Talk:Marzipan's Answering Machine

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Current revision as of 19:57, 10 April 2016

Marzipan's Answering Machine is a featured article, which means it showcases an important part of the Homestar Runner body of work and/or highlights the fine work of this wiki. We also might just think it's cool. If you see a way this page can be updated or improved without compromising previous work, feel free to contribute.

[edit] Should there be External Links?

Okay, I just realized, we don't have external links on the Strong Bad Email page, so why do we have links on this one? Should we get rid of them here, or add them to the SBEmail page? I'm thinking they might be kindof nice over there. It'd be one less click to get to your favorite email, but they would add clutter. My vote is we remove external links from this page. — Joey (talk·edits) 08:51, 4 Aug 2004 (MST)

I like making people go to the individual page. You know, force them to look at our work. I think the only reason the Marzipan's Answering Machine page had them was because of the different format that we used for them in 'Tavi. We only had a transcipt for each episode, so the link could be on the main page. With the newer format, that really isn't necessary. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I agree, we should remove the external link from this page. -- Tom 09:52, 4 Aug 2004 (MST)

[edit] Cameos?

I was just thinking about the Kevin Scott message, and it occured to me that since Homestar Runner is starting to get a larger following, with appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ect., I wonder if they'll ever put more cameos on the Answering Machine, from better known celebrities. They certainly could pretty easily, it would increase the appeal of the answering machine, and would be a cool addition. I dunno, I was just pondering, and that came to me. I just figured I'd say it somewhere. That's all. [[User:Thunderbird L17|⇔Thunderbird⇔]] 12:56, 30 Dec 2004 (MST)

Good idea, but i just don't thnk it will work, because you may hate the celebreties that make an appreanace. Sbmaniac 10:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Separate Screenshots?

Are screenshots needed for every answering machine? I can see why Version 7.0-Version 10.2 needs one- they all have extra animation. But the others really have no reason for a screenshot, do they? →FireBird

I was the one who made those screenshots and put them there, so personally, I like them of course. I think it's nice for every page to have some sort of picture at the top. If having too many near-identical pictures is a problem, then perhaps the versions without extra animation could just have the same picture from the Answering Machine/PhoneTime pages. Aurora the Homestar Coder 16:54, 3 Apr 2005 (MDT)

I do agree that every page looks better with a screenshot, but I think it's a tad unneccisary. One single image for each page, like you said, would be better, in my opinion. →FireBird

I think it's okay for each page to have a separate image. -- Tom 17:25, 3 Apr 2005 (MDT)

In response to FireBird: I don't see what the difference is between having a different screenshot for each Machine and putting the same image on each Machine, really. The only reasons that I could think of where you would prefer the same image on each Machine are 1) if you didn't feel like making separate images for each one (not an issue, since they're already made) and 2) if there isn't enough disk space / bandwith for all those images (maybe an issue, but the extra images are a drop in the bucket compared to the Wiki as a whole). Aurora the Homestar Coder 18:05, 3 Apr 2005 (MDT)

[edit] Version X.2

I don't like the .2 tags to the most recent answering machines. I see why they're there, but if we have those, we might as well make the others X.0. I think we should take them away. -- Joshua 18:33, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Um... hello? I need a response or else I'm just gonna change it. -- Joshua 14:50, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Well, I see that you changed it, and found that it shouldn't have been changed though the speedy reverts. Generally, waiting less than a day or two for a response might not be ideal. Asking on a few people's talk pages is usually the best way to get attention if something is so pressing that you can't wait another twenty-four hours. Of course, being bold is a good way to get attention too. Either way, you got it. Good work! -- Tom 02:29, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Yep, I sure got a quick response. :P Although I'd still like to know exactly why this way is better. -- Joshua 02:52, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

We like to keep things exactly like they are on homestarrunner.com. Like, we're crazy about it. No joke. -- Tom 14:03, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Then why don't we change all the others to X.0, just like they are on homestarrunner.com? -- Joshua 14:12, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Good point. That makes sense. What do others think? Are you up to changing all of the links? -- Tom 14:14, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Since the .2's obviously aren't going to go anywhere, I say this is better then how it currently is. Go for it. (If this idea is accepted, I'll help when I have enough free time, i.e. weekends) -- Joshua 14:16, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm ... I just found this thread, right after adding .0's all over the place (with help from It's dot com and KieferSkunk; good work, guys). So, uh, consider it done. — Bill 20:00, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Template:

Shouldn't you guys have a template Marzipan's Answering Machine? It would go great like every other section of Homestarrunner. ^Gordon—584^ my talk

There's currently some voting going on in Da Basement over how many, and which, templates are beneficial. You'll be happy to hear Marzipan's Answering Machine seems to have come out well, 11-1 for. —AbdiViklas 00:57, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 14-Segment Displays

It may (I dunno) be worth pointing out that they seem to be using a segmented-display-ish font that has little to do with how segmented displays actually work. In particular, the diagonal segments overlap (which is impossible), and the 1 has a little serif at the top. 24.7.130.199 22:06, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 1 vs. 1.0

I'm going to be correcting the version numbers on all of these pages. I'll leave the redirects in place, and I will try to track down as many linking pages as possible and point them to the new versions to reduce the redirect burden. — Bill 19:09, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Answering Machine Segments

I deleted the KOT DVD reference, as I could not find an answering machine anywhere in either version of the toon.

Also, I'm not sure the garage sale reference belongs on this page. The cameo is simply an appearance of the device, not a normal answering machine gag and definitely not just like this feature.

— Bill 21:41, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

The KOT Answering Machine exists. It comes after watching the commentary. --DorianGray

Ooops, right. Joshua pointed that out, too. New question: Does this belong on a page entitled Marzipan's Answering Machine? Seems like, technically, either (a) we need a The King of Town's Answering Machine page, or (b) we need to genericize the current page. At a minimum, I think it would be appropriate to retitle this section "Other Answering Machine Segments", which I've just done. — Bill 21:58, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

I think what you've just done is fine, seeing as how the KOT is the only exception. Username-talk 22:02, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Compare it to Strong Bad Email#Not Quite Strong Bad Emails. Also, "garage sale" isn't just a cameo of the machine, it features an answering machine intro message. - Joshua 22:29, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] listening to these for the first time

I'm listening to the answering machine ... with Weird Al Yankovic's song "Phony Calls". --_{NERD42  email  talk   h²g²  pedia  uncyc}  21:20, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of times people have called her

I think this page needs a list of times each person in the H*R universe have called her, ranking from the highest to the lowest. Does anyone like my idea? 65.6.40.225 00:42, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm... Might not be a bad idea. I could take that on, methinks. Though a question I have is: Where should this list go? My top ideas are either this page or on a new page specifically for that purpose. Anyone wanna discuss? —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 00:50, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I rather like that idea. It'd be an interesting table. There should also be a column that shows what Answering Machines they left calls in. Something like:

Homsar || 2 || 5, 7

Something like that, I imagine...? (Please imagine there's a table, too.) --DorianGray

I was thinking:

Strong Bad (45 times total)

• Version 3.0 Message 2 (as Something Dan)
• Version 4.0 Message 4
• ...

—  KieferSkunk (talk) — 00:56, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Ooh. I like that even more. --DorianGray

Alrighty, I call it. I'll get started right away! —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 01:00, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

All done! Whatcha think? —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 01:54, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Wow. I like it. =) It looks neat... And long. --DorianGray

[edit] Beeping

When does the Answering Machine stop beeping after each message? I'm watching version 4.0, and after each message it just goes silent, but I remember that later Homestar says "Now let me hear that beep!" and it beeps after the message. Should this be a trivia or a remark? --Abelhawk 02:59, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

After doing a bit of research, I discovered that versions 1.0 — 4.0 have the beep at the beginning of the message, but the others have the beep at the end. I think this could be noted in the Fun Facts for Version 5.0. — Has Matt? (talk) 03:07, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of callers = Separate page?

The list of callers is quite long. Could we give that list a separate page or could they be organised in some way? --Dinoshaur 18:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Seprete Page, Seprate Page Meaty85203 00:18, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Answering Machine Greetings

Could we make an article listing all the greetings Marzipan's answering machines played? Including greetings from other-type toons? Bad Bad Guy 16:15, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it should definitely be listed all in one place. Unsure whether it needs its own page or whether it should just be listed on this article. — It's dot com 01:28, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I wrote a subpage a while ago that shows how the list would look if it was its own article. Bad Bad Guy 02:11, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I think that listing is long enough (and it's only going to get longer, folks) that it merits a separate page. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  13:26, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

Definitely. Go ahead and make it a page. -Brightstar Shiner 13:30, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I actually think that we don't need the page. There are only 15, and the list won't get too much longer. We have an article for all sbemail intros because there are so many of them. Plus, a bunch of sbemail intros were put together into an exclusive DVD toon twice. MAM intros have never been mentioned by The Brothers Chaps. Homestar-Winner (talk) 13:49, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

Um, the list already exceeded 15 because it includes quotes from other types of toons as well. Bad Bad Guy 03:27, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Just because it's a short list doesn't mean we don't need it. 15 is actually a respectable amount of items for a list on this wiki. -Brightstar Shiner 13:58, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

1) TBC making a compendium of email intros is not why we have an article. 2) 15 is the current number, we expect that to grow. 3) It's, in my opinion, enough already to make the main MAM page too cumbersome and should be a separate page. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  14:07, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm undecided. If I really cared enough to want to know what all of Marzipan's answering machine intros are, it would be annoying to go page by page to be able to read them all. The thing is.. I really don't care enough to want to know what they all are. ... Undecided and indifferent, so why am I even posting this? =] OptimisticFool 19:38, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New Page

I was thinking of a great page: Marzipan's Answering Machine Characters. Like Unseen Characters, this will feature all the non-Aliases. Like Questionable surgeon, and Łukasz. What do you think? Sam the Man 20:56, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't see the need, as they're already listed on the Unseen Characters page. What more can be said about them? --DorianGray 21:02, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] thnikam'n

should the thnikaman be under bubs or other callers? Dr. Savage 21:41, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The calls at the end of 17.

I think the calls at the end of the 17th Marzipan's Answering Machine should count for Strong Mad and The Cheat, as the list states the callers for that version. It doesn't say anything about whether they left a full message or not. It could be implied that they did, however, but it just got cut off by another message. -- 50.149.242.19

I consider everything after the 40th message to be a mix between the messages 41+ and an ending part to wrap up the toon and extenuate that Marzipan got a lot of calls in that 7 years. The calls by Strong Mad and The Cheat were there yes, but they didn't constitute a full message besides saying "Hey Marzipan" or "{cheat noises}". The lack of an actual message besides a greeting and the fact it's in a semi-montage to wrap up the toon don't really classify them as actual messages in my book. There was no dialogue besides a greeting and the lack of the rest of the message leading nowhere makes it more part of the montage-type ending and lesser so a message during the main body of the toon.

But that's just my opinion, and I seem to enjoy having the wrong ones. - Catjaz63 03:22, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

I guess we don't need them there, but they were technically messages, though that wasn't the purpose of the category, which was the list of callers. Whatever purpose to the writing they had, ending the toon or proving that Marzipan got a lot of messages over the years, they were still messages. -- 50.149.242.19

I have to agree with anonny here. Full messages or not, they were still messages, showing that Strong Mad and The Cheat did call Marzipan while she was away. I notice we've included Strong Mad, The Cheat, and the rest of the main characters in the "Miscellaneous" section— Number A, why can't we at least move those to their proper sections, and Number B, if we're including those calls at all, doesn't it make sense to reflect that in the above table? Lira (talk) 15:12, 3 April 2016 (UTC) PS: Sorry about that weird edit summary; I have a habit of being Press-Enter-Too-Soon-Man.

Seems to me that the qualifier for whether someone belongs on the list of callers is "did they call Marzipan or not?" In this case, the answer is clearly "yes". — Defender1031*Talk 16:07, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Thank you. Good, concise point. Should we edit the page now, or wait for more consensus? Lira (talk) 16:13, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

I think those messages count. ...So now the consensus is 4 - 1. I think we can edit the page now. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 18:16, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Should we edit the page? Haldo? Anyone? The Cheat? Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 19:57, 10 April 2016 (UTC)