Senor Cardgage
From Homestar Runner Wiki
| Senor Cardgage | |
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| Voiced by | Matt Chapman |
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| Debut | kind of cool |
| Complete Filmography | |
| Related Articles | |
| Character Relationships Other Costumes Nicknames | |
| 3D Depiction | |
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- This article is about the creepy mortgage broker and used car salesman. For the blue storybook character, see Señor. For the common misuse of the Spanish word "Señor", see Senor.
Senor Cardgage is a nonsense-mumbling, apparently middle-aged homeless man, first appearing as the answer to a fan's question regarding a hypothetical unhandsome Strong Bad. Since then, he has become the most consistently-seen resident of Free Country, USA beyond the main cast (despite his inscrutable creepiness, which Strong Sad fears and Strong Bad finds cool and mysterious).
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[edit] Characterization
Senor Cardgage's most distinct characteristic is his unclear manner of speaking, which largely consists of portmanteaus (such as "canceltation"), malapropisms (such as "lawn" instead of "loan"), and generally misused or mispronounced words spoken in a relaxed grumble. He tends to repurpose random words as greetings ("carrageenan", "potrzebie", "Alonzo Mourning"), usually addressing the recipient by a combination of names associated with elderly women ("Myrtlebeth", "Bontilda", "Elizagerth"). He seems oblivious to any confusion resulting from his phrasing and irrelevant tangents, making him seem out of touch with reality.
Strong Bad seems to look up to Senor Cardgage as sort of an idol or a father figure, constantly remarking on how cool he is. In Senorial Day, Strong Bad asks Senor to autograph his football and throw it to him. In alternate universe, he says that his life is complete after going on a fishing trip with Senor Cardgage, and expresses joy at the thought of Senor adopting him. When he sees Senor as an usher in the movies, he tells The Cheat that "someday [he's] going to be the one tearing tickets and telling folks that forty-twone will be on their lest." Strong Bad even cast him as his own character's father, Dadgeresque, in Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective (although Senor played the role unknowingly).
However, none of the other characters seem to like him. In particular, Strong Sad still harbors fear against Senor Cardgage as evidenced in garage sale. Strong Mad also runs away in terror when Senor Cardgage asks him to retrieve his spectacles. Coach Z is adamantly against the casting of Cardgage in Dangeresque 3, referring to him as "creepy with a capital cree", and claiming that he's "not too clear on the whole fantasy/reality thing" (although Coach Z also admits to having this problem). Homestar Runner seems annoyed with Senor Cardgage for standing too close to him in line while eating melty candy bars, speaking oddly, and smelling like pea soup. Even Strong Bad himself has felt unnerved in Cardgage's presence, admitting he's "quite scared" by Senor Cardgage walking in place in hremail 3184, and showing disgust at his "Family Might/Could" in too cool.
Over time, Senor Cardgage's strange creepiness has evolved to break the laws of physics, much like Homsar's. A minor example of this is in hremail 3184, where he walks in place accompanied by traffic sounds. A more extreme example of this is the email too cool, in which it is revealed that Senor Cardgage's character video was "filmed" using an air freshener. Somehow, a completely different character video showed up in Strong Bad's mailbox the next day, in an outdated video format called "Betaflop-D", complete with a spooky music sting. In this character video, Senor Cardgage introduces "The Family Might/Could", a crudely-drawn green face drawn on an unknown part of Senor Cardgage's vague skin folds. This video curses everyone who watches it with the "Cardgage curse"; whenever they say the word "tertiary", their mouth turns into human lips and they say the word in an echoey sing-song voice.
Senor Cardgage lost a month-long sales competition between himself and Homsar for the title of Non-Sequitur Champion, and had to complete a coherent sentence on The Show. He failed twice, but his third attempt ("Grape Soda Banked") was judged successful by "celebrity judge" Strong Sad.
In A Decemberween Mackerel, Senor Cardgage tells Marzipan that he's dying, and passes out in the snow. Strong Bad suggests the incident is just another of Senor's bizarre ramblings, but then states that "everybody knows" that the way to save Senor Cardgage is to tear a stack of Motor Sports Magazines in half, and pour gravy on a defibrillator. After this is done, Senor Cardgage rises up and proclaims that "it really is a Decemberween mackerel".
[edit] Employment and Finances
Senor Cardgage is often seen working different jobs, such as at his own mortgage business, at a used car dealership, at a day care, as a replacement Bubs, and as an usher. He has also tried to market a lawn mower as an "Intregway"; his own brand of shoes, Air Cardgage; and a book titled The Homeless Romantic: "verses from the weird shrub and alarming recipes for brunswick stew". As shown in a commercial in theme song, Senor Cardgage got fourteen degrees in the CGNU Online E-niversity during his "lunch take", including one that lets him "legally prescribe marriages in the state of Kansattica".
Despite his many jobs (including offering loans for buying "a home or something"), he is apparently unable to afford a home himself; in Senorial Day and candy product, he is shown in a sleeping bag in an alleyway, using his Aldi bag as a pillow. Traffic sounds are heard, which continue to accompany him in future appearances, regardless of whether there seems to be traffic nearby. In A Decemberween Mackerel, he accepts visitors into the weird shrub, complete with a doorbell. Strong Sad says that Senor Cardgage lived down the street when he and Strong Bad were little, suggesting he may have had a house at one point. Although it is implied that he is poor, he offers to buy Strong Sad a can of peas at Strong Bad's garage sale for $99, and then proceeds to walk away with it.
[edit] Noted Traits
Strong Bad describes the "ugly dumpy" version of himself (who would later come to be known as Senor Cardgage) as:
- Always carrying an old plastic Aldi grocery bag of mysterious contents.
- Loudly eating melty chocolate bars while standing too close to people in lines.
- Suspiciously coming out of bushes and shrubs just as someone walks by.
- Speaking in phrases that are "almost one word and not quite another", such as "excardon me".
- "Calling at you as if you were a lady", regardless of your gender.
In too cool, Strong Bad lists some more things Senor Cardgage does:
- Forgets to wipe honey mustard off his goatee.
- Plays as #34 on Team Kneepads, wearing dead animals instead of kneepads.
- Gets in the way of other people.
[edit] Character Design and Conception
From the DVD commentary for kind of cool:
MATT CHAPMAN: I think I just drew the drawing first, and it's where we kind of made this email from, was from this drawing. He was dragging around that piece of... that wooden block of cheese on a string.
Senor Cardgage first appeared in the Strong Bad Email kind of cool. In this email, Strong Bad is asked what he would be like if he was not stylish and buff. He describes an ugly, dumpy version of himself who is, at least to Strong Bad, "so cool, you don't even know [that he is] cool". It turns out that Strong Bad's fictional character was apparently based on a creepy guy who lived down the street from The Brothers Strong when they were little, whose extreme sketchiness gave Strong Sad nightmares.
Senor Cardgage resembles Strong Bad somewhat, both sharing a red with black markings lucha libre mask for a head, green eyes, pinkish torso, boxing gloves for hands and black pants. However, he's much taller than Strong Bad, wears yellow glasses, has a round head, a brown goatee, and a toupee resembling a comb-over. Senor Cardgage also has a flabby belly and much longer arms. His feet are simply black, suggesting they are covered by or are part of his pants.
In the DVD commentaries for kind of cool and Senor Mortgage, The Brothers Chaps describe Senor as coming together from a few inspirations: his personality comes from a coworker attributing one of Matt Chapman's voices (which would eventually be used for Coach Z) to a "depressing guy carrying around an Aldi bag", and his appearance and name were separately composed in sketchbook doodles. His Flash symbols refer to him as "Weird Bad".
[edit] Existence
Senor Cardgage is never explicitly named in his first appearance, which is contextualized as Strong Bad's imagined visualization of an alternate version of himself. At the end, Strong Sad seems to establish a distinction between "that creep Señor Cardgage that lived down the street from us when we were little" and Strong Bad's "creepy comb-over story". "Senor Cardgage" then appears silhouetted on a milk carton in an Easter egg, with humanoid proportions and visible ears.
In Senor Mortgage, the creepy comb-over Strong Bad is not only implied to be a real character, but also confirmed to be the "Senor Cardgage" that Strong Sad was referring to. The old menu description for this toon calls attention to this: "Wait. Is Senor Cardgage real?!". This is also acknowledged by Mike Chapman in the DVD commentary for Senor Cardgage's next major appearance, garage sale.
[edit] Fun Facts
- As of too cool, Senor Cardgage has the most appearances of any non-main character, except for some pseudocharacters and variations, with 35 appearances.
- His name is pronounced "Seh-nor", not "Seh-nyor", because his name is spelled with an "N" rather than an "Ñ" (although in "kind of cool", Strong Sad pronounces it "See-nyor").
- He is apparently ambidextrous.
- Strong Bad's username on Tabletop Simulator, which he has used to virtually play Trogdor!! The Board Game, is
cardgagefan73.
[edit] Quotes of the Week
| Senor Cardgage's Quotes of the Week |
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