Emails Taken in a Different Direction

From Homestar Runner Wiki

From the Strong Bad Email 1 step ahead:

STRONG BAD: I'm one step ahead of you, Alex. Though I decided to take it in a bit of a different direction.

Sometimes when Strong Bad answers an email, he disregards the content of the email, only addresses it briefly then rants on something different, or does the complete opposite, even though in lady fan he claims, when receiving "stupid emails", to be "obligated by law to do what they say". Often, this is because Strong Bad either feels he is unable or unwilling to answer the immediate question (such as in dangeresque 3 where he could not say when Dangeresque 3 was to be released, as he had no intention of finishing Dangeresque 3 at the time), because he simply misunderstands (or pretends to misunderstand) the question (such as in homsar where Strong Bad thinks Vinnie C. is suggesting that he kill Homsar rather than Homestar Runner), because he finds the question too stupid to answer (such as in spring cleaning), or because he has a better idea (such as in 1 step ahead, where he glues Strong Sad's hands to his butt rather than to his head).

Appearances

• Email homsar — Vinnie C. suggests that if Strong Bad hates "Homsar" (a misspelling of "Homestar") so much, he should kill him. Strong Bad, however, takes this literally, leading him to attempt to kill a new character, Homsar, instead.
• Email spring cleaning — Strong Bad deletes each email instead of answering it.
• Email 1 step ahead — Alex suggests Strong Bad glue Strong Sad's hands to his face. One of the choices is to TAKE IT IN A BIT OF A DIFFERENT DIRECTION. If this choice is picked, Strong Bad does, in fact, take it in a different direction by gluing Strong Sad's hands to his butt instead of his face.
• Email superhero name — Stiny asks about Strong Bad's name, but Strong Bad instead makes fun of Stiny's.
• Email gimmicks — Mike W. reminds Strong Bad of the times when he didn't need a gimmick to be funny... shortly before his computer explodes.
• Email caper — James asks Strong Bad and The Cheat to pull a caper. Instead, Strong Bad responds by recalling how The Cheat screwed up "the Jumble caper", and spends the rest of the email repairing their relationship.
• Email big white face — Jen C. asks Strong Bad why he is mean to "the guy with the big white face and gray body" (clearly referring to Strong Sad). Strong Bad replies by trying to do something nice for the Poopsmith (thinking the sender was referring to a black and white picture of him) by baking him a cake, but instead throws the cake at Strong Sad and has to make The Cheat make him another one.
• Email sibbie — Sibbie asks Strong Bad to write a song about them, like Strong Bad did for Fhqwhgads, but Strong Bad insists he's "not here to fulfill your every freakin' whim". The song does get made, but completely against Strong Bad's will.
• Email stupid stuff — Kevin Grumbles asks Strong Bad to make Homestar say something stupid, but instead he tries to earn Grumblecakes by making Homestar say something smart. The final result is, unexpectedly, Homestar making Strong Bad say something stupid, thus winning his own Grumblecake bet.
• Email car — Kyle asks Strong Bad if he has a "pimped out" car, but Strong Bad tries to delete it, and Homestar shifts focus to his "tricked out propeller cap".
• Email dangeresque 3 — John Newell asks when Dangeresque 3 is coming out, and instead of answering, Strong Bad shows a remastered version of Dangeresque 1: Dangeresque, Too?.
• Email old comics — Zack asks why The King of Town has a poopsmith, but instead Strong Bad talks about the King of Town and the Poopsmith's old syndicated newspaper comic called The Castlefunnies.
• Email origins — Strong Bad pointedly refuses to tell Luke about the origins of The Stick, and instead goes on a tangent about The Stick's hangingoutitude and the formation of the On Point Kings.
• Email best thing — Instead of separately listing the best things he's ever seen, done, and eaten, he talks about a single thing that he claims is all three, despite it not being edible.
• Email long pants — Instead of getting Homestar some pants, which Clancy's long email requests, Strong Bad makes it shorter, starting to answer his edited version and ultimately causing Homestar to get "creepy pants".
• Email narrator — Grant Gossman asks Strong Bad if he has ever done narration for a movie, but instead he narrates the other characters' lives as if they were movie trailers.
• Email what i want — Talon Jendro asks Strong Bad what he would like for Decemberween, but after very quickly brushing over the topic instead Strong Bad focuses on a list of presents he does not want.
• Email looking old — Andy Hsiao asks Strong Bad how old he is, but instead he tells us his age is a secret, then spends the rest of the email trying to appeal to the youth demographic.
• Email strong badathlon — Lewis Rudkin asks Strong Bad to either throw The Cheat as far as he can or beat the crud out of Homestar. Strong Bad instead talks about a contest held in Strong Badia called the Strong Badathlon, during which he is seen doing neither of these, though it is to be reasonably inferred that he did participate in these events.
• Email unnatural — Strong Bad is asked if Strong Badia ever has natural disasters, but spends more time talking about Strong Badia's unnatural disasters, like the time Bubs became the giant King Bubsgonzola Supreme.
• Email hygiene — Instead of making an educational film for the sender of the email, John Katulla, Strong Bad makes an insulting film about him.
• Email yes, wrestling — Gardenboy asks Strong Bad to show some of his "awesome wrestling moves". Instead, he talks about the various gimmicks and wrestling personae he used during his supposed wrestling career.
• Email licensed — Pilmple-Faced Bill asks Strong Bad if he has any licensed merchandise, but instead he shows us some of his unlicensed items.
• Email rated — Instead of talking about his favorite movie, like "L. Eftformat" asked him to, Strong Bad talks about his favorite genre of movie.
• Email hiding — When Dude 1 asks Strong Bad about his "awesome hiding place" for Hide 'n' Seek, Strong Bad instead goes on to talk about the pros and cons of using the game to get rid of Homestar, only referring to his hiding place close to the end... by refusing to talk about it.
• Email email thunder — A rare case of the email being in a different direction than Strong Bad expected, Strong Bad sits down to check his 200^th email, but discovers that it is addressed to Homestar instead.
• Email imaginary — Henry Wisner asks Strong Bad how to get rid of an annoying friend, but he instead talks about Strong Sad's imaginary friend, Scotty Titi. However, he comes back to the subject at the end of the email by suggesting that the sender should duct tape his brother's friend to the ceiling.
• Email independent — Evil Gif asks Strong Bad if Strong Badia has a film festival, but instead of talking about that he spends the email discussing the difference between independent and "indie" films. Strong Bad goes as far as mocking the writer, guessing that he expected to see the characters' entries in the supposed film festival.
• Email sbemail 206 — Matt Macro Pika asks Strong Bad on his Econowave 4761-V when he's going to dust off the Compé, which he does. However, he does not check an email on his new Lappier and instead talks to Homestar about April Fools' Day pranks.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

• Homestar Ruiner — Strong Bad initially declines to beat the snot out of Homestar Runner in favor of beating the tar/stuffing/into-next-week out of him, but then changes his plan to beat Homestar in the Free Country USA Triannual Race to the End of the Race, only to change that to posing as Homestar and losing in his stead. When he tries to wrap the email up he finds Homestar squatting his house, his life having been ruined by Strong Bad’s actions. He tries to wrap it up again after repairing Homestar’s life,, only to find the rest of the cast holding a party in his kitchen. In the process of getting rid of them, Homestar ends up with his snot beaten out of him, allowing Strong Bad to claim he's fulfilled the original request "in the most direct and least convoluted way."
• Baddest of the Bands — When asked about what the best era of rock was, Strong Bad instead talks about what age rock music is best.
• 8-Bit is Enough — Instead of talking about what Cheat Commando he's the most similar to, Strong Bad instead talks about which one is the most fun to melt.

Strong Bad Email Info
Site Components	Menu (Scroll Button Songs), Irregular Back Links, Irregular URLs, Page Titles, Descriptions, Podstar Runner
Emails by	Title, Length, Intros (DVD, Part 1; Part 2), Subject, Greeting, Closing, Sender, Place, Outros, Release Dates
Running Gags	Intros Relevant to the Email, Crapfully Yours, Until Next Time..., DELETED, Draw Trogdor Again, How do you type with boxing gloves on? Spin-offs, Emails Edited by Strong Bad, Emails Taken in a Different Direction Abdi LaRue, Ali and Ali's Sister, Bogus Mathematical Theorems, DNA Evidence, Edgar, Tape-leg Email Number References, Acknowledged Update Delays Background Emails, Nonexistent Emails
Technology	Strong Bad's Computers (Malfunctioning, Surpassing Their Assumed Capabilities, Relationships, Stylized Text), Papers (Preeeeow), Floppy Disk Container
Analysis	Statistics, Emails That Meet Strong Bad's Approval, Poorly Written Emails