Talk:The Cheat

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 01:25, 16 June 2007 by Thewi2kbug (Talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
Ding! The Cheat 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.

Contents

Rewriting

This could use a little rewriting. Too conversational, and needs a mention that The Cheat's Flash animations are TBC's way of making fun of their earlier style. Should I take a crack at it? spblat 11:40, 26 Oct 2004 (MST)

The Cheat Smokes

Why was this taken off? -Your Fuzzy God

I suppose because it's not very interesting, and it only occurs in one toon and one game. If we listed every single odd thing that The Cheat happened to do twice on his character page, it would be a mess. Noting it on the pages for those toons is enough. — InterruptorJones[[]]

I think his smoking is notable for his character page. 3 mentions now -- Dr Haggis - Talk 00:40, 3 Dec 2004 (MST)

In montage you actually see him smoke. 4 mentions. -Doreauxgard507

In "Where's the Cheat" you see that he was cheating on his New Year's resolution. A pack of Cigarettes were in there.But ya can't blame him, ya know...Cause he's the Cheat.--Gir007 20:35, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe there's also a page about this. Bluebry 20:37, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Screenshot

What's wrong with the screenshot on ths page? The link seems valid, but the picture's not showing up... --Upsilon

this isn't the kind of thing you put on the talk. --- User:The Coachsmith

Actually, it's exactly the kind of thing you put on talk, i.e. talk that directly relates to the upkeep of the wiki. Note, however, that Upsilon wrote that 4 days short of a full year ago (and hasn't been here since July). —AbdiViklas 02:47, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
I'd imagine Upsilon was having a cache problem, but there's no way to know for sure at this point. All I know is that was right around the time we were uploading all our hotlinked images and thumbnailing them. User:spblat, who was working on the uploading project, made the edit to change the hotlinked image to a thumbnail shortly before User:Upsilon added his note here, so I'm guessing that was to blame. -- Tom 03:07, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

BIG DESTROY THING

Right... I think I'm going to do a big, fat re-write of this thing. There are alot of bugs, mistakes, and general badness. Sorry, whoever wrote this, but the article is pretty shoddy. I mean, there's some good stuff, but most of it is not really... You know. Properly put together.

Unfortunately, the article wasn't originally written that well, so people tweaked it to make it better, but there's only so much you can tweak before the thing just needs a re-write.

Hidden video cameras? Pah.

"The Cheat has hooked his computer to a hidden video camera in the Computer Room, as seen in huttah!"

That's not how I interpreted that scene. Judging by Strong Bad's reaction, The Cheat was simply watching the email online just like the rest of us (of course, being a fictional character in the same world as Strong Bad he gets to watch it in real time).

I completely agree and I've changed the article to reflect this. Thanks. -- Tom 11:06, 10 Dec 2004 (MST)

Another thing to note: The Cheat's handle.. 'cheatachu'

  • If The Cheat was watching the email, he would have seen himself on screen, watching himself watch an email of himself watching the email. Get it? SaltyTalk! 02:14, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

You're thinking waaaaaaaaay to hard. How can SB type with boxing gloves? How can Homestar pick things up? It's the same thing.

And how can Marzipan pick things up?--Gir007 20:36, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Look. In the hr universe, strong bad has his own webcam show, and the cheat was watching it. Lopolo42

Drum Solo

Based on Cool Things should we add that The Cheat plays the drums?

Check out the current first sentence of the third paragraph. It's already there. -- Tom 05:48, 17 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Birthyear 1983?

In the email autobiography and on one of the patches, it has the same The Cheat logo stating "since 1983." That could easily mean that The Cheat was born somewheres in 1983. But since it's not concrete evidence or anything I'd suggest putting something like "The Cheat's birthday was presumably in 1983," or something to that effect. 64.230.22.54 01:53, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

He was making fun of PBS. just that. Rogue Leader / (my talk) 01:54, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

I really wouldn't dismiss it just like that. nicko9y

The Cheat Speak?

Are we trying to interpret cheat speak or not? I've seen some articles that to and some that don't. I think a decision has been made, but I don't remember it. --NFITC1

See HRWiki talk:Standards#Standardize "The Cheat Noises". -- Tom 08:50, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Firefox Rendering Error

Whoops!

Anyone know what might be causing this? Firefox renders the [edit] link for The Cheat's Biography section on top of the text for that section, whereas the edit link renders correctly for all other sections. This link also renders correctly in IE. — Image:kskunk_fstandby.gif KieferSkunk (talk) — 03:48, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

I can't tell you in technical terms what's causing it, but it appears to have to do with the way text breaks around pictures. I can also tell you that this is just one example of a phenomenon that happens on scores of pages (of course now that I try I can't come up with any). —AbdiViklas 03:57, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
Is this just something we gotta live with, then? — Image:kskunk_fstandby.gif KieferSkunk (talk) — 04:30, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
Clever use of {{clear}} is what is needed here --phlip TC 05:14, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
Sadly, it has to do with the way IE and Firefox interpret the same code -- there are things they treat differently, giving all of this weird behavior :( --Stux 05:28, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

What is the Cheat?

Is The Cheat a pet owned by The Brothers Strong or is he some kind of yellow midget (sorry, lil person) who hangs around them? Or is this so wildly inconsistent that it'll never be agreed upon? Just trying to clarify this. BEGIN DISCUSSION! ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 04:17, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

I think most of his relations to Strong Bad are explained in lackey. Yes, sure he hangs around with Strong Bad, but when the time comes he does his biddings. Elcool (talk)(contribs) 05:05, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
{Edit conflict} I think that's answered pretty well by taking lackey, privileges, and bedtime story into simultaneous consideration. Go ahead. —AbdiViklas 05:05, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Also remember that The Cheat does not officially live with The Brothers Strong; he lives in The King of Town's grill for some reason. --Jay v.2024 (Auld lang syne) 05:25, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Weren't you guys paying attention to Strong Mad and Homestar in do over? The Cheat is cow! Heimstern Läufer 05:49, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Ok, I understand his living situation. What I meant was what is he in the physical sense; Yellow dog (as in army) or furry little man (as in cheat talk)? ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 16:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
He's a The Cheat. Not much more you can say about it. small_logo.pngUsername-talk 16:33, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Look, analyzing The Cheat didn't work for Strong Bad, and it's not gonna work for you either! ;) — Image:kskunk_fstandby.gif KieferSkunk (talk) — 20:08, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Mayhaps you have a point KieferSkunk. Later on, forthwith, trimpantly/abundantly TBC will provide us with more backstory over which to ponder, hopefully. ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 20:19, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
PS. Sorry Strong Bad finally nabbed you in email #139.

Hehe, that's okay. I gave him $7.50, and he gave me privelages. ;) — Image:kskunk_fstandby.gif KieferSkunk (talk) — 20:25, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
PS: You did get what I was referencing above, right?
You were referring to this email, right? OR did you mean privileges? This post or last post? I got them both anyway. I think. ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 20:41, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Actually, I was referring to this one, and to the message in Peasant's Quest when you try to make friends with the Kerrek. ;) — Image:kskunk_fstandby.gif KieferSkunk (talk) — 21:48, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Oh oh oh...I thought this weeks e-mail was called Teddy Graham Memories. I thought you were talking about the physical drawing of The Cheat being a mystery in "big white face". But now I see the refernce to the Kerrek and for kids. Very amusing! ha ha ha. ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 17:31, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

The Cheat is Strong Bad's "very own a-The Cheat!" (flashback) SaltyTalk! 02:12, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

I think of him as Strong Bad's teenage son kinda. — talk Bubsty edits 03:53, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
If that's true, who's The Cheat's mother? Marzipan? One of Pom-Pom's Girls? Katie 80? Bubs? I've always kind of viewed The Cheat as an intelligent pet, abliet one who screws up capers a lot. ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 01:55, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
I was thinking more of "unnoficial father." Just like a guy who is close enough to him that he's his son, but not legally his father. Kinda like... the cheats adopted. — talk Bubsty edits 01:59, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
Adopt a Cheat! Take one home today! Great Jenga player, enjoys sudsuu (you'll have to ask it for the recipie), makes great plans. Warning: Often screws up great plans, stinks when wet, may steal underwear, DO NOT ask it to rig fireworks. Comes with free Van Buren Bust. Available for two easy payments of $19.95 and one difficult payment of $14.95. Call 1-800-555-CHEKT and order yours today!!!
We're kind of straying from my original question anyway, but that struck me as kind of funny. ---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 02:16, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
  • Sleepy Time The Cheat comes with everyting you see here. The Cheat sold separately. - Has Matt? (talk) 03:16, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
I want one!!

Anyway, I see him like this: if your dog was intelligent and you understood gis barks and he understood your speech, and was loyal, and yellow and spotted and...... un-dog-shaped, you'd have a The Cheat. SaltyTalk! 05:57, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm inclined to agree with both Salty and Has Matt. The Cheat is some kind of super intelligent, accident prone pet and I want one too!
---Jeff J. W.(Talk·Contribs)hr.png 05:39, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
A pet whose head occasionally explodes. :) — Image:kskunk_fstandby.gif KieferSkunk (talk) — 15:39, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
And that lives in a different house. — talk Bubsty edits 03:20, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

A cat, not a dog

Has anyone ever noticed that the Cheat sort of looks like a cheetah?

Just the spots. I've always thought of him more of a flat headed Pikachu. Thunderbird 06:24, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I know. He's yellow with spots. His body couldn't be less like a cheetah. But still, I think there might have been some connection in the early days. But unless it's been mentioned before by a toon or a Chap, there's nothing for the article. So, I guess I'll go watch replacement yet again.

He was once The Sneak.Back then he was a freakin' mole-lookin' thing chasing around Marzipan. It's in "Ballad of the Sneak".--Gir007 20:38, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree he is some what like a cheatah (barely)--The-double-deuce 00:41, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

No way man. The Cheat looks more like pikachu COMBINED with a cheatah.--Daniel 16:30, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Are you sure he's not a cow?

Maybe it's just me, but is the fact that he's furry, yellow, has spots and name sounds like 'cheetah' a bit suspicious? o_O Enigma 13:04, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

blinking

did anyone else notice that the cheat wil blink twice the first, then blink once?-- Benol, aka Coach B 13:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Some dings dis articles says no makeses di senses!

The Cheat (whose name is "The Cheat", with an integral article).

Uh, should there be something after that? We should've kept the part that says he's "quite one of a kind." That isn't fanwanks, dis be! It'd be worth it to keep something redundant on the page. Better redundant than retarded. (Sorry, I'm in a weird mood.) Darth Katana X (discussionitem_icon.gif user.gif mail_icon.gif)

Yeah, something needs to change there: it's a sentence fragment as it is. But I don't think putting back that thing about "the only one of his kind" is the right solution. Lemme see if I can think of something else (possibly just combining a couple sentences). Heimstern Läufer 02:53, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
Mmm.... stir fry veggie-- what? Oh, yeah, that's pretty much an incomplete sentence. "The Cheat (something about integral article) ___________" and fill the blank with something about The Cheat. I'ma go eat some stir fry.. SaltyTalk! 02:53, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
Was he ever referred to as "one of a kind" in an old characters page...? It sounds vaguely familiar. --DorianGray
In flashback Strong Bad says, my very own The Cheat, infrencing that there are more or that he has heard of the cheat race before. I R F 03:07, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Fluffy Image

Should there be an image of The Cheat fluffed-out from the drier on this page? It doesn't necessarily contribute anything, but it is gosh-darned cute. — Bassbone (TALK Strong Mad Has a Posse CONT) 09:17, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

True, but we already have useless pictures on other pages, andi do not want all of the pages to be spammed with useless pictures that have at least 1 thing that is related to it (even though he is cute that way). --Sbmaniac--

Pouch type Cheat

Anyone besides me think The Cheat has a pouch? It would be cool! I mean, like if SB was out of Cold Ones and the cheat stole them from Bubs, he could put them in his pouch, and tell bubs he hasn't seen anything, while it's hiding in his pouch! - Alex H.

No, I doubt The Chort Cheat has a pouch. Is there any toon that might support this fact, though? (It would be pretty awesome) Bluebry 23:56, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

My freind said that a toon that was taken from the sight might have proved it. Since the only removed toon with The Chekt Ceat Cheat in it was A Jumping Jack Contest, we can see if that's true. -Alex H.

Best Character??

I've read a lot of userpages that say The Cheat is the user's favorite character. (Mine is one of them...) Is it just me, or could The Cheat be the site's most popular character? SamSF%20sig.jpgFisher (Come in, Lambert.) 19:02, 7 September 2006

Edit Conflict! Argh! SB is the most popular character, SamFisher. You know better. -Brightstar Shiner 23:06, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
I do, actually. SBEmails are definitely the most popular feature on the site. (I was really expecting you to reply like that, I saw your userpage too.) But SB is seldom mentioned on the userpages I've read, and I've read a lot. SamSF%20sig.jpgFisher (Come in, Lambert.) 19:15, 7 September 2006
Yeah, alright. Maybe it's possible that The Cheat is just more popular around here? -Brightstar Shiner 23:27, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
You're probably right. We might like The Cheat, but that doesn't mean SB is nothing. The site would probably be pretty boring without his emails. That'd be a freakin' nightmare. SamSF%20sig.jpgFisher (Come in, Lambert.) 19:44 7 September 2006


The Cheat Baxter-Birney

Surely this was just a throw away joke about a sitcom/soap actor called Meredith Baxter-Birney, not an indication of his surname? --Gerkuman 17:45, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Definitely. --DorianGray
If that's true, should we leave it in the article? --Gerkuman 18:01, 7 October 2006 (UTC)
Definitely not. --DorianGray
OK, This has been driving me crazy ever since it was added. . .I'm removing it --Ilko Skevüld's Teh C 00:01, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Of Pokémon design?

According to Wikipedia's Pikachu article, "The character The Cheat from Homestar Runner is also sometimes considered to be a Pikachu parody, although he was created before Pokémon was imported to America. The Brothers Chaps modified his design to give him more resemblance to a Pikachu after the Pokémon anime made its debut". It is followed by a small "citation needed" notice. I travelled long and hard until I arrived at the HRWiki, knowing that they would provide the necessary citation. After searching both the The Cheat and The Cheat Evolution articles, I could find nothing of the sort. Is there anything here that can prove this fact? --Ppk01 17:18, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't think there's any proof to be find that they modified him simply to look more like a Pokémon. However, we do know that he's been compared to Pikachu a lot on the website. - Joshua 17:36, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Cheat talking or humming?

the only time I've seen it open

Has anyone ever actualy seen The Cheat talk with his mouth open? I think that he hums regularly and talks with his mouth open for powered by the cheat. Any comments on this subject. - Austio talk 05:48, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Face

What's with the cheat's eyes? They seem to be on different sides of his facebone.

They're not unlike Homestar's. Or Mickey Mouse's ears. =3 --DorianGray

Flash Effect?

The Cheat is always using an effect that makes something turn into something else. (like the skull in Summer Short Shorts) How do you do this?

It's shape tweening. It makes a cartoon look shoddy if it's done the way The Cheat does it. Shwoo 07:02, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
Yep, they're shape tweens. They can look ok if you take the time to tweak them, but in their default state between two random shapes, they tend to end up looking like the garbled mess you see in the PBtC cartoons. --phlip TC 07:12, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Cheatware

He also has some knowledge of coding, as he wrote a program for Strong Bad to help him get past the office's firewalls.

I removed this sentence from the Biography, because I don't think there is any evidence that the Cheat actually authored the program. Rather, that he simply redistributed it on a floppy disk to Strongbad. The program appears to be the work of Edgar. BryanCTC 01:52, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

"Cheat, The...Or The, Cheat?"

I'm wondering if "The" is actually a surname, while "Cheat" may be his given name. The surname followed by given name structure is common in many parts of the world, an example being the basketball player Yao Ming. "Yao" is the family name, and that is why it appears on the back of his jersey! The facts are that "The Cheat" is always captalized, no matter where it appears in a written sentence. Also, very rarely is he referred to as anything other than "The Cheat", even when the determiner "The" would be gramatically incorrect. He refers to himself as "The Cheat" in his character video, and most importantly, when Marzipan returns from her date with The Cheat in DATE NIGHT, Homestar asks her if her name is "The Marzipan" now.

Is there some way we can confirm this? Bowie60 16:57, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Interesting, but I think it's just that we always refer to him with the integral article (or whatever those things are called). Now, we know all about the first name surname dealie (see The Brothers Strong), but I doubt that "The" is a surname. Just a part of his name in general. Like, in Spanish, it's considered correct to write "El Señor Martinez" (The Mr. Martinez) when referring to someone in the thirs person, formally. And his name is, in reality, just Señor Martinez. Bluebry 17:19, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Yeah, the fact that "The Cheat" may just be his name crossed my mind, but it was more Homestar's comment about "The Marzipan" that made me start wondering. Of course, Homestar is an idiot, but why else would he choose that particular name to call her? Bowie60 05:31, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

It's possible that Homestar is just stupid, but "The" may be an honorific like Doc. or Mr. or Prof. However, in Flashback he is called "A" The Cheat, suggesting that all The Cheat are called this, so it may be a family surname, but who's family would have the same first name for everybody? Also, he's ALMOST never reffered to as just Cheat, so my theory of "the" being an honorific might be correct, since people are sometimes called by their last names. Kinda long but that's what I think-Runstar Homer 21:16, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Talking

I've heard The Cheat talk on two occasions, in conversation. The first time was in cheat talk where he said "Doug." The scond was in The Cheat Theme Song, where he asked SB "How was that?" Shouldn't this be noted?--Randomnerd10 17:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

No. As a rule, we don't put words into The Cheat's mouth. See the Manual of Style. – The Chort 17:44, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
Speaking about talking, i've noticed in the article that he speaks English in the Powered by The Cheat cartoons (for the background characters). I really believe it is the work of his Tangerine Dreams (iTandy) that does the english speaking, a possible The Cheat to English converter with sound changer. any theories? Wi2K Talk-Favorites-173 00:46, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
That's pure speculation. Since we have nothing to actually back this up, we wouldn't put it on the wiki. Loafing 00:49, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
Naturally, I meant this as a conversation piece Loafing and ***WILL NOT, and SHOULD NOT*** be put on The Cheat's article, just in Discussion. Wi2K Talk-Favorites-173 00:55, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
Okies. These talk pages are for discussing article content only, though. Conversation pieces like this one should go on the forum instead. Keep on tranglin' Loafing 00:58, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
Article content where my conversation piece is comming from. However, he does all the voices for his Flash cartoon, and can apparently talk in completely understandable English; why he never does so in conversation is a mystery. . Wi2K Talk-Favorites-173 01:10, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
Yes, yes, there's no dout that you said this in reaction to the article. However, "a possible The Cheat to English converter with sound changer" is wild speculation and is nowhere hinted at in any toon. That means it has really nothing to do with the article which correctly states that we don't know what's going on. Loafing 01:16, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
This "speculation" may have better conversation in the Fourms then... Wi2K Talk-Favorites-173 01:25, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
Personal tools