Front Facing
From Homestar Runner Wiki
| Toon Category: Shorts |
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Strong Bad and The Cheat are planning to sell snowballs, only to find Homestar trying something new.
Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Strong Sad, Pom Pom, Wenda and Brambi (Easter egg), Anew App (Easter egg), Tofu Homestar (YouTube version), The Cobblestone Kid (YouTube version)
Places: The Field, The Beach (Easter egg), Basement of the Brothers Strong (Easter egg)
Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Running Time: 3:10 (TV Time Toons Menu), 4:06 (YouTube, complete with Easter eggs)
Page Title: Take the Pool By the Horns!
Contents |
Transcript
{Open on Strong Bad and The Cheat walking in silhouette. "The Name Of This Cartoon Would Ruin It" fades in before the camera cuts in closer. The Cheat is carrying a bucket of snowballs.}
STRONG BAD: We're not selling snowballs, The Cheat. We're selling destiny! A shot at the bigger times!
THE CHEAT: {Dismissive The Cheat noises}
{They approach Homestar, who is facing the camera with his eyes and underbite perfectly aligned.}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh hey, Strong Bad, how's the day?
STRONG BAD: Ah! Noobit... what-n-nuh... Uh-uh. Explain!
HOMESTAR RUNNER: What, this? I'm just practicing my front-facing.
STRONG BAD: {confused} Practicing your... f-ront...?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Front-facing, yeah! You get to do it all the time.
{Strong Bad turns to smile at the camera with a "Ding!" sound effect before turning to Homestar again}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: But now it's MY time to shine! Shine like a dime in the buff.
STRONG BAD: {disturbed} Okay... I guess... but, why do you sound kinda different?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: 'Cuz I'm Front-Facing Homestar. You wouldn't expect Wenda to sound like Brambi, would you? So why would Front-Facing Homestar sound like Regular Homestar?
STRONG BAD: Who the crap are Wenda and Brambi?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Friends of mine. But, now that I think about it, they actually sound... pretty much the same, so it was a terrible example. But the point stands!
STRONG BAD: The Cheat, can you believe this nonsense?
THE CHEAT: {Excited The Cheat noises}
STRONG BAD: Wait, YOU want to try it?
THE CHEAT: {Triumphant The Cheat noises}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah, give it a shot, The Cheat!
THE CHEAT: {Turns left, making a The Cheat noise}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Nope.
THE CHEAT: {Turns right, making a The Cheat noise}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Missed it.
THE CHEAT: {Turns left, making a more frustrated The Cheat noise}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Almost.
THE CHEAT: {Turns right, making another frustrated The Cheat noise}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Slow down.
THE CHEAT: {Overlapping} {Alternates faster with angry The Cheat noises before jumping and facing away}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey hey, Back-Facing The Cheat!
STRONG BAD: Alright, I'm done with this. {The Cheat walks off} Can I talk to Left-Facing Homestar?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Alright, hold on: Zambledom, zumbledom, turtleneck stew!
{Homestar jumps and spins as a purple swirl surrounds him, facing left after he lands}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Boodaling! Here I am.
STRONG BAD: What the crap was that?!
HOMESTAR RUNNER: I have to do a spell!
STRONG BAD: {groans} Listen. You're acting dumb enough that you just might fall for this. I got a business proposition for ya's!
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, you wanna talk to Right-Facing Homestar, but he's not around.
STRONG BAD: Dare I speak to... Back-Facing Homestar?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, sure. {singsong} But you know what that means...
{Homestar turns away as music starts. A pair of buttocks bulges through his shirt as he moves.}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Every single butt dance! All of them at once! {Poses with the butt visible with the sound of rubber bouncing}
STRONG BAD: {screams} My horror! The eyes! Er, wait, I mean... Back to Front-Facing. FRONT-FACING!
{Homestar faces frontwards again}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, hi again.
STRONG BAD: Wanna buy a snowball to the face? Three for a dolla'! And there's a chance that one has five doll {quietly} hairs inside.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, Strong Bad. Left- and maybe Right-Facing Homestar might fall for such pedestrian shenanigans, but not me. I'm facing life head-on! I'm taking the pool by the horns!
STRONG BAD: Are you sure you're smarter than those other-facing Homestars?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah, yeah. I've even got a way to goose your money-making scam.
STRONG BAD: {leans in} Oh yeah?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {quietly} Whisper-vesper...
STRONG BAD: {quietly} Say once...
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {quietly} Mumble-bumble...
STRONG BAD: {quietly} Tell twice...
{Fade to black.}
{Fade in to Strong Sad with the snowball bucket (which now has "Not the scam!" written on it) and Pom Pom. Strong Sad is throwing and catching a snowball in one hand.}
STRONG SAD: I'm not selling snowballs, I'm selling destiny!
POM POM: {bubbles}
STRONG SAD: And if you buy enough, {points, dropping the snowball} you too can become an official snowballstiny reseller!
POM POM: {bubbles}
{A wad of cash emerges from his chest, hitting Strong Sad in the face}
{Camera pans to Strong Bad sitting on a pile of cash with "Snowballstiny industries HQ" written on a cardboard sign in front of it. Front-Facing Homestar is holding a coffee cup labelled "Hot Jones".}
STRONG BAD: {laughs} I never thought I'd say this, but thanks, Front-Facing Homestar! {holds up a Hot Jones cup} Cheers to ya.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Here's beans in your eye. {splashes coffee on his face before sputtering and spitting} Still haven't figured out how to drink with this thing on. I'm getting... pretty thirsty.
{Cut to silhouette as the title "Front-Facing Homestar" appears}
{Fade out.}
{In the YouTube Version, a fake autoplay screen is displayed. It says "Up next: Tofu Homestar and the Cobblestone Kid (unaired pilot)". Tofu Homestar stands on a cobblestone path next to a kid in a Jughead hat holding a leg of ham.}
Easter Eggs
- At the end, click on Homestar to see Front-Facing Homestar invade Main Page 3.
- {cursor moves over the Toons button}
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Toons!
- {Front-Facing Homestar's head makes a steamboat noise appearing from the background, then crashes into the beach as Homestar and the cursor escape the havoc that the head is about to wreak. The top of the coconut palm tree snaps off, the head hits the borders, and the 'face-o fronto' bubble dangles from the page's borders.}
- At the end, click on Strong Bad to see Strong Bad and The Cheat in the Basement of the Brothers Strong.
- {The Cheat, still facing backwards, is standing on the couch and crying}
- STRONG BAD: I don't know! I don't know how to turn you back! Uh... what was that spell? Jumble... grumble... humble pie... make this Cheat turn back to his side!
- {The Cheat jumps and spins, surrounded by a purple swirl}
- HOMESTAR RUNNER (VOICEOVER): Boodaling!
- {The Cheat faces frontwards, in a similar uncanny fashion to Homestar}
- THE CHEAT: {grins and raises his arms and makes a delayed, ascending The Cheat noise}
- STRONG BAD: Aah!
- At the end, click on the word "Homestar" to see a scene of Homestar in The Field.
- {Two snowmen with crudely-drawn cardboard heads are visible. The left has a "B" engraved in its torso, the right a "W". Homestar peeks from behind each and moves their face to make them "talk" in a gruff voice.}
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: {as the left snowman} Hey, Wenda. How's the day?
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: {as the right snowman} I'm Brambi, remember? We're just borrowing each other's shirts!
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: {as Wenda} Oh right. I can hardly tell me apart.
- At the end, click on the dash between "Front" and "Facing" to see Homestar applying some stickers to a piece of paper.
- {There is already a sticker of Anew App that reads "So Hoppy Together" and a sticker of Strong Sad's Paunch on the paper.}
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: {adding a sticker of a dime with a prominent buttocks holding a towel behind it} Shine like a dime in the buff!
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: {adding a picture of a longhorn bull-shaped pool float} I'm takin' the pool by the horns!
Fun Facts
Explanations
- Homestar's plan to trick people into becoming resellers is called a multi-level marketing scheme.
- When Homestar says "a dime in the buff", he is likely saying a malapropism of "diamond in the rough".
Trivia
- The toon has three different official names: "The Name of This Cartoon Would Ruin It" on the title card and the YouTube video, "Front Facing" on the TV Time Toons Menu, and "Front-Facing Homestar" on the end card.
- This is the first appearance of the snowy field in a toon not related to Decemberween (or Decemberween in July).
- The YouTube description for this toon is "Strong Bad and The Cheat come across Homestar doing something truly terrifying in the snow. Befuddlement ensues."
Inside References
- Back-Facing Homestar does the Butt Dance.
- Strong Bad and Homestar drink/attempt to drink Hot Jones.
- In the Easter egg, the "Paunch" sticker was seen in dictionary, while the Anew App sticker comes from Decemberweenvent Calendar.
- Front-Facing Homestar has been seen before, such as in the toon Marshmallow's Last Stand.
- Homestar's confusion over who is Wenda and who is Brambi is an extension of his difficulty to recognize his identity.
- Dollhairs instead of dollars was written on the giant novelty check in The Show: Fanstumes Edition.
Real-World References
- Strong Bad's mention of "doll-hairs" is a reference to the episode "Time Tunnel" from the 1990s Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete, where Bill Korn bets Teddy Forzman one dollar that he won't go on a mechanical horse kiddie ride. When Teddy rides it and demands his winnings, Bill claims that he actually said "doll-hair".
