Sightings

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Homestar is slowly taking over the world, as evidenced by some of these documented sightings.

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TELEVISION

NFL Films: Game of the Week ('05 NFC Divisional Championship St Louis Rams Vs. Atlanta Falcons)

About three-quarters through this hour-long recap of the game (a Falcons' victory), one of the defensive linemen for Atlanta - Patrick Kearny perhaps? - points to his family in the stands. One of them is holding up a sign that says "GOOD JORB!", an unmistakable reference to Coach Z.

The Screen Savers

On an episode of The Screen Savers on G4TechTV there was a guest on there that knows how to make Atari 2600 games and he is making a Homestar Runner RPG, which is still in development.

The January 24th episode of The Screen Savers had an interview with The Brothers Chaps. Also featured on this episode, puppet Strong Bad made his debut to answer questions from fans. The article also mentions that in order to learn more than one ever thought possible about Homestar Runner, one can head over to the Homestar Runner Wiki.

G4tv.com

On this episode of G4tv.com on G4, an unnamed person, playing the role of Laura Foy's date, was seen wearing a "Trogdor" shirt.

The videoclip, entitled Gamer Dating Do's And Don'ts is now available for viewing at this location.

The Geek Show

On "The Geek Show", Strong Bad Emails are frequently shown as an example of "What's funny on the internet"

Junkin

On the television show Junkin', the host "Dave" has appeared wearing Trogdor and Strong Bad T-shirts.

Buffy

In the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Ep 7x22) Trogdor was used as a creature in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. The following is a transcript of the reference.

GILES: I'm—I'm—I'm all turned around. You're here?

XANDER: By the pillar, yeah. I'm protecting this area.

GILES: That puts me over by the door. Demons around the perimeter— Right! I open the door.

Pan over to show Andrew is also at the table, but he's wearing a red hooded cloak.

ANDREW: (reading from a book) You go through the door and are confronted by Trogdor the Burninator.

GILES: Oh, bugger it. Fight. (rolls dice, sips wine)

ANDREW: Adios to 5 hit points. Trogdor has badly wounded you.

GILES: Well, wait a minute. What about my... (puts on glasses) bag of illusions?

ANDREW: (scoffs) Illusions against a Burninator? Silly, silly British man. (Giles sips his wine again)

AMANDA: I invoke a time flux on Trogdor.

ANDREW: (looks at Amanda) Step down, girlfriend, you can't just—

AMANDA: Ninth level sorcerer, and I carry the emerald chalice. Trogdor is frozen in time. Deal with it. (writes something down)

Angel

In a season five episode of Angel entitled "The Girl In Question," (also entitled "An Italian job for Spike and Angel") Angel and Spike were looking for Buffy overseas. They arrived at the apartment where Buffy lives, but Andrew was the only one there. He was talking to them about someone named "The Immortal," and he was wearing a black Strong Bad t-shirt. Later in the episode, Andrew wore the same SB shirt with a pore strip plastered on his nose.

Incidentally, Andrew is the very same character who appeared in the Trogdor-laden Buffy reference. Since both shows are the brainchildren of creator/writer/executive director Joss Whedon, we can probably assume that the creator of the Buffyverse is also a fan of Homestarverse.

Monster House

In an episode of Monster House called "Sports House," the host Steve is wearing a Strong Bad T-shirt during the introductions. This episode first aired February 2, 2004.

Pulse Interview

In early 2004 the show Pulse on G4TechTV talked with the Brothers Chaps, and asked them about their new game that they are developing for the Atari 2600. They showed many video clips of their Atari game. The Chaps told about how they record their voices and how successful they have been. They announced that later this year they are going to release a DVD with the First 100 emails. Later after the commercial break they went to interview the company that is developing the Homestar Runner game. The company was Videlectrix of course. The whole interview was weird because you could tell that the Videlectrix owner was just one of the Brothers Chaps in a mustache but the whole making an Atari game was real.

Survivor: Pearl Islands

When Ryan Shoulders (known on the show as Ryan S.) picks up some tree mail (the show's system of getting messages to the castaways), he sings the opening to SB Email techno, singing it as "the tree mail, the tree mail, what, what, the tree mail." This may also explain Ryan S.' name appearing in the email "theme park".

RADIO

Quizno's and Homestar on NPR

On March 9th 2004, Homestarrunner.com was featured on NPR's Talk of the Nation. You can find the radio segment here. You have to listen a little bit to get to the segment. It features kind of cool, as well as the email different town. It starts around 9:15 into the clip and lasts until the end.

The Rock

There was also a quote from Strong Bad's character page on a La Crosse, Wisconson radio station called "95.7 The Rock." It goes from the part where strong bad says, "Ladies form a line to my left for makeouts! Dudes, form a line to my right for high-fives," and stops at the part where Homestar says, "Well, I was going to get a high-five, but I see that I'm already here."

ADVERTISING

Soap Box Commercial

A Soap Box racing commercial on Cartoon Network decorated a car with Teen Girl Squad.

U.S Air Force Website Ad

A U.S Air Force ad on http://cube.ign.com features a picture of a man playing guitar. He is wearing a Trogdor t-shirt.

Bernardin Print Ad

A national print campaign in Canada for Bernardin home canning featured a young woman wearing a Trogdor T-shirt.

Numb Thumbs Ad

A TV spot for the Video Game store/website Numb Thumbs featured a man wearing a Fluffy Puff T-Shirt

MAGAZINES

Wired Magazine

They Might Be Giants were interviewed and talked about Homestar and the Experimental Film toon, among other things. Read it here

Entertainment Weekly

In 2003, Entertainment Weekly proclaimed The Brothers Chaps were the "It Web Cartoonists" as part of their annual "It List," which names off who they consider to be the most significant entertainers of the year. They asked Matt whether or not they would ever consider putting Strong Bad and Homestar on TV, to which he replied: "It's more punk rock if you do it yourself." This article also mentioned the upcoming DVDs.

Tucson Weekly

Tucson Weekly had an interview of They Might Be Giants in their August 19, 2004 issue that included information on their relationship with The Brothers Chaps. Of particular note was the corroboration that a special Experimental Film video was being made for MTV. However, a new development is that the current internet version "is getting played on MTV in England, so it is finding some legitimate video life."

Time Magazine

On June 30, 2003, Time Magazine ran a short article called "A Star Is Born - On The Web" (access restricted) which featured a picture of Homestar from Where's The Cheat?, and said he was part of a funny cartoon website, namely homestarrunner.com. The article also mentions Strong Bad, and compares Homestar and his friends to a post-modern Peanuts gang. (preview of the article)

BANDS AND MUSIC

Karl Olson/Ultraklystron

Karl Olson(Also known as Ultraklystron) recorded two homestar-related songs, a cover of The Skate Party song Strong Sad Rocks Outand an original song, He's Homsar.

Strong Bad Live!

On June 7th, 2003 at Giants Stadium, Radiohead, the Beastie Boys, and other big name bands of that sort played, but the best part was the showing of Strong Bad emails over the JumboTron in between acts. They also showed Everybody to the Limit and it had a special new introduction wherein Strong Bad complained that he wasn't allowed on stage even though he had been the #1 hit for two summers in a row.

Beastie Boys 2004 Pageant Tour

On December 16th 2004 at the Zenith in Munich, Germany, the Beastie Boys used two JumboTron screens on the left and right side of the stage to present to the crowd the first one and a half minutes of Everybody to the Limit. Even though most of the listeners might have never heard of Homestar Runner or Strong Bad the crowd was cheering and clapping their hands rhythmically with the music. Everybody to the Limit and other Homestar Runner footage might have been part of other Beastie Boys shows during the 2004 Pageant Tour, but no other sightings were reported up until now. The JumboTron screens were an essential part of the show and were also used during the concert to show live footage of the stage as well as other pop culture reference material like accelerated footage of some Atari 2600 video games gameplay such as Frogger's and scenes from Battlestar Galactica (during their song Intergalactic).

Very Low Sodium Band!

The Very Low Sodium Band (www.verylowsodium.com) has a song that praises Homestar Runner. Hear the song Here. There is also a song called "A Tribute to Teen Girl Squad", but I'm not 100% sure if it's made by the "Very Low Sodium Band". It's about in the middle of the page here.

They also have songs about Trogdor and Homestar Runner on that page.

Tripleside

Tripleside (www.tripleside.net) wrote a song called "Legitimate Business" as an homage to Homsar, including many classic Homsar quotes. You can download the song from their downloads page or read the lyrics here.

Time For Living

The San Francisco hardcore punk band Time For Living has a Homestar themed album with the title track "The Cheat is not Dead". They have songs called "Discount Brick", "Just A Friendly Reminder", "Population: Tire", and "The King Of Town." Beyond the titles, the songs don't have any relationship to Homestar Runner, which for legal reasons is good for the band.

Salsa Commodity

Salsa Commodity has three Homestar Runner related songs, "A Tribute to Homestar Runner", "Trogdor", and "Teen Girl Squad". The song "A Tribute to Homestar Runner" can be downloaded here.

GAMES

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

One of the default name choices at the beginning is "Homsar". Hmm, Brave Jedi Knight that one be... "Kerrek" will show up as well.

Cyborg Livestoc Outer Space

If you defeat the alien mothership from Shockwave's Cyborg Livestock from Outer Space, the end text says that the ship "asplode," just as your head does in the game StrongBadZone.

Kings of Chaos

When your army wins a battle, one of the phrases is "You burninated the enemy!" Likewise, when your army is beaten, one of the phrases is "The enemy burninated your army!" Kings of Chaos

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls

A man in Hellfire Chasm says "This is private property. Trespassers will be burninated."

The Kingdom of Loathing

On The kingdom of loathing, when you smash the hippy stone at the campground you will go to player vs player combat. One of the ways to attack a player is to "BURNINATE".

In The Barrel Full Of Barrels, one of the events is entitled "Your Barrel A Splode".

In The Hidden Temple, one of the events is entitled "Arrowed!".

In the chat function, the chat command '/baleet username' carries out the same affect as '/ignore username'.

Adventure Quest

In the free flash RPG Adventure quest, occasionally when a guardian summons the guardian dragon, the dragon will say: "BURNINATE!!! (Please don't sue us)"

Tony Hawk's Underground

In the Moscow level, if you jump into a certain chimney, you die and the screen gives you a message. One of the messages is "BURNINATED!".

In the Vancouver level, when you drive the limo, the license plate on the back of it says "LimoZeen".

Neverwinter Nights

The demo modules that illustrate new creatures added in patches are typically fairly silly. The bulette demo module ("Land Sea-Puma") has a signpost with following directions:

North - Certain Dhoom

East - Most Likely Dhoom

West - Fair to Excellent Conditions for Dhoom

Dennis - Ye Will Find Nothing of Yon Interest Here Aye

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

The fuel tank for the flamethrower is identified as "Burninator" brand.

SKINS

Winamp Skins

One of the available skins at Winamp.com is "Tandy AMP 400". Other SB skins - "Compy 386" and "Teen Girl Squad". Also, if you find the SMB3 skin, you'll find the songs from Strong Bad sings on the preview's playlist. Whoever made that skin must have bought the CD from the Store.

OTHER SITES

"Audition With Marzipan" Remix

The Thilo run The 2nd Best Page In The Universe made a remix of "Thoughts Of A Bird" from the Audition With Marzipan game. A download of the remix is available here And the article about it Here

"Asplode" on Double-Tongued Word Wrester

Neolinguist Grant Barret has done an entry on "asplode" on his site. It looks like "asplode" was not coined by the Brothers Chaps, but he agrees that its appearance in the toons and games is probably responsible for its recent popularity.

All Your Base Are Belong To Homestar

An "All Your Base" parody starring Homestar can be seen here

Bryan Waterman Interview

Byan Waterman, who does the series "Waterman" had an interview and he mentioned the best internet cartoon was Homestar Runner!:

• Who is your favorite flash movie artist or flash artists if you have more than one? What are some of your favorite flash movie series?

BW: Above all else Homestar Runner not only do I love the cartoon, Mike and Matt are two good friends of mine. Bonus Stage is another one I really like and I do look forward to Josephís animations. See It Here

Eric Conveys The Brothers Chaps?

Eric at Eric Conveys an Emotion got together with The Brothers Chaps for a rough and tumble game of football, complete with Eric's warped and hilarious sense of humour. See a step-by-step progression of The Game. On page 1 Trogdor is in the background, on page 2 The Ugly One is in the background, on page 3 1936 Homestar is in the background, on page 4 Homestar is in the background, on page 5 Strongbad is in the background, on page 6, The Cheat is actually in the foreground, on page 7, The Cheat and Strong Mad are in the background, and on page 8, Stinkoman is in the background.

• Also, in "getting a great idea... while falling to your doom" Eric has a Homsar shirt on. greatideafalldoom.jpg

Live Action Dangeresque!

Some guys at Strongfans.com made this awesome rip-off of Strong Bad's big-time blockbuster. Complete with orchestrated music!

The 2004 Cartoonist's Choice Awards

Homestar Runner won in best use of flash category at "The 2004 Cartoonist's Choice Awards".

BB-Spot-Which website are you?

In the website personality test at www.bbspot.com, one of the posible answers you can get is Homestarrunner.com.

newgrounds.com

If you search for Homestar on New Grounds, there will be a bunch of fan made Homestar flash games and short films..

zone38

This blog entry links to a Fark Photoshop thread which featured several Homestar Runner-related parodies of Magic: The Gathering cards, with local copies of the now-defunct images from the thread.

Google Blog

Google Blog mentioned the Homestarism 'Asplode' in this entry.

The Force.net Humor

At a Star Wars Fansite's humor section one of their "Top 46 lists" titled 'Top 47 lesser known goals of the evil empire' says Quote "Secret co-production of Dangeresque 1, 2, & 3" End Quote. The List The Site

Homokaasu.org

A Homestar Runner wall-size printout demonstrating homokaasu.org's Rasterbator software (Web service)

Star Harbor Nights

The authors of these stories are apparently fans... their characters have started making Homestar and Strong Bad references in conversation, including the use of the word "Decemberween" in one story and a reference to Strong Bad singing from A Holiday Greeting.

Gamecheetz Comics

A comic featuring the characters of Super Smash Brothers Melee. As Link is returning to Final Destination, the "Scene Missing" image from Parsnips-A-Plenty appears. It even says "If you don't recognize this then you need to visit HomestarRunner.com" The comic can be seen here:

Futurama Madhouse

At the Futurama Madhouse, they have a regular feature on "Uses for a hacker". Use #498 is entitled "homsar's translator" and features everyone's favourite blue midget Homestar, Homsar! Also notable is the fact that the copyright reads "C Tandy 400, Chapman Bros". Use #667 is entitled "Homestar Runner's Evil Twin", and features, just that. Use #669 "Strongbad's Torture Victims Who Misspell Repeetedli" is the final Homestar-related use for a hacker.

OTHER ANIMATIONS

Albino Black Sheep Cartoons

On an Albino Black Sheep Animation There is a flash "Animutation" and sometime in the animation there is a screenshot from "Strong Bad Zone" and your can hear "STINY! GET ME A DANISH!" This is no suprise seeing as the URL says: /Your_Head_Asplode.swf see it Here

Another Amunation is one with Elvis' song and in the start of the movie you can see the Homestar Runner AIM icon where he is running across the screen See it here

And yet another Amuation has the text "Burninating the countryside & has strong bad looking at an altered email, see it here.

Another animation is "SMURFS: The Lost Episode" where at one point, you can see Strong Bad dancing. WARNING: Profanity! You can view the animation here.

Waterman

In Waterman, when you watch the intro to some of the latest cartoons, you can see a Strong Bad ice cream on the side of the Ice Cream Truck! It is hard to catch, and you can only see it when the camera is moving from side to side on the truck.

VG Cats

At the end of the 100th strip(a flash special so I can't post it here), click on the middle '0' in '100', to see an easter egg with one of the characters answering an e-mail SB-style, and a cameo by the man himself!

VG Cats comic #135 has a The Cheat doll in Ye Olde Comic Bookerys' display case(Frame 6)

Thier "First Time Here" also has blatant references and a link to Homestar Runner.

High Score

At High Score Online they made a Homestar cartoon entitled "Not Without My Application, AKA Jorbs a Plenti." Be sure to click on the bucket at the end after the credits.

In Episode 3, there is a set of really fast moving credits with a Strong Bad reference: Seen here

High Score Episode 4 has a Parents Day spectacular, with "special guest star" What's Her Face. Later in a newspaper montage one of the subtitles says "Strong Sad Still A Loser."

Bonus Stage

• In episode 8, there is a passing reference to Strong Bad making video games. This episode came out not long after the email video games, so that's probably what it refers to.
• In episode 9, Joel dies and goes to hell. Phil and Elly then die so they can rescue him, and while there, they meet Strong Bad, Homestar, and Coach Z. After they rescue Joel, Phil starts typing on a Compy 386 about how Bubs won the race, and Strong Sad shows up. Note: This episode is not currently viewable on www.bonusstages.com. The Homestar appearances are being removed for legal reasons.
• In episode 11, Joel says he wants to move to Atlanta where "those guys that make that cartoon" live. He is probably referring to the Brothers Chaps.
• In episode 19, there is a rather long easter egg in which Joel and Phil try to prank call some people. One of their targets is Strong Bad... or is it?
• In episode 30, there is a commercial for a candy called "Kandy Commandoz". A small disclaimer flashes across the screen proclaiming "Not a ripoff of Homestar Runner".

Checkerboard Nightmare

At Checkerboard Nightmare, Chex does a parody of different internet cartoons, including a "web animation" done in the style of a Strong Bad E-mail.

Neopets

On Neopets.com, a super rare avatar used only by the staff, features a bomb with the words "A splode." It can be viewed here. Also, in [this comic] from the Neopian Times, someone is PILLOW'D.

SCHOOL

MIT Mystery Hunt Puzzle: The Property of Ones

MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual weekend-long challenge featuring over one hundred difficult puzzles. The 2004 Mystery Hunt featured a Strong Bad Email themed puzzle entitled "The Property of Ones". (warning: language)

Trogdor at An Ivy school?

At the Yale-Princeton football game halftime show in November, 2004, the Princeton Band announcer was listing villains (I wont explain why), and the last one on the list was TROGDOR THE BURNINATOR. This show also included a formation based on Email 100: "This joke is of such historical significance that it can only be told in... WIDESCREEN. Left side BWAAAAAH. Right side BWAAAAAAH." (at which the left and right sides of the band formation went wide-screen)

Also, the Yale Anti-Gravity Society's fall 2004 juggling/fire show was basically an entire trogdor narrative: one guy, starring as Trogdor, complete with a huge muscular arm and green clothing, played the Limozeen version of "Trogdor!" while breathing fire-- there was also a peasant involved, who, throughout the course of the show, became on fire like a peasant. Good times at Yale.

Trogdor: MIT Hacker

The Burninator was the subject of one of the famous MIT Hacks! The hack itself. More about hacks.

Trogdor goes to Duke

At Duke University in around April of 2004, the side of a painted underpass displayed an advertisement for an "Inside Joke" comedy troop. The centrepiece was a large, majestic Trogdor.

Strong Bad the Politician

At North Carolina State University in 2002, life sized posters of Strong Bad with the words "Strong Bad for Student Body Presdient" appeared on campus. Sadly, he was not listed on the student council ballot.

Strong Bad Viewings

At North Brandywine Middle School, on the last day before Summer Break, the school shows all the currently available Strong Bad E-mails over the Closed-Circuit TV Network.

Strong Bad At The Naval Academy

Before every home football game, the Naval Academy freshman (known as Plebes) decorate a monument of a Native American chief nick-named Tecumseh on the campus in some sort of disguise. Last year for the Navy-Central Michigan game, the monument was painted up as Strong Bad. [1]

Strong Bad's Electoral Success

Student elections at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in spring 2004 were won overwhelmingly by the 'S.badia' party, which used a tire as its logo. Article from winning S.Badia GM candidate, Mike Dillon.

COMICS

8-bit Theater

A dark elf explains how evil a monster is, and Trogdor comes to mind. 030520.png

In Twinkin' Out, a confused fan asks Red Mage how Strong Bad types with boxing gloves on (Last letter on the page). Twinkin' Out 21

In the 2004 Christmas special Black Belt asks for "the Marzipany kind" of cookie.

Bruno the Bandit

American politics are parodied by comparing them with other regimes. Few places are as oppressive as Strongbadia. [2]

Zelda comic

Tons of sightings here.

• Comic 164 is actually called "Yet Another Subtle Homestar Reference." The reference is "shut it up, you."
• On the 200th comic, they used the "Its almost over!" screen from Teen Girl Squad.
• On comic 225, Link asks what would happen if Bub fights Lloyd. Bub answers saying "his head a splode?"
• Also in the bonus section, there is a thing called "Flame War 04" the first comic is a reference to the Strong Bad email dragon, and the state with the underwear is a reference to Strong Bad email weird dream

Witch's Brew

The origin of the Witch's Brew name came from Homestar's famous Halloween witch's brew line. (Alas, however, the phrase is not spelled correctly in the comic.) Also, in the first comic, Homestar appears on the last panel, and the third comic uses the CHILDREN! panel from Teen Girl Squad.

Roy the Duck

• Explore Roy the Duck's math book to find Homestar Runner and to learn how to count (see page 4 especially).
• This should really be under websites, and it also has two references to homestarrunner.com on the zBay page. On it Bubs is selling the Slightly Shotgunned Compy. It also contains a link to bookazon.com which is part of homestarrunner.com

Hawkman

In the December 2003 issue of DC Comic's Hawkman (page 16 of issue 20, volume 4), an abusive spouse is seen wearing a black teeshirt featuring Strong Bad's face and gloves, and the text "FHGWHGAS." Unfortunately you'll have to pick up an old issue of the comic to see it. Oh well. date. [3]

Questionable Content

In comic #265 [4], while Faye and Marten are discussing what will be the next indie rock band to break up, Faye mentions that the head of Win Butler (from The Arcade Fire) will explode during a live performance, forcing them to replace him with a Homestar Runner puppet. Also, in comic #317 Steve is wearing an "Eh Steve!" T-shirt.

Random Codes

At Codejunkies.com they have a webcomic called Random Codes. The first two lines of the 16th comic are "So from then on, it was all pork and beans." and "That's not very healthy..." which are close to the two lines of dialogue said by Homestar and Marzipan in helium.