Fake YouTube End Screens
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Revision as of 20:17, 1 December 2023 by Bleu Ninja (Talk | contribs)
YouTube versions of Homestar Runner toons sometimes feature fake YouTube end screens, designed to give the false impression that the video has ended. These screens typically consist of nonexistent videos, containing visual gags or textual puns related to Homestar Runner; they additionally parody clichés of YouTube video titling, thumbnail design, and subject matter. These screens are followed up by Easter eggs, in the manner of post-credits scenes in film.
At first, the end screens spoofed YouTube's "related videos" feature, where after a video ends the player automatically presents a grid of twelve videos similar to what the viewer has just watched. The fake versions featured nine thumbnails. From email too cool (uploaded Aug 14, 2017) onward, videos began imitating YouTube's "autoplay" feature. These presented a single thumbnail at the end, covered with a dark gray matte, and featuring a header consisting of the words "Up next", a title for the video, and the name of the channel (homestarrunnerdotcom). There is an autoplay button with a radial wipe in the center, along with a cancel button beneath to stop the autoplay. In both cases, the end screens are not interactive due to limitations of the YouTube video player.
Only two of the "videos" shown in the thumbnails — Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix and Strong Mad versus Wind-Up Drinks — have actually been released. Coffee Town with Homestar + Mike, a concept which originated here, later was made into an actual video.
Contents |
Related Video Thumbnails
Fish Eye Lens
The thumbnails were introduced in the YouTube version of Fish Eye Lens. The contents of the thumbnails are as follows:
| Space Track | Joystick Wagglin | Homestar Runner and a peasant |
| Senor Cardgage | orange laser beam | Puppet Homestar |
| Strong Bad | Bouncing Bubs | Pom Pom peeking |
Halloween Safety
Some of the thumbnails are similar to the ones seen in Fish Eye Lens, while others are new.
| Joystick Wagglin | Broken Sword | Channel Surfing |
| Homestar and an archer | Puppet Homestar | Photo booth |
| "the worst" | Senor Cardgage | orange laser beam |
sbemail 206
All but one of the thumbnails have been reused from the previous toons.
| Photo booth | Senor Cardgage | Space Track |
| Puppet Homestar | "the worst" | orange laser beam |
| Joystick Wagglin | Broken Sword | Channel Surfing |
Flash is Dead!
None of the thumbnails in this toon have appeared before, although two of them are very similar to some thumbnails from other toons.
| The End of Flash | Pow'd By The Cheat! | The New Style! |
| Still Dang Dancin'! | Plush Strong Bad | Puppet Homestar |
| Strong Bad x4 | Bouncing Peasant | Cool Stripes w/ The Poopsmith |
Strong Bad Classics!
While none are specifically the same, most are derivatives of previous thumbnails.
| ThnikkaQuest | Powdered! | Cool Stripes |
| Collage | Homsar Keyboard Hoppin' | Joystick Waggling |
| "TOO CLOSE" | Coffee Town | 6 Hours of F-Sack |
Full list
| Thumbnail | Description | Introduced In |
|---|---|---|
| Coach Z and Strong Sad dancing on the Race Track in outer space. | Fish Eye Lens |
| A photograph of a CRT television displaying Swordquest: Earthworld. The Videlectrix Guys appear in the lower-left corner, along with the caption "Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix". | Fish Eye Lens |
| A framed picture of The Videlectrix Guys next to a four-switch Atari 2600, a Spectravideo Quickshot third-party controller, and a copy of the game Haunted House. The caption reads "Joystick Wagglin' with the 'Trix". This would eventually be expanded into Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix: Halloween Edition. | Halloween Safety |
| A photograph of a CRT television displaying a single green pixel with the caption "GOOD GRAPHICS". The Videlectrix Guys appear in the lower-left corner, along with the caption "Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix". | Strong Bad Classics! |
| Homestar Runner and a peasant from Peasant's Quest Online? standing in The Field with snow on the ground. | Fish Eye Lens |
| Homestar and an archer from Peasant's Quest Online? floating in the sky. | Halloween Safety |
| A tiny Strong Bad walking up Senor Cardgage's head. | Fish Eye Lens |
| Homestar standing in an older style Field, with an orange laser beam in place of his head (which is now on the ground). Homestar's hat is missing. | Fish Eye Lens |
| Puppet Homestar and Mike Chapman sitting in front of a curtain with a cup of coffee. The caption reads "COFFEE TOWN WITH HOMESTAR + MIKE, episode 6". | Fish Eye Lens |
| Puppet Homestar and Mike Chapman again sitting in front of a curtain with a cup of coffee. This time the image is mirrored and a black evil beard and eyebrows are drawn over Mike. The caption reads "COFFEE TOWN WITH HOMESTAR + MIKE, episode 3". | Halloween Safety |
| The same image of Puppet Homestar and Mike as before, with the caption "Coffee Town with Homestar + Mike" Episode 12. However, the name of the show is covering Mike's face. | Flash is Dead! |
| Puppet Homestar and Mike Chapman sitting in front of a curtain with a cup of coffee. The caption reads "COFFEE TWON WITH HOMESTAR + MIKE, episode 16". The entire picture is color-negative. | Strong Bad Classics! |
| Strong Bad in front of a red-yellow gradient. In place of his legs are several more torsos that continue off the screen, some of which have extra arms, resembling a centipede. | Fish Eye Lens |
| A small Bubs hopping over the Compé's keyboard on Strong Bad's desk. Bubs is leaving a bouncy, dashed white line behind him, à la Where U Goin' 2?. | Fish Eye Lens |
| A peasant from Peasant's Quest Online? hopping over the Compé's keyboard on Strong Bad's desk. The peasant is leaving a bouncy, dashed white line behind him, à la Where U Goin' 2?. | Flash is Dead! |
| A small Homsar hopping over the Compé's keyboard on Strong Bad's desk. Homsar is leaving a bouncy, dashed white line behind him, à la Where U Goin' 2?. | Strong Bad Classics! |
| Pom Pom peeking out of a stylized human brain. | Fish Eye Lens |
| Bubs and Coach Z in The Field. Coach Z is wielding a broken sword. Bubs is wearing a bobble hat. | Halloween Safety |
| Homsar is surfing on a giant remote control. This scene takes place in the basement of the Brothers Strong, but the couch is missing. | Halloween Safety |
| Pom Pom and Marzipan posing for a Photo booth portrait decorated with bells. Marzipan's eyes blink once. | Halloween Safety |
| Pom Pom and Marzipan posing for a Photo booth portrait decorated with bells. Marzipan has The Cheat stuck in her throat, and her hair is now misaligned from her head. She has two mouths, one in the correct position and one where The Cheat's eyes should be. Both are frowning. Again, Marzipan's eyes blink once. | sbemail 206 |
| The King of Town and The Poopsmith posing with a caption that reads "the worst". | Halloween Safety |
| Homsar and F-Sack in The Field as an explosion occurs in the background. This is a reference to the "meteor", which Strong Bad compared Flash's death to. | Flash is Dead! |
| A thumbnail drawn by The Cheat reading "Pow'd by The Cheat". | Flash is Dead! |
| A Powered by The Cheat drawing displaying the words "Powdered by The Cheat" and a bottle of "talc". | Strong Bad Classics! |
| Pom Pom is seen on blue gradient without a head and his eyes moved onto his body. White text above him reads "The New Style!" This variation resembles Baby Pom Pom from high school. | Flash is Dead! |
| A cross-eyed dancing Bubs on a gray floor against a purple polka-dotted background with text above him reading "Still Dang Dancin'!" | Flash is Dead! |
| A real-life plushie Strong Bad in a room with a Martina Navratilova poster in the background. This plushie was first seen as a "stunt double" replacing the Strong Bad puppet in some quick shots in Dangeresque: Puppet Squad, and was first shown clearly in a Tweet by @StrongBadActual. | Flash is Dead! |
| Four Strong Bads against a blue gradient with one of their arms extended. | Flash is Dead! |
| Multiple light brown, blue and white diagonal stripes. Text above reads "Cool Stripes w/ The Poopsmith". | Flash is Dead! |
| Multiple light brown, red, blue and white diagonal stripes. Text above reads "More Cool Stripes w/ The Poopsmith". | Strong Bad Classics! |
| Shark Tooth Bubs dressed as The Thnikkaman standing in front the old man in Peasant's Quest. | Strong Bad Classics! |
| An arrangement of multiple Marzipans, woolen hats from A Death Defying Decemberween and Telebision remotes, reminiscent of Happy Dethemberween. | Strong Bad Classics! |
| An extreme close-up of Strong Bad's face with the words "TOO CLOSE" written at the bottom. | Strong Bad Classics! |
| F-Sack from Flash is Dead! cast against a white background, captioned "6 hours of F-Sack". | Strong Bad Classics! |
List of Autoplay Thumbnails
| Thumbnail | Video Title | Description | Appears In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast Unboxing w/ The Exact Same | The Exact Same next to a box of Cheat Commandos...O's. The thumbnail is cropped, leaving the tin can underneath the cereal box out of frame. | too cool |
| Strong Mad versus Wind-Up Drinks | A Strong Mad figurine on a table with some wind-up drink toys. This video was released on Instagram the same day. | Squintmojis |
| Puppet Strong Bad Let's Plays those Terrible Old Games | Puppet Strong Bad next to the "real-life" Lappy 486, which is displaying the Handheld Games Menu with Homestar Quiz highlighted. | Characters from Yonder Website |
| Clapping Party 1080p - 10 hours | A screen from Clapping Party, first seen in the email slumber party. | Haunted Photo Booth |
| Calling Internet Customer Service with Gunhaver | Puppet Gunhaver on the phone. | Dangeresque Puppet Squad: The Hot Jones Hijack |
| Falling Asleep Great with Character 1 from Yonder Website | Character 1 of Characters From Yonder Website gestures to a bed. | The Next April Fools Thing |
| Meeple Grove Market: Annihilation | Several meeples of the main characters are shown amidst a blasted field and some fire. | Trogdor!! The Board Game |
| The Cheat Commandos Arbor Day Special | A Puppet Stuff version of Cyclops Homestar stands in front of a small village. Several Cheat Commandos figures are in his mouth. | Mr. Poofers Must Die |
| Eyeball Barf 10 Hour Loop - Deep Relaxation/ASMR | Storybook Strong Mad continuously vomits eyeballs into a bathtub. | The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods |
| Strong Bad's Folding Chair Dungeon (all 2.47 episodes) | Strong Bad stands in the wrestling ring from yes, wrestling, holding a microphone. | Cheat Commandos...O's |
| Some Internet Kid Unboxes Large Bean Plushies | Puppet Homestar sits at a table staring at a plush of Large Bean and wearing a trucker hat. His eyes are skewed. | Halloween Hijinks |
| Hallrunner Speedlong Runplay - 16 HOURS! DENNIS% | The Hallrunner box art, slightly rotated on a black background. | Disk 4 of 12 - FriendlyWare |
| Peasant's Quest CGA full playthru - CYAN TROGDOR?! | A CGA-colored version of a screen from Peasant's Quest. Rather Dashing and the Kerrek are at some trees and Kerrek tracks. The text prompt is filled in with ">find better graphics". | Disk 4 of 12 - World Games |
| Top Ten Things You Missed in the Peasant's Quest Trailer | Rather Dashing looking around, in a scene from Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer. | Email parenting |
| Why You Should NEVER Say 'Boat Take' in Public | Strong Sad in his room, holding his hands to his mouth. He is surrounded by "shock" lines. | Email parenting |
| Homepage Shared Cinematic Universe REVEALED | A collage of Main Pages 1, 20, 8, 15, 16, 19, 21, 26, and 18. The last has Eh! Steve! visible. The word "REVEALED!!" is superimposed. | Email parenting |
| Cow Lamp & Bunny Slippers: A Brief History | A 3D image of the Cow Lamp and Homestar's bunny slippers. | Cool Things |
| Sweeter Cuppin Cakes | Sherlock, Eh! Steve!, and The Worm as cuter versions of themselves. | Disk 4 of 12 - Vampire's Castle |
| TOP TEN PILES! (You Won't Believe #7) | Puppet Homestar makes a pile of objects. | 2022 Costume Pack Now Available |
| Simple Car Care the Jibblies Way | Rocoulm crouching on a car engine | The Show: Ween Edition |
Fun Facts
- For Fun Facts about individual end screens, see the articles for the toon they appear in.
Remarks
- Several concepts reappear in multiple thumbnails:
- Homestar and a character from Peasant's Quest Online?
- Coffee Town with Homestar + Mike
- Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix
- A character hopping over the Compé's keyboard on Strong Bad's desk and leaving a bouncy, dashed white line behind it, à la Where U Goin' 2?
- Cool Stripes w/ The Poopsmith
- Play on words of Powered by the Cheat.
- Numbered lists
Fast Forward
- Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix was expanded into a full YouTube video titled Joystick Wagglin' with Videlectrix: Halloween Edition.
- Episode 86 of Coffee Town with Homestar + Mike was live streamed on Instagram.
- Strong Mad versus Wind-Up Drinks was released on Instagram, and later compiled in Social Media Crap Compilation 3.
See Also
- Fake Error Pages
- The fake thumbnails in HomestarRunner.com: PAY PLUS!
