Strong Bad Email

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Strong Bad checks his email.
Strong Bad checks his email.

Strong Bad Email, frequently shortened to sbemail, is a feature in which Strong Bad answers an email sent by a real-world fan. Arguably the most recognizable feature of the site, it is occasionally joked that its success has led to Strong Bad becoming more popular than the site's title character.

A typical email opens with Strong Bad humorously mocking the spelling and grammar of the sender, then transitioning to an anecdote or scheme related to a question asked by the email, concluding with Strong Bad returning to his computer to finalize the email response. Strong Bad Emails include numerous Easter eggs and other hidden material, often found at the ending screen; many feature satirical views of aspects of popular culture such as Japanese cartoons, video games, and TV show theme songs. Originally introduced in 2001 as a small feature with brief animations, the responses gradually expanded in scope to establish numerous inside jokes, running gags, and catch phrases. Full-fledged Strong Bad Email spin-offs include Trogdor, Teen Girl Squad, 20X6, Strong Badia, Hremails, the minor character Senor Cardgage, and even main character Homsar.

Strong Bad Email has historically been the most frequently updated feature of homestarrunner.com, with a new email being added to the menu nearly every Monday from 2002 through 2008. However, the series was put on hiatus from September 2008 to June 2009. The Brothers Chaps stated in interviews that they wanted to focus on other characters and vary their output; adding that the 200th email just happened to be a round number at which to take a break. After a series of five emails in 2009, Strong Bad Email (much like the rest of the site) has since been updated irregularly; multi-year gaps are now common between new emails.

Contents

Strong Bad Emails

Lappier Era

(April 2015 – present)

Compé Era

(August 2009 – October 2009)

Corpy NT6 Transition

(July 2009)

Lappy 486 Era

(November 2004 – June 2009)

Compy 386 Era

(September 2002 – November 2004)

Tandy 400 Era

(August 2001 – September 2002)

Releases

DVD

Emails 1–200 have been released on the strongbad_email.exe 6-disc DVD series. There are DVD-exclusive bonus emails in discs 1, 4, 5, and 6.

Podstar Runner

Beginning January 30, 2006, Strong Bad Emails were released under a feature called Podstar Runner. They have featured popular toons, Teen Girl Squad issues, and Strong Bad Emails in .m4v format. They were designed to be viewed on a Fifth Generation Apple iPod, but are workable on a variety of other portable media players. These are all of the emails that have been featured through this service (in order of Podstar Runner release, top left being the earliest, bottom right being the latest):

YouTube

The homestarrunnerdotcom YouTube account was registered on October 1, 2007, and began uploading Strong Bad Emails on March 31, 2009. These are all of the emails that have been uploaded (in order of YouTube release, top left being the earliest, bottom right being the latest):

Not Quite Strong Bad Emails

The following were originally associated in one way or another with the Strong Bad Emails. They are numbered by halves to show where they appeared chronologically in the list above. Numbers 99½B, 118½, 158½, 199½C are not linked to from anywhere on the site. Also, 198½, 199½A, 200½A, 200½B, 200½C, 205½B, 205½D, 206½A, 208½A, and 208½B aren't on the site at all.

Milestones

Whenever Strong Bad reaches an email milestone, such as 100 or 200, the email will be special or at least some note will be taken. Thus far, five emails have been considered milestones.

  • 50. 50 emails — Strong Bad checks 50 emails (or attempts to) in honor of it being his 50th email check.
  • 100. flashback — The email is done in "wiiidescreeeen". Marzipan, Senor Cardgage, Old Timey Strong Bad, and Limozeen congratulate him on his 100th email. Upon the Compy indicating that he has checked 100 emails with a special screen, Strong Bad says "email" 100 times. Homestar says "Happy 100th birthday, Strong Bad".
  • 125. rock opera — Strong Bad performs a rock opera featuring scenes and at least one word from all of Strong Bad's previous emails.
  • 150. alternate universe — Strong Bad goes into many alternate universes featuring alternate versions of himself, which at the end accompany him in a supergroup ballad. Called the "sesquicentennemail".
  • 200. email thunder — The email song is a grand fanfare written by They Might Be Giants and sung by The Poopsmith. The email also ends with a screen listing the first 200 emails.

Frequently, a "teaser" toon is released a week before a milestone email in order to play off the anticipation for the upcoming milestone. The teaser toons so far have been Sbemail 100 fakeout (teasing viewers hoping to view email 100 before it was released); Sbemail 150?!? (in which Strong Sad tries to convince Strong Bad to check email 150 and writes a proposed storyboard for it); Place Ya Bets! (in which the Deleteheads speculate on what will happen in email 200); and Sbemail 200 Fakeout (in which the Deleteheads camp out at the sbemail200.html URL).

Fun Facts

Trivia

  • Not including Not Quite Strong Bad Emails, Strong Bad has checked 238 emails as of parenting.
  • As of parenting, it would take 10 hours, 7 minutes, and 19 seconds to watch every Strong Bad Email, including the DVD exclusives but excluding clickable Easter eggs. Including clickable Easter eggs, it would take 11 hours, 33 minutes, and 3 seconds.
  • As of the movies, Strong Bad Emails make up about 60% of the toons on the site.
  • During the Tandy 400 era (at least until July 2002), emailing Strong Bad would result in this automated response:
Thanks for your freakin email. I hope it's not stupid.
Once I finish these swiss cake rolls I'll read it and if it's awesome enough,
I'll answer it on the site.
But if your email is terrible, then it gets R.E.D. alright.
The Cheat Reads it, Strong Mad Eats it, and I Deletes it.
Click Here to see us in action!
Check back every Monday to see if your email has what it takes.
Watch me while I'm awesome,
Strong Bad

Remarks

  • Two emails have been checked by someone other than Strong Bad, but count as Strong Bad Emails anyway: mile was made up and animated by The Cheat, and anything was checked by Homestar Runner.
  • Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People features emails both as a framing device and as interactive content in the games, however these were not sent by actual fans.
  • When Strong Bad's head moves, his mask protrudes the top of his head.

External Links

See Also

Most Recent Toons
Big Toons

Homestar Runner Goes for the Gold
Dec 24, 2016

Shorts

Back To A Website
Apr 16, 2025

Holidays

Fanstume [singular] '24
Nov 30, 2024

Puppet Stuff

Kick The Cheat Returns!
February 25, 2025

Strong Bad Email

parenting
Apr 1, 2022

Video Stuff

Disk 4 of 12 - Vampire's Castle
Sep 19, 2022

Teen Girl Squad

Issue 15
May 11, 2009

Marzipan's Answering Machine

Version 17.2
Apr 1, 2016

YouTube

Decemberweenvent Calendar (2022 Revisited)
Dec 16, 2024

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