Halloween Teasers
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Teasers for an upcoming Halloween toon have been released semiannually, initially from 2007–2009 and continuing every year since 2014 in some form. These teasers not only announce that a full-length Halloween toon will be put on the site later, but provide a silhouetted preview of the characters' costumes.
The brief teasers typically include a displayed line of humorous text, as well as brief dialogue from characters. A noticeable running gag is that Strong Bad is always wearing a recognizable and unbelievably realistic costume which is never the same as what he wears in the full toon. Most teasers include words hidden behind the silhouettes, only visible by decompiling the Flash file. 2020, 2021, and 2024 integrated the silhouetted previews into the Halloween main event rather than as an early sneak peek.
The first three teasers link back to the Halloween-themed Main Page 7; by 2014, it had become standard to not use "back" links.
[edit] Teasers
| Teaser | Days Until Release | Image | Strong Bad | Hidden Words | After Waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jibblies 2 Teaser | October 25–29 (4 days) | 
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| Coach Z does his cricket and owl sound effects from Happy Hallow-day. |
| Most in the Graveyard Teaser | October 27–30 (3 days) | 
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| The Jibblies Painting appears and scares off the letter W in "Week". |
| Doomy Tales of the Macabre Teaser | October 26–29 (3 days) | 
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| Homestar Runner accuses the rest of the characters of stealing his "covered all in black ink costume". |
| Halloween Safety | October 20–30 (10 days) | 
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| Homestar tells himself that he really likes his "that one guy from Mad mazagine" costume (when he was really a Neighborhood Watch sign). |
| The House That Gave Sucky Tricks Teaser | October 21–29 (8 days) | 
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| Homestar sings a song about how he really likes everyone's costumes. |
| Later That Night... Teaser | October 26–28 (2 days) | 
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| Strong Bad says he wishes he'd followed through with his silhouette costumes. |
| Haunted Photo Booth Teaser | October 6–30 (25 days) | 
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| Character 2 walks by, while Strong Bad narrates in his soothing voice from Characters from Yonder Website. Character 2 asks for a costume and gets a "garland of thyme", then gets eaten by Strong Bad's costume. |
| Mr. Poofers Must Die Teaser | October 18–30 (12 days) | 
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| Humidibot talks to Strong Bad's robot costume. |
| The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods Teaser | October 22–30 (8 days) | 
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| After one second, a "splat" sounds and everything turns into the Storybook variations, albeit still silhouetted (with no Homsar). |
| 2022 Costume Pack Now Available Teaser | October 13–23 (10 days) | 
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| The teaser is rendered in a style reminiscent of Homestarloween Party. Strong Bad comments on the old visuals and sound effects, and Homestar responds in his old voice. |
| @StrongBadActual tweet (23 Oct 2023) | October 23–29 (6 days) | 
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| N/A | N/A (The teaser is a JPEG posted to Twitter) |
[edit] Not Quite Teasers
Occasionally, the teaser format — silhouetted figure(s) in costume on a hill silhouetted against a purple night sky, with audibly chirping crickets — has been utilized in the final Halloween production rather than a standalone preview. These may lack one or more signature elements of standard Halloween teasers, but still make use of the recognizable composition.
| Teaser | Image | Strong Bad | Hidden Words | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halloween Hijinks October 28, 2020 | 
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| This toon was titled "Ween 2020 Silhouettes" on the TV Time Toons Menu and its Main Page message said "ween toon soon", giving the intentionally misleading impression that it was simply a teaser.
The toon begins in silence, as most teasers do; after a few moments, the characters begin to debate if the text is true and the cartoon will only feature their motionless silhouettes. The faux teaser soon transitions to a full Halloween toon. |
| Halloween Hide & Seek October 29, 2021 | 
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| N/A | The "teaser" is actually the title screen of the game, which can be clicked to start playing. The 2.0 version of the game includes an interactive element where Homestar guesses the silhouetted costumes. |
| A Prickly Scary Short October 30, 2024 | 
| N/A | The main short does not feature costume-wearing. After an intermediary end card, a scene similar to the teasers appears, only featuring Homestar (Strong Bad explains that "nobody else wanted to dress up" because the costume they picked for Homestar was too good) without the text typical of teasers. | |
