be grouped by Strong Bad's different computers: the Tandy 400, the Compy 386, the Lappy 486, the Compé, and his current computer, the Lappier.
Holiday Specials
Before the 2010 break, holiday specials were a regular part of the site. They came out for popular holidays, especially Halloween and Decemberween. Decemberween is a made-up holiday like Christmas, also on December 25.
Halloween shorts usually show the main characters celebrating the holiday. They might tell ghost stories, go trick-or-treating, or carve pumpkins. They often wear costumes that refer to less common pop culture. The site also usually releases a separate Halloween video. In it, Strong Bad looks at a slideshow and makes fun of or praises photos sent by real fans. These photos show their Halloween costumes and props based on Homestar Runner characters.
Decemberween cartoons often make fun of Christmas traditions. These include giving gifts and singing carols. The fact that it's on the same day as Christmas is just a coincidence. It's been said that Decemberween happens "55 days after Halloween." April Fools' Day features different jokes, like making the site seem like a paid service or turning it upside down.
Other holidays celebrated include New Year's Day, "The Big Game" (around Super Bowl time), St. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, "Senorial Day" (a funny version of Memorial Day with Senor Cardgage), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day (sometimes called "Labor Dabor"), Thanksgiving, and Easter.
Teen Girl Squad
Teen Girl Squad is a simply drawn comic strip told by Strong Bad. He uses a high, squeaky voice. This series came from Strong Bad Email #53, comic. In that email, Strong Bad was asked to make a comic strip about a girl and her friends.
The comic features four typical teenage girls: "Cheerleader," "So and So," "What's Her Face," and "The Ugly One." It makes fun of high school life, teen movies, and TV shows. Each episode shows the girls in normal high school situations. These often lead to their funny and gruesome deaths. A spin-off of this series is "4 Gregs." It follows four nerdy classmates of the squad, all named Greg.
Marzipan's Answering Machine
Marzipan's Answering Machine is a series of cartoons with almost no animation. It plays messages from other characters on Marzipan's answering machine. In early episodes, the episode number ended in .0 (like Version 5.0). But since Marzipan got a new answering machine, the number ends in .2 (like Version 15.2).
In every episode, Strong Bad prank calls Marzipan. He badly pretends to be someone else, like "Detective Everybody" or "Safety Dan." Sometimes he pretends to be other characters. The animation is usually just a picture of the answering machine. But sometimes there are short animated parts with the characters. As of April 1, 2016, there are 17 Marzipan's Answering Machines.
Puppet Stuff
These are live-action shorts where the regular characters are shown as puppets. They can be skits or musical performances with They Might Be Giants. Many Puppet Stuff videos show the characters interacting with children, often related to The Brothers Chaps. One spin-off series, "Biz Cas Fri," shows Homestar and Strong Bad's interactions from an office cubicle. The first Biz Cas Fri video is thought to have first used the term Doge.
Powered By The Cheat
In the world of Homestar Runner, “Powered By The Cheat” videos are short cartoons made by the character The Cheat. They are often music videos for other characters. In these parts, Matt Chapman does the animation, and Mike Chapman does the voices. This is the opposite of their usual roles. Because of this, the cartoons are purposely animated poorly.
Alternate Universes
Over time, many different versions of the Homestar Runner world and characters appeared. They make fun of other cartoons and animation styles. Many of these appear in their own cartoons. The many alternate universes later crossed over in some cartoons. An example is the 150th Strong Bad Email, alternate universe.
Old-Timey cartoons happen in an old-time setting. Most of the characters are Old-Timey versions of the Homestar Runner characters. These cartoons are in black and white with a film grain effect and scratchy sound. They make fun of the style of animated cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s (like Steamboat Willie). They can seem purposely not funny, to make a joke about those old-style cartoons.
20X6 (pronounced "twenty exty-six") makes fun of the "year 200X" from the Mega Man and EarthBound games. It started from Strong Bad Email #57, japanese cartoon. An email asked Strong Bad what he would look like as a Japanese anime character. The main character, Stinkoman, is an anime version of Strong Bad. He has blue hair, a shiny body, and robot boots. He is always looking for a fight. He asks characters if they want a "challenge." There is also a game, Stinkoman 20X6, which is very much like the Mega Man series.
Cheat Commandos is a funny copy of G.I. Joe. It features characters that are the same species as The Cheat. Most are based on G.I. Joe characters or characters from other 1980s cartoons.
Images for kids
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A robot character.
