From Homestar Runner Wiki

Current revision as of 20:45, 1 July 2025

What if we had quote boxes? Like at the top, or floating left/right Wikipedia-style... Ob'm know. I've added a lot to the tops of articles and sections (Oscar Wilde-style) and it might be nice to (a) standardize w/ a template (b) do something a little snazzier than blockquotes. Some rough style explorations made by editing notices:

• Comments:
• The current quotes have been added for comparison. --Stux 19:57, 1 July 2025 (UTC)
• If we turn this into a template, the image sizes are inconsistent: Matt's image is 60px, SB's is 24px, and SS's is 36px. I thought {{qotwheads}} could be of use but that's for a completely different context.
  • Ah, the template I was looking for was {{head}} but that can't be used either. That said, I've made both head images 35px to see what they look like. --Stux
• I've added earlier samples for comparison. --Stux
• Regardless of the format we choose, I think creating a template that allows consistent quote formatting would be a good thing(TM).
  • That said, there are several questions that should be answered:
  • How do we handle quotes with multiple speakers? {{canonquote}} has at least one example.
  • This leads to a design decision that I think needs to be done early on: do we include the name of the speaker (as with the current "transcript" style format) or not? In the transcript style, the speaker name is not a template parameter, it must be added by hand, but that allows us to link to the speaker however we want. Otherwise, the speaker would most likely be a template parameter, but that breaks down if we have multiple speakers.
  • Do we have more examples of non-standard quotes that we can reference? --Stux

Would certainly be open to moving this to the HRWiki:Project space if it's something that other editors think is worth pursuing beyond my fiddlin' around. My thought process was to identify a very basic layout — i.e. what color/outline is the box, do we italicize or "enclose in quotes" or both or neither — and do basic problem solving to make sure it can work alongside a right-floating image thumb rather than solve for every case. I was mainly referencing how Template:Quote box on WP is used (i.e. for a phrase shared by only one speaker) to avoid getting caught up in how to deal with more complicated scenarios. As far as non-standard quote examples, some articles to look at include Batman, How do you type with boxing gloves on?, and the UMFM snippets on most main character pages. -- Bleu Ninja 20:45, 1 July 2025 (UTC)

[edit] Shark-Tooth Bubs

"I'm going to go throw up at your house!"

From "A Date with Homestar Runner" at New York University, 2005:

MATT CHAPMAN: We were getting these stuffed animals of The Cheat made. To show us that they were the right people for the job, this company in Hong Kong made some little six-inch plush dolls of our characters. Most of them they got pretty good! And then... Bubs they just completely misinterpreted.

Shark-Tooth Bubs is a plush doll prototype of Bubs that sharply deviates from his character design. Rather than two mismatched eyes, one black and one blue with a white ring, he has two black eyes and a large protruding white-ringed horn; his teeth are pointed and shark-like rather than rectangular.

[edit] Shark-Tooth Bubs

"I'm going to go throw up at your house!"

	We were getting these stuffed animals of The Cheat made. To show us that they were the right people for the job, this company in Hong Kong made some little six-inch plush dolls of our characters. Most of them they got pretty good! Bubs they just completely misinterpreted.
— Matt Chapman "A Date with Homestar Runner", New York University, 2005

Shark-Tooth Bubs is a plush doll prototype of Bubs that sharply deviates from his character design. Rather than two mismatched eyes, one black and one blue with a white ring, he has two black eyes and a large protruding white-ringed horn; his teeth are pointed and shark-like rather than rectangular.

The plush toy was created by a company in Hong Kong, during the pre-production of the Kick The Cheat dolls. To demonstrate their ability to adapt The Cheat to three dimensions, the toy company produced sample plush dolls of Strong Bad, Homestar Runner, Marzipan, and Bubs (the first two of which have also been shown). Though the first three were created largely on-model, the manufacturer "misinterpreted pretty much everything" about Bubs's odd design, resulting in the inclusion of fangs and a horn.

[edit] Easter egg

[edit] Decompiled Flash Easter Eggs

From a 2007 talk at the Georgia Tech library:

MATT CHAPMAN: People are poking around, they decompile our Flash files and look at stuff. So we've started adding a few things here and there for the nerds that do that stuff. There's one where these two Homestars appear — like, it appears that there's two Homestars, you can barely see the edge of his feet on that side of the frame, that's in the actual cartoon. But then, to make it consistent in the universe, one of them has a mustache. But you only see it if you decompile the Flash thing and be like, "Oh, that's Homestar with a mustache."

[edit] Appearances

Who actually made all those fence drawings...

• All Halloween Teasers — The teasers feature messages hidden behind the silhouettes of the characters, visible upon attempting to view the Halloween costumes with a Flash decompiler (presuming that they are obscured versions of the full image).
• Email different town — Marzipan has a secondary hairdo when decompiled.
• Email myths & legends — When the ancient fence drawings are viewed outside the border, the words "by strong bab age 5" can be found.

[edit] Decompiled Flash Easter Eggs

[edit] Appearances

Who actually made all those fence drawings...

• All Halloween Teasers — The teasers feature messages hidden behind the silhouettes of the characters, visible upon attempting to view the Halloween costumes with a Flash decompiler (presuming that they are obscured versions of the full image).
• Email different town — Marzipan has a secondary hairdo when decompiled.
• Email myths & legends — When the ancient fence drawings are viewed outside the border, the words "by strong bab age 5" can be found.

[edit] Abdi LaRue

Roll that beautiful email footage!

From a @StrongBadActual Tweet from 16 April 2020:

Abdi is real! An early fan I actually had to ask to specifically email me because nobody knew I had an email address yet!

In 2001, Abdi LaRue made Homestar Runner history as the first of hundreds to have an email personally answered by Strong Bad. Future Strong Bad Emails would make brief tribute to this unknown figure.

[edit] Abdi LaRue

Roll that beautiful email footage!

	"Abdi is real! An early fan I actually had to ask to specifically email me because nobody knew I had an email address yet!"
— Strong Bad, @StrongBadActual tweet (16 Apr 2020)

In 2001, Abdi LaRue made Homestar Runner history as the first of hundreds to have an email personally answered by Strong Bad. Future Strong Bad Emails would make brief tribute to this unknown figure.

[edit] Inconsistencies within the Homestar Runner universe

Comment: this one uses {{canonquote}} under the hood!

Is Bubs' right? Or is it left?

MIKE CHAPMAN: We're not very consistent with our scale.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah... We should make a style guide.
MIKE CHAPMAN: You can make a style guide.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah, you make one, more like.

Inconsistencies large and small occur throughout the toons portraying the Homestar Runner universe. The Homestar Runner body of work is primarily created independently by The Brothers Chaps, without use of a dedicated style guide or continuity supervisor, allowing for discrepancies to accumulate over the 20-plus years of production.

Furthermore, Homestar Runner relies heavily on whimsical, surreal, and absurd humor. Much like comedic inspirations Looney Tunes or The Three Stooges, toons are largely independent of one another; though some elements remain as constants, various minor facets of settings or characterization may be changed or ignored to better tell a joke or set a scene. Because Homestar Runner is not narrative-driven, complete consistency and total continuity are not goals and very minor inconsistencies are common between cartoons. The site's FAQ recommends that fans remember "it's just a cartoon and you probably shouldn't worry about it."

[edit] Inconsistencies within the Homestar Runner universe

Comment: these are earlier samples from the page's history

There's no— there's no style guide, or continuity— we don't have a continuity person working on set.

— Matt Chapman, geddup noise commentary

We're gonna play "Name That Inconsistency" later on if you want to join us.

— Strong Sad, Page Load Error

There's no style guide. We don't have a continuity person working on set.

— Matt Chapman, geddup noise commentary

We're gonna play "Name That Inconsistency" later on if you want to join us.

— Strong Sad, Sbemail 200 Fakeout

Comment: here's the flag day quote with two speakers and multiple lines (from {{canonquote}})

MIKE CHAPMAN: We're not very consistent with our scale.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah... We should make a style guide.
MIKE CHAPMAN: You can make a style guide.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah, you make one, more like.

Comment: might as well go for broke and include all the other quotes from {{canonquote}})

MATT CHAPMAN: There's no style guide. We don't have a continuity person working on set.

STRONG BAD: If you’re watching/playing my stuff for the canon, you might be doing it wrong.

STRONG SAD: We're gonna play "Name That Inconsistency" later on if you want to join us.

Q: I noticed a mistake or inconsistency in one of your cartoons!! AHHH!
A: It was either done on purpose or it's just a cartoon and you probably shouldn't worry about it.

STRONG BAD: The more ye searcheth for canon in mine universe, the less canon ye shall findeth.

[edit] Inconsistencies within the Homestar Runner universe

Is Bubs' right? Or is it left?

	"We're gonna play "Name That Inconsistency" later on if you want to join us."
	— Strong Sad, Sbemail 200 Fakeout (2008)

Inconsistencies large and small occur throughout the toons portraying the Homestar Runner universe. The Homestar Runner body of work is primarily created independently by The Brothers Chaps, without use of a dedicated style guide or continuity supervisor, allowing for discrepancies to accumulate over the 20-plus years of production.

Furthermore, Homestar Runner relies heavily on whimsical, surreal, and absurd humor. Much like comedic inspirations Looney Tunes or The Three Stooges, toons are largely independent of one another; though some elements remain as constants, various minor facets of settings or characterization may be changed or ignored to better tell a joke or set a scene. Because Homestar Runner is not narrative-driven, complete consistency and total continuity are not goals and very minor inconsistencies are common between cartoons. The site's FAQ recommends that fans remember "it's just a cartoon and you probably shouldn't worry about it."