Lack of Visible Arms

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 00:46, 6 April 2007

Homestar with "arms"

One of the ultimate mysteries in the Homestar Runner body of work is that Homestar Runner, Marzipan, The King of Town, Homsar, and many other characters all lack visible arms and hands. In spite of this, they have the ability to pick stuff up and carry it around. The most common explanations for the phenomenon are that they either have invisible arms or can manipulate objects with some kind of psychokinesis. Usually none of the other characters seem to pay attention to this curiosity, although sometimes their lack of arms is referenced.

References

• Armless Invaders — Homestar is the titular "armless invader".
• Email vacation — Strong Bad imagines, in a hypothetical email from Monkey D, "How does Homestar pick stuff up if he's not wearing any Marzi-pants?"
• Email action figure — Homestar's action figure box reads "No arms! Like real life!"
• The Interview — Strong Bad refers to Homestar as a "no-armed whitey".
• Email fingers — Homestar makes himself a pair of fake arms.
• Strong Bad is a Bad Guy — Strong Mad starts to say that Homestar doesn't have arms, but is cut off by the end of the cartoon.
• Stinkomanual — Level 5's intro reads, "1-Up takes matters into his own, um, torso!"
• No Hands On Deck! — Homestar's lack of hands, which comes with his lack of arms, is referred to in the title and in a newspaper headline within the toon.
• Sketchbook — Homestar is seen doing a push-up and the caption reads, "no handed-style!"

Oddities

Head Hands from virus

Sketch with arms

• In Search of the Yello Dello — Marzipan slaps Homestar across the face, leaving a visible handprint.
  • In the commentary, Strong Bad says that Marzipan has really nice hands and Homestar replies, "Yeah, I suppose she does."
• The Reddest Radish — Marzipan knocks on the door of Homestar's house with her head, despite the fact she could have used her invisible arms/telekinetic powers instead.
  • Likewise, in 3 Times Halloween Funjob, Homestar knocks on Marzipan's door with his head, although he's probably just being silly, or possibly because he's holding his bagful of candy with both 'hands'.
• Email halloweener — Homestar wears boxing gloves on his feet.
• Homestar vs. Little Girl 2 — When Puppet Homestar plays Tag with Little Girl, he touches her with his head.
• Email the bird — Strong Bad flips Homestar off, and after Homestar replies "Right back atcha," Strong Bad exclaims, "He just gave me the bird!"
• Email your friends — When Strong Bad asks Marzipan to hold out her hands, she just says she doesn't want to.
• Email the show and Main Page 19 — Homestar holds a microphone and sorts through a stack of index cards at the same time. This action could require more than two hands.
• Strong Bad Sings — One of Strong Bad's songs is titled "This One Time I Saw Homestar Punching a Kitten in the Throat".
• Email marzipan — Strong Bad remarks that "Marzipan can't keep her hands offa" him, although this could be just a figure of speech.
• Email time capsule — Homestar is able to manipulate the box, box lid, and wig all at the same time, as if he has multiple invisible arms.
• Secret Song (video) — Puppet Homestar plays the piano with both his invisible hands and the side of his head.
• Puppet Jam: Everybody Knows It — Puppet Homestar gives high fives to They Might Be Giants.
• Arcade Game, and emails credit card, 50 emails, and anything — Homestar can type on a keyboard.
  • Similarly, in the King of Town Email (reached via the King of Town Main Page), the King of Town is heard typing on the keyboard of the broken Tandy 400.
• Puppet Jam: Apple Juice Blues - Homestar says, "my arm really really hurts," though it is probably Matt Chapman speaking about his own arm.
• Biz Cas Fri 1 — When Homestar "helps" Strong Bad with his spreadsheet, Homestar types with his head, when he could type with his "hands" in 50 emails, anything, and Arcade Game.
• Email extra plug — Homestar is tied with an extension cord around his torso in a position normally used to secure someone's arms, which would be useless if he had none.
• Email virus — Homestar's head falls off his body, and then the head picks up the links in the navigation bar.
• Email highschool — Highschool-Homestar sings "Shaking hands with my man".
• Email senior prom — When the lights go out, Marzipan warns someone to "watch those hands". This is notable if she was speaking to her date, Homestar. On the other hand, when the lights come back on, she is standing quite a distance from Homestar and Strong Mad is the nearest one to her.
• Strongest Man in the World — Homestar is holding up a pile of grapes, but since he has no arms, they appear to be floating. Homestar also gives Pom Pom a high five.
• Missing Lappy — The King of Town refers to himself as "Furious Fingers."
• Email retirement — The Tandy 400 holds up a fishing pole.
• Ballad of the Sneak — The Homestar Runner is seen with crutches after the Sneak "dropped him from his flying machine" (which might be the see-saw The Strong Man jumps on to send The Sneak airborne, which was seen shortly before.).
• Email strong badathlon — Homestar, the champion of the Greco-Roman Homestar Crud-Out-of-Beating event, takes swings at himself. Visible air disturbances show where his extremities are traveling.
• Email your funeral — As Homestar enters Marzipan's house, we see him hang up a coat with sleeves.

Other Apparently Invisible Body Parts

Coach Z's Face

Various references are made to parts of Coach Z's face that are not visible to the viewer:

• The Best Decemberween Ever — Coach Z is seen drinking mouthwash.
• A Jorb Well Done — When Marzipan is trying to teach Coach Z how to say "job", she tells him to make his mouth into an "O". Coach Z also appears to somehow blow his whistle.
• The Luau — Coach Z, Bubs, and Pom Pom are seen eating marshmallows. (Pom Pom also does not appear to have a mouth, and Bubs's mouth appears to be a solid wall of teeth.)
• Email couch patch — Coach Z pukes in the couch rip.
• Scrolling Shooter Games Menu — 20X6 Coach Z appears to speak by wiggling his eyebrow.
• Happy Fireworks — Coach Z says he once shoved an M-80 up his nose.
• Fall Float Parade — Coach Z claims to have "fairly good teeth".
• Email narrator — Coach Z claims a napkin has his "snot balls" on it, and Bubs tells him he doesn't even have a nose.
• Sbemail 150?!? — Strong Sad mentions wanting to pour black coffee over Coach Z's head so it "continually streams down his mouthless face". (This later happens in an alternate universe Easter Egg.)
• Email trading cards — Coach Z spits from his mouthless face on one of his cards.
• Email cliffhangers — The Thnikkaman tells Coach Z "I'll render you toothless!"

Strong Bad's Nose

Sunscreen!

Similarly, references are occasionally made to Strong Bad's nose, even though he does not appear to have one.

• Email autobiography — In his autobiography tape, Strong Bad claims that "milk and cookies shot out my nose!"
• Email unused emails — Strong Bad makes a sniffing noise.
• Email big white face — Strong Bad acts like he's holding his nose when near The Poopsmith.
• Email alternate universe — Stinkoman calls Strong Bad "big nose", then refers to his nose.
• Email old comics — The Castlefunnies characters, including Strong Bad, are all drawn with large noses.
• Sick Day — Strong Bad asks The Paper if he could blow his nose on it.
• Email keep cool — Strong Bad has smeared sunscreen where his nose would appear.

Ears

None of the main characters appear to have ears, yet they still act as though they do.

• Email impression — In a tape recording, Strong Sad tells Strong Bad to stop flicking his ear.
• Email ghosts — Strong Bad has a pair of fake ears on the sides of his mask.
• Strong Bad wears cool shades and sunglasses in multiple emails, starting with stunt double (as Dangeresque). These shades are apparently held on his head by invisible ears.
  • Homestar and The Thnikkaman also wear sunglasses in several toons.
• Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 9.2 — On Message 1, Homestar re-listens to his old message from Marzipan under the tutelage of Pom Pom's keen ears.
• Email extra plug — The Cheat puts his hands to both sides of his head as though covering his ears when walking near Strong Bad's loud 'Lectric Boots. He also uses glowsticks to plug his ears.
• Email alternate universe — Tiny-Handed Strong Bad attempts to dig to China with his ear.
• Email keep cool — Strong Bad mentions that, after eating, you must have an ear candling before reentering the pool.
• Halloween Potion-Ma-Jig — Bubs covers the space where his ears would be when Homestar attempts to sing for a stirring utensil.
• Happy Hallow-day — Coach Z wears earrings as part of his costume, which seem to stick to the side of his face as opposed to piercing his skin.

Other

• Email the bird shows both Strong Bad and Pom Pom giving the bird, even though neither character has visible fingers.
• In Decemberween Short Shorts, Homestar wears a towel around his neck as though he has shoulders.

See also

• How Do You Type With Boxing Gloves On?

Characters With No Visible Arms

These characters have no visible arms, yet have been observed manipulating objects:

Homestar Runner	Marzipan	The King of Town	Homsar
The Homestar Runner	Old-Timey Marzipan	1-Up	The Wheelchair
The Goblin	The Knight	The Little Chef Guy	The Bishop
The Yodeling Man	Wagon Fulla Pancakes	Tandy 400	Marshie
Mr. Shmallow	Preshy and Rafferdy

Debatable Characters

These characters lack visible arms, but have never been seen to manipulate objects:

The Prince of Town	The Sad Kids	Champeen	Homeschool Winner
The Unguraits	Nibbles