Homestar Runner

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Character: Homestar Runner
watch Homestar Runner's character video ← Homsar Strong Bad →
"Everybody loves the me! I'm a terrific athlete!"
This article is about the character. For the Flash cartoon, see Homestar Runner (Flash cartoon).

Contents

Biography

Homestar Runner (middle name possibly Michael or Hal) is the star of his namesake website, but he probably doesn't realize it. Ever the butt of jokes and the recipient of nicknames, Homestar is an earnest character with a clean heart and nothing but love for the rest of mankind. Unfortunately, his absolute cluelessness and clumsiness keep him from realizing his full potential. He's not completely stupid, though, and has proven to be remarkably clever in the past, though such occurrences are few and far between. You can never be quite sure whether or not he and Marzipan are going out, but he sure seems to think they are. He and most of the other residents of Free Country, USA speak English, but as seen in his welcome 'speech' to homestarrunner.com, he is also able to speak Spanish, though it is unknown exactly how much. According to the toon Marshmallow's Last Stand, he weighs about one hundred pounds.

Homestar is the star athlete on an unspecified sports team led by Coach Z and keeps it that way via vigorous workouts, as revealed in the Strong Bad Email dullard. He is also the colonel (which is always pronounced phonetically) of the currently inactive Homestarmy, while his best friend remains Pom Pom. He has some speech impediments (as he says, he has "twouble with [his] aw's"), and appears to have short-term memory problems, as he frequently forgets things he has just done or said, (for examples, see the 12th Answering Machine or Homestar Presents: Presents). He also tends to "borrow" things from (and return things to) Strong Bad, for example, Strong Bad's fondue pot. Though he lacks a visible pair of arms, he is still able to function as though he has them, being able to carry and throw things and even type proficiently. It's generally accepted that either he does have arms, but for reasons that are never explained, they are invisible, or that he has limited telekinetic powers. He frequently uses two-syllable exclamations, like "Hi-Ya!", "Highball!", and "Ah-tpoo!".

Although he is often the target of pranks by Strong Bad, Homestar believes that he is friends with the "wrestleman" and tries to win his favor, often with bad results that Homestar completely misunderstands. Occasionally, he and Strong Bad will be on pleasant terms, usually participating together in a Strong Bad Email or watching TV at Homestar's house. As a whole, Homestar seems to be too dim to realize when people are being mean to him, or when he's being mean to other people. He often unintentionally insults his friends or steps on their feelings and is unable to understand their resulting feelings of anger. Another quirk of Homestar is his ability to be easily outsmarted at his own game, and still be completely oblivious and even happy. As Strong Bad put it in email 124, secret recipes, "It's like, even when we win, he wins."

Yes, he does have teeth.

Homestar has behaved arrogantly on various subjects, often caused by discussions of tender subjects, misunderstanding the topic at-hand or his general ignorance of the present situation. While arrogant, he acts single mended and in extreme instances, violently, in a side of his character not often shown on the website, before coming down into upset and exhausted state, such as in Happy Fireworks, when he refuses to acknowledge Marzipan's lack of presence, or in long pants, where he is indignant about the fact that he wears long pants.

At present, Homestar works on the help desk at an unnamed tech company with Strong Bad and The Cheat, but has frequently dabbled in the entertainment industry. He made several commercials for Fluffy Puff Marshmallows along with the product's mascot, Marshie. He is also the host of an obscure talk/game show named "The Show", has co-starred in at least one Dangeresque movie, sung several hit singles such as "Everybody Knows It", "Bad Jokes" and other jams with They Might Be Giants, and "Party Party Party", revealed that he is considering a career in male modeling, and also guest starred in an episode of Caleb Rentpayer (in which he shot Caleb). He enjoys running, breaking into Strong Bad's house, singing (often about bread), and finding the perfect Decemberween present. He also seems to really like bread, as seen in origins and disconnected. Other favoured foods are marshmallows, Bronco Trolleys, and melonade. His most prized posession is his propellor-cap and its "buzzer". Also, he, Coach Z, and Bubs appear to be the law enforcement in Free Country, USA, as shown in Strong Bad is in Jail Cartoon. He might be a fan of the NHL's Boston Bruins, as he is seen wearing a Bruins shirt in Superbowl Dealie.

Character Video Transcript

{Page Title: Homerun Hitter!} {Place: The Field}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, hello. Greetings, one and everyone. Welcome to me.... Homestar!... Runner!... Homestar Runner. Um... what else? I pretty much run the show around here. I date the only girl, I have the only propeller cap. {propeller cap twirls} And can run, and jump, and kick the fastest, highest and like nobody's business. If I had to pick one word to describe myself, it would probably be... Fluffy Puff Marshmallows. Or Homestar. Either one, really. They both fit.

{Strong Bad sticks his arm into the scene.}

STRONG BAD: {says one of the following lines, picked randomly}

  • Don't forget "doofus"!
  • Don't forget "moron"!
  • Don't forget um... "Lionel Richie"!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah, that too. That's another good one. In closing, I look good in red. Check it out. {turns around, sings while shaking his rear} Buttdance, buttda-a-ance!

Fun Facts

Homestar's Eyes

Cartoon straight-on
Puppet Stuff straight-on

Homestar's eyes are quite strange. There are many theories about how they work:

  • Sometimes they seem to move around his head. Most of the time they're like a flounder's eyes, but they switch sides of his face whenever he turns. In the Old Intro 2, you can sort of see Homestar's eyes moving as the camera circles around him. Also, in Theme Song Video, the currently absent toon Marshmallow's Last Stand, the old version of In Search of the Yello Dello and the Homestar Screensaver, you can see his face from the front, which further lends credence to this theory.
    • It is possible that Homestar's eyes are in fact on the front of his head, but his generally accepted stature always has him facing slightly to the side. Because he is a cartoon character, the three-dimensional shape of his head and face are not shown, so the viewer is left to infer the eyes' correct positions based on which direction Homestar appears to be facing. (Note that an explicit "front view" of Homestar Runner has not been seen since Old Intro 2.)
  • His puppet and his two figurines, on the other hand, have eyes stuck on one side of his head. Occasionally you can get a peek at the other side of Puppet Homestar's face.
    • The Brothers Chaps actually made the eyes out of felt, so that they can be switched if necessary.
  • Homestar's eyes almost always blink at regular intervals (once every approximately 3.9 seconds), even when the cartoon is paused or has stopped, and in some special cases such as where he appears on a magazine cover (as seen in the Email modeling). This is explained by the fact that his eyes are animated as a Flash movie clip, which generally animates continuously.

Homestar's Shirt

In the middle

Homestar's shirt seems to most resemble a red skirt with a white star on it. The star can be removed, but Homestar wears it as a mark of pride. Other than his propeller cap, it appears to be his only piece of clothing, as his questionable pants are a mystery. It is claimed in long pants that he doesn't have shoes, but has blue soles glued to the bottom of his feet. He wore a gray version of his shirt (still with a star) in impression while doing a bad imitation of Strong Sad.

In the original script for flashback, Strong Bad wore a similar shirt until Marzipan gave one to Homestar (to replace his Duckie Shirt). After this point, Strong Bad would have ripped off his shirt, explaining why he never wore one to this day.

A real-life version of the shirt is available for purchase in the Store.

Note that the shirt is also straight compared to the eyes on the unfinished toon, Tis True, Pom Pom, Tis True.

Homestar & Marzipan

Homestar's favorite hippie.
Main article: Homestar and Marzipan's Relationship

Homestar's relationship with Marzipan seems tenuous at best, and it has appeared to deteriorate over time. Although Homestar frequently (and usually inadvertently) insults Marzipan, and she claims to have broken up with him several times, the two still seem to stick together. It is unclear how their relationship started, but the fact that their relationship is never truly broken suggests that they really do love each other.

Homestar appears to greatly value their relationship; on the rare occasion that he realizes that their relationship is in jeopardy, he will spring into a desparate ploy to patch things up. He also seems to miss and need Marzipan's badgering every once in a while. When she was out of town in July of 2005, he carried around a cardboard cutout version of her and provided a voice for it. The cardboard version still made similar comments about violence and Homestar's poor grammar that the actual Marzipan would have, providing Homestar with the presumably cathartic opportunity to say "Shut up, Marzipan." Even then, Homestar's relationship with the "Cardboard Marzi" appeared to be tenuous, as he voiced her flirting with other men (and The Cheat). (This could be due to lasting paranoia and suspicion following a series of answering machine messages in which both Bubs and Coach Z tried to ask her out.) Cardboard Marzipan returned in August, 2006, where she was slightly more positive with Homestar, and said she was proud of his unusually constructed deck.

Variations

Halloween Costumes

Quotes of the Week

Homestar Runner's Quotes of the Week

See Also

External Links

Main Characters

Homestar Runner | Strong Bad | The Cheat | Strong Mad | Strong Sad | Pom Pom | Marzipan | Coach Z | Bubs | The King of Town | The Poopsmith | Homsar

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