Strong Bad
Template:HSR Strong Bad is the primary villain in the fictional world of Homestar Runner. Nominally a Mexican wrestler, Strong Bad is usually shirtless and has boxing gloves for hands and a luchador's wrestling mask for a face.
Along with his big brother Strong Mad and his lackey animal-of-questionable-species The Cheat, Strong Bad represents the criminal element in the series, and many shorts concern the various practical jokes, scams, and underhanded schemes that they perpetrate against the other characters.
Creation
The Brothers Chaps have stated that Strong Bad was inspired by the "Strong Bads" in the Nintendo Entertainment System game Tag Team Wrestling. Oddly enough, Strong Bad has wrestled in only one cartoon.
Biography
Little has been revealed of Strong Bad's early life, although we know that he is the middle child of three brothers (Strong Mad, himself, and Strong Sad).
For whatever reason, Strong Bad turned to a life of crime. Although these "crimes" are usually of an only slightly malevolant nature, Strong Bad still acts as if he is a villainous mastermind. He also claims to be the supreme ruler of a land called "Strong Badia", which is a vacant lot Strong Bad rents from Bubs.
While Strong Bad makes a show of being tough and manly, he secretly enjoys baking, attends weekly swim practice with Strong Sad, and has been known to sing, draw, and paint. His singing often serves as a brief introduction to checking his e-mail. However, several of his songs have been extended to full length and published on the Strong Bad Sings CD.
Strong Bad is highly prone to exaggerating his alluring qualities, and claims to have dozens of girlfriends. Naturally, none of them have ever been seen. In response to one email, Strong Bad interviewed himself to find out the secret to his "pizzaz", but never got a straight answer out of himself.
A common misconception is that Strong Bad is wearing gloves and a mask; they are literally his hands and face. In the first Strong Bad Email he chastizes one "Abdi LaRue" for thinking otherwise. The question "How do you type with boxing gloves on?" has become the bane of his inbox.
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Strong Bad answering his email has become a weekly feature of the Homestar Runner site since he answered his first email in 2001. The email section is the most regularly updated portion of the Homestar Runner website.
Although initially brief, these responses have become more elaborate over time. Answering an email now often involves other characters and a trip to another part of town. Several emails have turned into small musical numbers, one having music by They Might Be Giants. A typical Strong Bad email will also include numerous easter eggs and other hidden material.
In answering his email, Strong Bad has "created" the character Homsar, the sub-cartoons Teen Girl Squad and Sweet Cuppin' Cakes, and numerous catchphrases and running gags. Arguably his most famous creation is "Trogdor the Burninator" the "wingaling" dragon with a beefy arm coming out of the back of its neck. Other creations have included the phrase "Your Head A Splode", which came from Strong Bad's description of a poorly-translated video game.
Strong Bad began answering his emails on a "Tandy 400", a fictional computer model with a similar name to the real Tandy 1000. This computer spontaneously self-destructed during the answering of the thirty-third email, "gimmicks". After a failed attempt to salvage the Tandy 400, it was consigned to the garbage can.
The Tandy 400's replacement was a "Compy 386", which represented a significant upgrade over the Tandy. To date, the bulk of Strong Bad's emails have been answered on the Compy. Several years of irresponsible internet use later, and the Compy was infected with 423,827 computer viruses. Email 118, "virus", ends in Bubs shooting the Compy 386 in order to save the rest of the homestarrunner.com web site.
The now "slightly shotgunned" Compy 386 has been replaced with a Lappy 486, made by Compy. This "laptop" weighs 42 lb, has a 2Mb hard drive, 512k of memory, and has a 5 minute battery life.
A constant in Strong Bad's hardware has been "The Paper". This green and white striped continuous feed paper drops down from the top of the screen when Strong Bad finishes answering his email and contains an email link which the viewer can use to send their own message to Strong Bad. The dot matrix printer that prints out The Paper has only been heard, and never seen. According to one e-mail, Strong Bad is scheduled to upgrade to an inkjet printer when he answers his 173rd email.
One hundred emails
On March 16, 2004, Strong Bad answered his hundredth email . This special widescreen cartoon, entitled "Flashback," revealed how Strong Bad and Homestar Runner first met and featured congratulations from a number of characters.
The first 100 Strong Bad e-mails were released on DVD on November 8, 2004. The strongbad_email.exe box set retained the various hidden features of the Macromedia Flash originals. Also included were three unreleased emails, two music videos, commentary tracks by the characters and their creators, and other features.
Alternate versions
1936: Sir Strong Bad
Sir Strong Bad is Strong Bad's 1936 doppelganger. He is more simply drawn, but features a full head of hair and a handlebar moustache. Sir Strong Bad's primary interest is foiling the plans of 1936's The Homestar Runner and answering his telegrams. Similar to his modern counterpart, Sir Strong Bad is frequently asked "How do you operate the tellegramaphone whilst wearing gentlemen's sport gloves?"
20X6: Stinkoman
This futuristic Strong Bad is known as Stinkoman. Stinkoman is Strong Bad drawn as a stereotypical anime character. His primary interest is training for challenges. In an April Fool's cartoon, Stinkoman faced off against a Xiao Xiao-style stickman from an animated "under construction" GIF.
The voice of Stinkoman sounds similar to that of Kaneda (Cam Clarke) from the anime film Akira when it was originally dubbed into English. In one cartoon, Stinkoman repeats one of Kaneda's lines from Akira: "Maybe when you're older."
His name originates with the Strong Bad e-mail cartoon "island," where Homestar inexplicably calls Strong Bad "Stinkoman."
Stinkoman has appeared in the "present": He left a "wrong number" message on Marzipan's answering machine, and he also appeared trick-or-treating as Speed Racer in a Halloween 2003 easter egg.
Videlectrix has also released a Stinkoman 20X6 game.
Sterrance
Sterrance was a one-off creation that resulted from a Strong Bad email asking what Strong Bad would be like as a made-up animal. After a series of "blob things" and one notable proboscus, he invented Sterrance.
Much to The Cheat's annoyance, Strong Bad considers Sterrance to be much cuter than The Cheat.
Sterrance has yet to make a second appearance.
Puppet Strong Bad
Strong Bad appeared in his first "Puppet Stuff" cartoon on March 14, 2005, in "Strong Bad vs. Little Girl." His puppet incarnation is held up by a stick, features a swiveling head and working mouth. The "little girl" is the neice of The Brothers Chaps and has appeared in "Puppet Stuff" cartoons with a Homestar Runner puppet.