Strong Bad Email

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 20:33, 24 January 2021

Strong Bad Email menu

Strong Bad checks his email.

Strong Bad Email, frequently shortened to sbemail, was originally a small feature in which Strong Bad would answer a fan-sent email and commonly mock the spelling and grammar of those who wrote to him. The animations were initially brief, but gradually the responses grew to establish numerous inside jokes, running gags and catchphrases, as well as spin-offs, such as 20X6, Teen Girl Squad, Hremails, Strong Badia, the minor character Senor Cardgage, Trogdor, and even Homsar, one of the main characters. A typical Strong Bad Email includes numerous Easter eggs and other hidden material, often found at the ending screen. Many Strong Bad Emails, such as japanese cartoon, video games, and theme song, are satirical views of particular aspects of popular culture.

Introduced in 2001, Strong Bad Email has historically been the most frequently updated feature of homestarrunner.com, but 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.^[1] Email 200 just happened to be a round number at which to take a break.^[2] In October 2009, Strong Bad Email went on another hiatus, which lasted until April 1, 2015, and the next released email after that was almost two-and-a-half years later. More than 5 years passed between the release of videography and sbemail206, ending the longest hiatus of sbemails of 2,004 days.

Strong Bad Emails

Lappier Era

(April 2015 — present)

208 - the next april fools thing 207 - too cool 206 - sbemail 206

Compé Era

(August 2009 — October 2009)

205. videography 204. dictionary 203. independent

Corpy NT6 Transition

(July 2009)

Corpy Remote Work Email - NO PERSONAL EMAILS!

202. imaginary

Lappy 486 Era

(November 2004 — June 2009)

subject: sb_email menu

201. hremail 3184 200. email thunder 199. being mean 198. magic trick 197. your edge 196. hiding 195. love poems 194. specially marked 193. rated 192. shapeshifter 191. buried 190. licensed 189. pet show 188. fan club 187. winter pool 186. environment 185. nightlife 184. diorama 183. yes, wrestling 182. business trip 181. web comics 180. slumber party 179. pizza joint 178. bike thief 177. original 176. hygiene 175. concert 174. mini-golf

173. the paper 172. more armies 171. underlings 170. rough copy 169. from work 168. your funeral 167. the movies 166. unnatural 165. strong badathlon 164. looking old 163. what I want 162. the chair 161. 4 branches 160. coloring 159. retirement 158. cliffhangers 157. trading cards 156. road trip 155. theme song 154. keep cool 153. redesign 152. isp 151. senior prom 150. alternate universe 149. candy product 148. disconnected 147. lady fan 146. pop-up

145. myths & legends 144. narrator 143. technology 142. secret identity 141. death metal 140. highschool 139. portrait 138. space program 137. bedtime story 136. geddup noise 135. lady...ing 134. record book 133. bottom 10 132. modeling 131. boring (really) 130. do over 129. garage sale 128. rampage 127. long pants 126. best thing 125. rock opera 124. secret recipes 123. origins 122. dreamail 121. part-time job 120. radio 119. animal

Compy 386 Era

(September 2002 — November 2004)

Volume in drive C: has no label
Directory of C:\sbemail\updated somedays

118. virus 117. montage 116. extra plug 115. time capsule 114. the facts 113. pizzaz 112. old comics 111. other days 110. for kids 109. crying 108. pom pom 107. cheatday 106. dangeresque 3 105. replacement 104. theme park 103. haircut 102. lunch special 101. car 100. flashback 99. different town 98. stupid stuff 97. monument 96. lackey 95. the bet 94. video games 93. army

92. kind of cool 91. caffeine 90. colonization 89. local news 88. couch patch 87. mile 86. no loafing 85. 2 years 84. kids' book 83. labor day 82. impression 81. date 80. stunt double 79. the process 78. anything 77. suntan 76. sibbie 75. funny 74. privileges 73. mascot 72. crazy cartoon 71. 2 emails 70. big white face 69. personal favorites 68. caper 67. autobiography

66. the show 65. unused emails 64. english paper 63. fingers 62. interview 61. monster truck 60. huttah! 59. marzipan 58. dragon 57. japanese cartoon 56. current status 55. cheat talk 54. morning routine 53. comic 52. island 51. website 50. 50 emails 49. theme party 48. ghosts 47. new hands 46. your friends 45. techno 44. lures & jigs 43. little questions 42. action figure 41. invisibility

Tandy 400 Era

(August 2001 — September 2002)

 FILENAME  - updated mondays

40. vacation 39. property of ones 38. helium 37. dullard 36. guitar 35. sisters 34. weird dream 33. gimmicks 32. flag day 31. sugarbob 30. 12:00 29. superhero name 28. 1 step ahead 27. 3 Wishes

26. CGNU 25. super powers 24. the bird 23. little animal 22. sb_email 22 21. cartoon 20. spring cleaning 19. tape-leg 18. stand-up 17. studying 16. band names 15. the basics 14. duck pond

13. i she be 12. credit card 11. i rule 10. trevor the vampire 9. i love you 8. brianrietta 7. halloweener 6. depressio 5. making out 4. homestar hair 3. butt IQ 2. homsar 1. some kinda robot

DVD Releases

• Emails 1–200 have been released on the strongbad_email.exe 6-disc DVD series. There is also a best of selection, SBEmails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD.

DVD Emails

The following emails only appear on the DVD set:

• Greeting Cards (Bonus Email #1)
• E-mail Birds (Bonus Email #2)
• Videro Games (Bonus Email #3)
• Family Resemblence (Bonus Email #4)
• Real-Live E-Mails (Bonus Puppet Stuff Email)
• Accent (Bonus Email #5)
• Comic Book Movie (Bonus Email #6)

Podstar Runner Releases

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

Emails Not Checked By Strong Bad

Some emails are checked by someone other than Strong Bad, but count as Strong Bad Emails anyway.

• mile — Email completely made up by The Cheat
• anything — checked by Homestar

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.

• 208½B. @StrongBadActual Tweet (3 Apr 2019) — Strong Bad replies to one of the Discount Strong Bad emails generated by Janelle Shane's neural network.
• 208½A. @StrongBadActual Tweet (22 Aug 2018) — Strong Bad checks an email on the Tandy 400 using Mario Paint, with a subject similar to the basics.
• 206½B. The House That Gave Sucky Tricks — The page title is "St. Cadaverstump's Home for Wayward Sbemails", suggesting that at one point this was originally going to be a sbemail.
• 206½A. Dad's Garage & Friends - 13 Jun 2015 — Strong Bad and Homestar Runner explain the worst parts about improv.
• 205½D. Dad's Garage & Friends - 11 Jul 2014 — A Strong Bad Email played at Dad's Garage.
• 205½C. April Fool 2014 — Strong Bad updates the website's "best feature".
• 205½B. Sbemail 136 Alternate Versions — Original drafts of Sbemail 136.
• 205½A. Doomy Tales of the Macabre — Strong Sad mentions how Strong Bad checks emails on the Compé.
• 202½. Compy Catalog — Strong Bad buys a new computer for checking emails.
• 200½E. April Fool 09 — Strong Bad "sbemailiarizes" the Intro to homestarrunner.com.
• 200½D. Sbemailiarized! — Strong Bad explains how old toons can be recycled into Strong Bad Emails.
• 200½C. 8-Bit is Enough — Strong Bad can check emails during the game.
• 200½B. Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective — The game starts with Strong Bad sending an email about Dangeresque 3 to his fans. Additionally, Strong Bad can check emails during the game.
• 200½A. Baddest of the Bands — Strong Bad can check emails during the game.
• 199½C. Page Load Error — Secret URL address for anyone who wanted a peek at Email 200 before it was released.
• 199½B. Place ya bets! — Its HTML file is "sbemail199andahalf". In it, The Deleteheads try to predict what will be in Strong Bad Email #200.
• 199½A. Strong Badia the Free — The game starts with an email from Roy T. about the King of Town. Additionally, Strong Bad can check emails during the game.
• 198½. Homestar Ruiner — The whole game is an attempt to answer Ennie M.'s email requesting that Strong Bad beat the snot out of Homestar Runner. Additionally, Strong Bad can check emails during the game.
• 193½B. The Homestar Runner Gets Something Stuck In His Craw — The reading of the story takes place after what appears to be a Strong Bad Email.
• 193½A. SBCG4AP Advertisement — This email is an advertisement for a game that was in the making and never actually appeared on the Strong Bad Email page.
• 191½. Rotten Eggs — A message made by the splattered rotten Easter egg reads, "Sbemail Next Week."
• 171½. DNA Evidence — The toon is about a running gag from six consecutive Strong Bad Emails.
• 170½. Sbemail 169 Deleted Scene — A deleted scene from sbemail 169.
• 158½. Lappynapped! — Messages on Strong Bad's answering machine, as the Lappy is missing.
• 152½. Weclome Back — Strong Bad tries to show an email he checked over summer vacation (in midair, no less), but hits "stop" instead of "record" on the video camera.
• 149½. Sbemail 150?!? — Strong Sad tries to get Strong Bad to do his 150th email.
• 136½. Sick Day — A failed attempt at an email due to sickness striking the entire cast.
• 127½. HomestarRunner.com PAY PLUS! — "The Email Show" is one of the pay-per-view features.
• 118½. Broken Compy Menu — The page title is "Strong Bad Email?". It is a short toon that played on the email menu after the release of virus.
• 99½B. Not the 100th Email!!! — Secret URL address for anyone who wanted a peek at Email 100 before it was released.
• 99½A. Puppet Time — A message was taped onto Puppet Compy's screen that read "Probably at a barbecue, from SB".
• 84½. Teen Girl Squad Issue 4 — A message was taped onto the Compy on the Strong Bad Email menu that read "made a new teen girl squad".
• 68½B. Lookin at a Thing in a Bag — A message was taped onto the Compy in the email menu that read "Looking at a thing in a bag" when the cartoon was released.
• 68½A. King of Town Email — The King of Town tries to answer an email on his recently bought (but broken) Tandy 400.
• 66½. Arcade Game — Homestar Runner reads Strong Bad's note he left on the Compy 386.
• 59½. Superbowl Dealie — The Paper reads "Due to the big game, the Strong Bad Email will be late this week."
• 36½. TV Time Toons Menu — Placing the mouse over Strong Bad Email will bring up a short, soundless email from Stu. See Wireless Bizness.

Strong Bad Email Menus

• 1–32 — Tandy 400 menu
• 33–34 — Broken Tandy Menu
• 35–40 — Slightly damaged Tandy menu
• 41 — Vacation menu
• 42–118 — Compy 386 menu
  • Between 55 and 56 — Decemberween Email Menu
  • Between 118 and 119 — Broken Compy Menu
• 119–201 — Lappy 486 menu
• 202 — Corpy NT6 menu
• 203-208 — Compé menu
• 208-Current — Lappier menu

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 Not the 100th Email!!! (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 Page Load Error (in which the Deleteheads camp out at the sbemail200.html URL).

Fun Facts

Trivia

• The Tandy 400 vacation menu is the last surviving Tandy menu to still be hosted on the website.
• Some time during mid-2003, "updated mondays" on the main Strong Bad Email Menu changed to "updated somedays." Nothing like this is even noted in Lappy, Corpy or Compé-era emails.
• On the Compy 386 menus, Strong Bad types "dir /p", a DOS command used to list all the files in a directory, and to pause between each screen's worth of files.
• Not including Not Quite Strong Bad Emails, Strong Bad has checked 235 emails as of sbemail206.
• As of videography, it would take 10 hours, 9 minutes, 34 seconds to watch every Strong Bad email, including the DVD exclusives but excluding clickable Easter eggs. Including clickable Easter eggs, as of being mean, it would take 10 hours, 35 minutes, and 37 seconds.
• Email #22, "sb_email 22", was actually made between emails 40 and 41. It was originally skipped and later made and released under the title 'the lost email' right before Strong Bad replaced his computer with the Compy 386.
• As of the movies, Strong Bad Emails make up about 60% of the toons on the site.
• Back in 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

The link in the automated response leads to the Email Processing Room.

• After random.bat was implemented, the email list comes from the rando.xml file. Before this, it was included in the Flash file.
• Occasionally, there is a lengthy gap between email updates. This is sometimes recognized at the start of the next email, as in army, geddup noise, redesign, hremail3184, and sbemail206.
• butt IQ, CGNU, 3 Wishes, and what I want are the only onsite emails with capital letters in their titles.
• Typing sbemail.swf in the address bar will lead to the Flash file for the Compy 386 era.
• Holding down the left mouse button and the tab key at the same time caused the area you pressed to go white (only for Lappy-era emails). You can move the mouse in the area without the original spot going away; however, if you leave the original area, the spot goes away (you can also create new dots, as long as they are partly overlapping another dot).
• Some emails have different URLs instead of sbemail#.html.

Remarks

• At Flashforward 2006, The Brothers Chaps gave a list of five things not to email Strong Bad about. Additional information about which emails are selected were given in a later radio interview.
• During most emails, the back of Strong Bad's head is visible when he sits in front of the computer, which is why he often starts a new line before the text reaches the right side of the computer's screen. However, on the Strong Bad Email menu, his head is not seen at all. This is probably so the viewers can use the bottom scroll button without anything in the way.
• During Lappynapped!, retirement A, and retirement B after the Lappy was kidnapped, and after hremail3184 when the Lappy was destroyed, it was still used for the Strong Bad Email menu. It is still updated to include the post-Lappy era emails.
• Although the Compé was compressed into the Lappier, the Compé was still the featured computer on the menu and in Strong Bad's scroll button song until the site update on December 31, 2020.
• The Next April Fools Thing was originally hidden inside a holiday toon, and wasn't listed on the email menu until the site update on December 31, 2020.
• If the random.bat button on the Lappy was clicked after hremail3184 was released, Strong Bad would still say the things during the random email selection even though he was absent.
• The Strong Bad Email menu of the Corpy NT6 lacked a random button; however, Strong Bad sung his lines for selecting a random email and a random email would be selected by using a Flash seekbar.
• The Compé menu lacked a random button from its introduction until August 31, 2009, when a new scroll button song was also released. During this time, right clicking and using the Play button would give the random button effect, but the email that was selected would be displayed in the Lappy's font.
• The Compé Email menu zooms in before Strong Bad finishes double-clicking it.
• The Compé Email menu's "go rando!" button is clickable, even when zooming in.
• When Strong Bad's head moves, his mask protrudes the top of his head.
• With the October 5, 2009 update, a link to the Yahoo Store page where DVDs of the emails could be purchased was added on a sticky note. The Yahoo Store was later retired, and for a time the link brought up a Yahoo error page. The sticky note was subsequently removed.
• As of the December 31, 2020 update:
  • The computer begins as the Lappier. Clicking on the computer's logo at the bottom-left corner of the monitor will switch the computer (including the menu theme) in the following order: Lappier → Compé → Lappy 486 → Compy 386 → Tandy 400. Continuing to click repeats the cycle indefinitely.
  • The Tandy 400 Contrast buttons work again.
  • Clicking on the title of an email or using the "go rando" button now brings up a short description of the selected email, rather than automatically playing it.
  • The email menu now includes clickable links to watch either the original flash version, or the YouTube version. (Note: As of January 2021, not all sbemails are available to watch through the official Homestar Runner YouTube Channel.)
  • Occasionally, Strong Bad will briefly comment on the user's selected sbemail. This works even when using the "go rando" option.

External Links

• Strong Bad Email menu
• view the Flash file for Strong Bad Email Menu
• Email Strong Bad

See Also

• Hremails
• @StrongBadActual
• @strongbadactual (Instagram)