Kick The Cheat
From Homestar Runner Wiki
- This article is about the discontinued talking doll. For the game, see Kick The Cheat (game). For the running gag, see Kicking The Cheat.
Kick The Cheat (also known as Kick The Cheat The Cheat) is a plush doll of The Cheat sold in the Flash and Yahoo Stores from 2004 to 2007. It is equipped with a voice box, alternating between four different The Cheat noises when struck or kicked.
Contents |
As Merchandise
- See also Store Toys#Kick The Cheat
Yahoo Store description:
This soft, huggable plush image of The Cheat is 10" high, 13" wide and 30" around. He's equipped with a voice box, so whenever he's kicked or struck, he screams four different exclamations in his native language of The Cheat.
The Cheat plushies were first mentioned as being "in the works" by Matt Chapman in a May 2003 interview; by October of 2003 Matt predicted they would be available for sale by February.
The plush toy was first made available for purchase on the Flash Store on February 16, 2004. Its initial price was $32, later raised to $39 (though sales would regularly reduce the price to as low as $24). It sold out sometime after January 2005, but was brought back to the Yahoo Store due to popular demand on September 12, 2005.
A promotional game was made around the time of its initial release to market. Accessible from the Flash Store rather than any games menu, the simple game featured Strong Bad using a large mechanical foot to kick one of the plush toys into a brick wall.
Main Page Messages referred to Kick The Cheat as "endangered" when less than 200 remained; they were dubbed "extinct" when the doll sold out in December 2007, with the store page remarking that all had "found warm, loving homes".
Although the toy remains discontinued, they have been offered as prizes on rare occasions. A 2009 store promotion offered "the last remaining Kick the Cheat" as a prize, anyone making a purchase from the store during the month of June was entered in the contest. In 2017, a chance to win "one of the last remaining Kick the Cheats" was offered as an incentive for donating to Worldbuilders.
The toy's voicebox had potential to fail, especially after years of use. The store offered a 30-day warranty for defective voiceboxes. In September 2020, a Kick The Cheat voicebox replacement surgery tutorial was posted on YouTube, with instructions to replace the doll's batteries. Strong Bad has also posted several times about having spare voiceboxes (occasionally referred to as "larynxes"), most prominently showing a bin's worth on Instagram.
In Toons
The antecedent of the Kick The Cheat doll was a handmade plush of The Cheat, first visible in the 2003 Pulse feature and officially shown in Everybody Knows It. As discussed in a 2003 interview, this was the prototype for the mass-produced dolls. This unique plush is typically used as Puppet The Cheat, with some exceptions: a Kick The Cheat doll was used as a puppet version of The Cheat in Puppet Time, and Mike Chapman shows one to Puppet Homestar Runner in Some Puppet Stuff.
In Dangeresque Puppet Squad: The Hot Jones Hijack, Kick The Cheat dolls are used for the puppet versions of Cheat Commandos Gunhaver, Reynold, Fightgar, and Crackotage, while the unique doll portrays The Cheat's alter-ego Firebert.
Appearances
- Debut: Kick The Cheat (game)
- Puppet Time
- Some Puppet Stuff
- @StrongBadActual Tweet (29 Nov 2017)
- Dangeresque Puppet Squad: The Hot Jones Hijack
- @strongbadactual Instagram post (21 Jul 2018)
- Kick The Cheat Voicebox Replacement Surgery
