HRWiki:STUFF/Archive/Verdicts

Strong Bad's exchange with Bubs is a takeoff of television home remodeling shows such as This Old House, where the host asks various team members what they are doing, why, and how.

Even though Cinder Block speaks and writes, he is not listed as part of the population of Strong Badia.

The green handprint on Homestar's "deadbeat boyfriend" shirt bears a striking similarity to the leaf on "Legalize Marijuana" T-shirts.

It is unlikely that The Homestar Runner would regard it as insulting to call the alien a Communist, as the perceived 1930's setting of the cartoon makes it incongruous with the general American resentment of Communism which began in the Cold War after World War II.

When Strong Bad talks about the Great Leg and the Leg of Hope, he may be referring to the SNES RPG Secret of Mana. You can upgrade the Great Bow into the Bow of Hope. The leg of hope is also a lyric in the song Add It Up by the Violent Femmes.

Even though Coach Z is billed in the program as the director, he seems to be carrying out the duties of a stage manager during the performance.

The song The Dancing Brothers sing is very similar to a part of the theme song for the 1970s TV show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

When Strong Sad pretends to faint, his body is in the same exact position as when he passes out in email 91 caffeine, including mouth, body, hand, and foot position.

Strong Sad says that "Ropes are for dopes" is a quote from the legendary folk hero he made up, but neither ropes nor dopes are mentioned in the story itself.

The Dancing Brothers' style of singing and dancing resembles the style of another group of brothers, The Bee Gees.

The Dancing Brothers bear a striking resemblance to the circle-face characters seen in ads for Zoloft, a prescription anti-depressant drug.

The "Weird Snake" costume Saddy wore in the village is in the style of Barney the Purple Dinosaur from Barney & Friends, a TV show for kids.

This is the first 'toon on Homestarrunner.com that features members of the main cast, but neither Homestar Runner nor Strong Bad make an appearance.

Excluding the "Working For the Weak-End?" entry in Strong Sad's Lament, this is the only time God is ever mentioned on the site, although Strong Sad is simply quoting Dickens.

The "guy" Strong Bad is singing about is likely Jesus, although the origins of Decemberween differ from those of Christmas.

Homestar says he will pee his pants, but he (debatably) doesn't wear any.

Homestar said that Strong Sad did twice as many jumping jacks as last year, but Strong Sad only did three.

The woman on Strong Badman's television is holding a Big Knife.

The pseudo-backward pronunciation of the word "eyeball" in the Coach Z Easter egg sounds like "highball", which could be a reference to radio and/or space program.

The word "VOIP" is a reference to the Visor Robot's sound effect from Teen Girl Squad Issue 1.

Strong Bad previously mentioned "real fruit smoothies" in mascot when the team won the game.

The phrase "No prob, Bob" is frequently used on the show Bob the Builder.

The use of the word "tuff" may be a reference to the novel The Outsiders. In it, most characters use the word "tuff", meaning "cool" or "sharp".

The new page title is a reference to the facts in which Homestar says "not no more."

The smoke from the foggers doesn't come out of the open holes on the top of the grill.

A contact buzz may occur when one inhales secondhand smoke and feels the effects of the drug (e.g., nicotine).

The Adventures of Lolo and The Adventures of Bayou Billy are both 1-player games, so Moses Malone and The Cheat couldn't play them together.

Although Moses Malone advises The Cheat to save the receipts for these two games, most stores do not accept returns on new, opened software. The Cheat could only return the game if he had purchased it used.

Doge was the title given to the rulers of the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa.

When Strong Bad says "Ohh, don't touch that!" it sounds exactly like when he says the same thing in virus when Homestar takes the link buttons from the bottom of the page.

It's likely that the 3GB attachment was the "Medi-a-lecrix Playa" and the video file, as most movies do not come in a .exe file, and a file of that length would have to be ridiculously lossless to warrant a 3GB file size.

The Cheat is wearing a necktie similar to Reynold's from the The Cheat Commandos.

The Cheat's necktie is also similar to that worn by Dogbert from the Dilbert comic strip, which makes sense.

This is another instance of Strong Bad's Computer Malfunctioning.

The game piece on the Boardelectrix logo is a reference to the pieces for the game Sorry!.

Strong Sad jumps into the scene, even though in his lament he states he cannot.

The repetition of "man" and "use" could be because both words can be either a noun or a verb.

There are 102 total words in the list [of 3-letter words], counting the two duplicates (an even 100 distinct words).

You can still click on The Paper, the "back" link on the Lappy 486, and the Easter Egg words even when the screen fades to black temporarily.

This email has two functional Back buttons on-screen simultaneously; the one that appears when the screen fades out remains when it fades back in.

If you click "try, wet, cod," and leave it up, it will still be there when the screen fades back in.

The way Strong Bad pronounces the phrase "Her" (here) is similar to the way that rap artist Nelly pronounces the word in the song "Hot in Herre", and is possibly a reference to such.

Strong Bad's hesitation before saying "doing" to Homestar may be a reference to Homestar's commentary on the word in car.

Homestar saying "Oops, I lost it." is probably a reference to him saying "Oops, you bwoke it." in a similar voice in the system sounds quote pack.

The machine drilling sound is similar to that of the sun-buzzsaw in Teen Girl Squad Issue 3.

Nibbles says he is 1 year old. Therefore, All-new Fluffy Puff Bite-Size Nibblers are actually not as new as they make out, or the advert is incorrect.

The sign on Strong Mad's closet reads "STRONG MAD RD."

This is the first email without any Easter eggs since Email #39, property of ones.

Strong Bad getting the jibblies was similar to his dance in funny.

This is the first instance of an actual tree in Free Country USA outside the Spooky Forest. Up until now, it was nothing but telephone poles.

Strong Bad's tree hugging, by demand of Homestar, is a reference to army.

Strong Bad's quote, "And bring some paper towels. Eww. And some tweezers." Is very similar to his message left on Marzipan's answering machine in Where's The Cheat?, when he says, "Bring some towels. (Groans) And some garbage bags."

A ride at Knott's Berry Farm uses the same font as Chocozuma's for its "Montezooma's Revenge" ride.

The line, "I'm not gonna lie to you," spoken by both Homestar and Bubs, was also spoken by Homsar in for kids.

It's likely that the show Strong Sad is watching in the beginning is "that show on public broadcasting hosted by that British guy" mentioned in morning routine.

In the Flash file for the toon, the sides randomly flash white and blue while Homestar is singing his song.

Strong Sad saying "Salad... Salad as a rock" may be a take on lyrics from the song "Solid As a Rock," written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.

The scene with morphing candy bar shapes is reminiscent of the music video for "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" by They Might Be Giants, in which a revolver morphs into a keychain, a noose, an ashtray, a doorknob, a bloody knife, and a bust of Lincoln.

Grizzly Chomps, a Hostess-brand chocolate cupcake introduced in 1992, similarly featured a "built-in bite". The package bore a cartoon bear saying, "I start 'em, you finish 'em."

"Sibilance," a word describing the "s" sound, was used by Tom Hanks in a "Wayne's World" sketch on Saturday Night Live in a soundcheck for Aerosmith.

Homestar's attire in the SBLOUNSKCHED! bar Easter Egg is similar to that of McDonald's spokesperson Hamburglar.

...Strong Bad's later allusion to the Baby Ruth's scatological appearance is most likely a reference to a like-minded gag in the film Caddyshack.

Email headers in the Junkmail Filta list are sorted in the "old on top" order, which means that it didn't filter any emails before "Re: Besing Friends" - strange, given the rate at which Homestar sends them.

Strong Bad says "I betcha I will by the end of this email" because usually in the past when he has received an email like this he has made something up based on the email.

"Sibilance," a word describing the "s" sound, was used by Tom Hanks in a "Wayne's World" sketch on Saturday Night Live in a soundcheck for Aerosmith. It was also mentioned by The Daily Show's Jon Stewart the night before this email appeared.

The grill shown briefly near the end of the cartoon is possibly a reference to The King of Town's Grill, which is where The Cheat lives.

The King of Town is first shown hanging in a position exactly like the one he's in on the cliff in Weclome Back, where he's stuck in a tire hanging from a tree; the rope is wrapped around him three times, perhaps to match the width of the tire.

In his character video, Coach Z says you can call him just "Coach" because he's the only one; but in A Folky Tale, he refers to Coach X and Coach Y in the present tense, and in a context that implies they are also known to Strong Sad.

When Strong Bad refers to Marzipan as Goody Marzipan, the word "Goody" means goodwife, a courtesy title of married women.

"Oh-now hundred hours" is a reference to military time, where the time is said as a single 4-digit number. For example, in military time 9 a.m. is 0900 hours (pronounced "Oh-nine hundred hours"), and 9 p.m. is 2100 hours ("twenty-one hundred hours").

This episode is based on the 'And Now You Know' segments that aired at the end of cartoons from the late 80s and early 90s.

"Wanna smoke some candy with me?" refers to educational films that crudely replace "inappropriate" things with "appropriate" things. For example, The Cat Who Drank Too Much replaced alcoholic beverages with milk and water.

This is the only Cheat Commandos toon to date that doesn't end with "Buy all our playsets and toys!"

The title is based on Cable in the Classroom, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational programming to be aired in schools.

"R&R" ("rest and relaxation") was also said by Strong Bad (playing as Firebert) in the Cheat Commandos commercial.

Homestar Runner letting Strong Sad think a "date with a wall" would be fun is a reference to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, in which Tom lets other children think that painting a fence is fun because he doesn't want to do it.

The title of the page, "Sittin' with a kitty...", is a reference to the Sonic Youth song "Kool Thing," which contains the lyric "sittin' with a kitty."

Bubs's comment on "lesser or much lesser value" is a reference to "equal or lesser value" in part-time job.

The exterior of Marzipan's House was blue the only other time it appeared, in 3 Times Halloween Funjob. Now it's yellow. A reasonable explanation might be that Strong Sad, having no more detailed information than "a wall," painted the outside wall.

When Homestar is returning the yella shades at the concession stand, the paint suddenly stops dripping between the close-up and the wide shot.

Homestar's shades are the same style sunglasses he wore in dangeresque 3.

The members of Cool Tapes being silhoutted in different colors while moving around the screen greatly resembles Intro 2.

The original button to this toon on the main page read "hey, a new toon!!"

In Chinese superstition, the number 8 means wealth. This email was email number 88 and Strong Bad tries to print out a million dollar bill.

The Poopsmith's Has Matt? uniform is a reference to Matt Chapman.

Li'l Brudder's remark about throwing for 2,000 yards as an NFL quarterback is only 125 yards a game. A good player can throw twice that.

The end credit photo montage is similar to the one Strong Bad created in montage.

As he drives, Strong Bad hums "The Theme From Dangeresque," which is actually "The theme From The People's Court".

The line, "Here comes little email with a gun in his hand," is an exact mimic of the line "Here comes little THORAX with a gun in his hand," found on this Thoraxcorp.com page.

Strong Bad's greeting, "it's-a me! The chef-a!" is a play on Mario's famous line, "It's a-me, Mario!".

Marzipan strokes her right eyelashes with mascara 16 times.

The sound of a rhythm guitar was similarly described as "jug jigga" in guitar.

"Mort", as in the name "Mort Dougland", is a Latin root meaning "death".

Though "extracurriculariffic" is obviously not a word, the "riffic" part borrows from "terrific", which is spelled with one "f", so, as much as can apply to made-up words, it's misspelled.

Instead of the music repeating in a movie clip (like most areas on the site), the whole Flash file loops instead. This causes a short gap in the music, and it will also cause all the Easter Eggs to reset.

The Strong Bad ornament bedazzling the Strong Sad ornament off the tree may be a reference to the Bedazzler, which uses cheap, shiny plastic beads much like the Strong Bad ornament.

The song Homestar sings is of a similar tune to The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book.

"That hunchback in school" is likely a reference to The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The rhythm of Strong Bad's email song is taken from the They Might Be Giants song Ana Ng – the first time is the same as the rhythm part under the verse, and the second time is this and the vocal rhythm mixed together.

Strong Bad introduces his next song in the same manner that Cheap Trick frontman Robin Zander famously introduced "Surrender" on their landmark album Live at Budokan: "This is the first song off our new album!"

The Cheat pouring hot soup on Homestar's eyes is a reference to the HBO Series OZ, Episode 305; U.S. Male, where this is done to inmates Poet and Pierce. This episode aired on 7/28/1999.

The "low-to-no-budget horror film" Regenerator 4 is a reference to the cult classic B-Movie series ReAnimator. The ReAnimator series had three installments, and featured a disembodied head continuing to live, commanding its body, and grafting utilitarian appendages onto itself.

"Creature Shop" might as well be a reference to Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which makes many animatronic and puppet characters.

The phrase "my head and body are normally the bosomest of buddies" is a reference to the 1980s TV show Bosom Buddies starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari.

The KOT emblem is very similar to the emblem of Dr. Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, perhaps not coincidentally in the same email in which Homestar calls Strong Bad "Eggman."

"Eggman" refers to Dr. Eggman (grandson of Gerald Robotnik), the main villain in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Strong Bad's regenerated "Head-nub" and "Nub-head" are very similar to certain forms of the Alien in John Carpenter's The Thing.

The "We're Onto You" poster could be a reference to the similar propaganda "Big Brother Is Watching You" from the book Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Just before Strong Bad's head gets his exhaust pipes, he rolls in the same way as the egg characters in the Flash animation Weebl and Bob.

Homestar mentioning "a tall, cool glass of Mountain Dwa" is a reference to other days, when Strong Bad prompted his motivational-lecture attendees to "make yourself a tall, cool glass of piemonade."