Talk:Free Country, USA

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Revision as of 19:30, 14 October 2008

Free Country, USA is a featured article, which means it showcases an important part of the Homestar Runner body of work and/or highlights the fine work of this wiki. We also might just think it's cool. If you see a way this page can be updated or improved without compromising previous work, feel free to contribute.

National Anthem?

Does FCUSA have a national anthem? I'm thinking its Everybody, Everybody. Tlk/Cnt 18:51, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Great jorb

Wow!! great job, Sir Monkey!! This should be a featured article! — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 13:39, 6 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliment, E.L.! I get all worked up about politics and standing armies and all that jazz. THE SMOKING MONKEY 14:00, 6 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Prohibition

It's dot com, it's me again, here to continue our scholarly debate about "dumb animal characters." I don't really disagree with your removal of the Prohibition item. But I put it in there for the following four (tenuous?) reasons:

• When the Sneak is kicked out of Tammany Hall, the leg doing the kickin' has "PROHIBITION?" written on it. It's pretty thin, but TBC put it in there either as a nonsensical nod to the period (I mean, the whole Tammany Hall-Boss Tweed period pre-dated the Depression...right?) or as weak support for my idea.
• In The Ballad of the Sneak, the little guy gets his kicks by "drinking bootleg hooch and listening to the jazz", doubly implying the alcohol he's enjoying is contraband, and he's getting it at a Speakeasy where "the jazz" is being played, both of which indicate Prohibition.
• When Fat Dudley is enjoying a nip of hooch in That A Ghost, The Homestar Runner questions him interrogatively, in the sense of, "Fat Dudley, are you breaking the law by drinking hooch?" Alcohol is smattered around the H*R universe - Coach Z ale, Cold Ones, and even Strong Bad drinking too much Soy Sauce (this, I find especially hilarious: not only did this escapade of his teach me Soy Sauce does contain alcohol, 2% by volume, but it ties into my rejected STUFF comment about the King surviving his massive salt ingestion in the "record" e-mail...Strong Bad would have done himself in by drinking that much Soy Sauce. But enough about salt-related death!), but no one ever questions anyone else about it. So, this event stood out as being consistent with a Prohibition-era time, when some people followed the law and others didn't.
• I can't recall it exactly, but since the Ballad of the Sneak is the number one jam of 1932? 1933? it would still have been during Prohibition. I think the Wiki consensus is that the years being depicted are later, to 1935? 1936?, so if this is accepted, than the Prohibition factoid doesn't hold up. But, like I indicated before, TBC are playing fast and loose with the time period references, so whether or not the year they're depicting in the Old Timey world is 1933 or 1936, Prohibition still could be going on there for all we know.

In summary, I can't believe I wrote this much about a cartoon and the status of Prohibition during it. I need to drink less coffee! Anyhoo, let me know what you think. THE SMOKING MONKEY 13:37, 8 Sep 2005 (UTC)

I originally removed the mention of prohibition based solely on the presumed year of the toons. I now think that may have been hasty, as you make a good circumstancial case. Turning to the Wikipedia article, we read that

The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed nationwide prohibition, explicitly gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase and sale of alcohol; this has led to a patchwork of laws, in which alcohol may be legally sold in some but not all towns or counties within a particular state. After the repeal of the national constitutional amendment, some states continued to enforce prohibition laws.

From this statement and your evidence, one could easily see at least the possibility that prohibition was still in force in Free Country, USA, until 1937 or beyond. (This is not unreasonable, as in the real world bans on alcohol in some states lasted several decades after the formal end of prohibition.) I think you would be well-justified in wording this back into the article. — It's dot com 14:36, 8 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Map

I have taken upon myself the task of drawing up a map of Free Country, USA. Now I know what you're thinking: "Caleb, you can't draw up a map of Free Country, USA!"

To which I answer this: "I can try!"

To begin the map, I will use the following assumptions:

• The Stick represents the very centre of Free Country, USA
• The view of the field of Free Country USA always faces North.

I will then use what is know about the locations in relation to one another, and various other clues within the toons (ie. which direction Homestar walks to get to Bubs') to figure out most of the geography. The rest will have to be guesswork.

The map should be finished soon, but will take a while to actually get onto hrwiki, so don't expect it anytime soon. User: Private Martin of the Homestarmy

This Just In!

My map is done, but I still need to get an image of it onto my computer. Until then, here is a simple idea of where some things are on the map.

                                     The Forest
                                                                           
          Homestar's House            The Stick                          Strongbadia
         Town Hall                                Marzipan's House
                                                               Locker Room
                                                             Athletic Field
       The KoT's Keep           House of TBS           Bubs'   

It's crude, yes, but it's a start! -User: Private Martin of the Homestarmy

Location

I have done some deducing, and based on it I believe FCUSA is somewhere in the state of Oregon, or possibly northern California. Strong Sader

What do you think? Strong Sader

What's your evidence? --DorianGray

1. Likely a northern state because of it's cold Winter temperatures.
2. The term "pop" is used, which means it is likely to be in the upper Midwest.
3. Wharfs exist there, so it is likely to be by the sea.
4. It is NOT Texas.

These are all properties Oregon and Northern California have in common. Strong Sader

Oregon and California aren't in the midwest.

The northwest also refers to it as "pop" by majority

Actually, it would have to be in the Northeast: it's east of the Mississippi River, it's on the ocean, and it snows. Nowhere else in the United States fits. The fact that TBC live in Atlanta doesn't mean HR takes place there, the Nebraska star doesn't necessarily tell us the location, and the Texas clue doesn't help because we already know it's east of the Mississippi. Also, not only are California and Oregon not in the Midwest, it doesn't snow there apart from in the mountains, and they're west of the Mississippi. (And if it could be California or Oregon, it could also be Washington). I've also narrowed down the setting of Calvin and Hobbes to two places, on that note. With crap, Yeltensic (T • C) 23:44, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I have done research of my own, and I think I have figured out where FCUSA is. I believe that FCUSA is in Ithaca, NY because:
1.Both have major universities(CGNU, Cornell)
2.WSBD call letters from radio-East of Mississippi River
3.Wharfs frequently mentioned in FCUSA(Ithaca near one of the Finger Lakes)
4.Tompkins from TGS(Ithaca is in Tompkins county)
5.It's not in Texas.

• beats dead horse* How do you justify that with Home Page 11, where Strong Bad says "Today's weather is total crap!". New York, Georgia, and the Dakotas area are marked as being sunny; it's raining in the Mid-East (Ohio, Illinois, etc) and in the Texas area. Though what Strong Bad considers 'bad' or 'good' weather could be debated. StarLion 00:36, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Town Hall?

Seems The Smoky Office is being called "Town Hall" here. Is there any reference to this anywhere? - Qermaq - (^T/C)  18:26, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Any at all? Someone explain why I should not change this to exclude describing it as a "town hall", which seems to have no precedent and therefore is speculation. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  20:15, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

Making the change, as no one ever offered any insight on why it's there.... - Qermaq - (^T/C)  21:47, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Support the Municipality?

I was thinking of adding something to the 'Politics' section that touches on StrongBody's rebellion against the KoT's 'municipality', the Poopsmith playing the part of riot police, and the propaganda poster Easter Egg in the sbemail disconnected. However, I'm not too good at writing up articles, and plus I don't even have an account. So basically if anybody else wants to mention it, feel free.

By the way, my username is 'Cool Tapes' on the forum.

The Municipality

I thought that Free Country, USA was the municipality. "Municipality" is just another word for "town", so the municipality is essentially the town that the King rules over. In which case, this article is not needed. — Has Matt? (talk) 01:16, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

I must agree. It really is FCUSA. See Wikipedia:Municipality. Maybe a merge with Free Country, USA? Bluebry 01:24, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Some of it might also be reflected on The King of Town. In fact, I think some of it already is. Heimstern Läufer 01:35, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

With the above noting "The Municipality"'s equivilancy to "Free Country, USA", I nominate that this article be merged into Free Country, USA. — Lapper (talk) 04:17, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Merge - Qermaq - (^T/C)  09:14, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Second-a-mundo Stongbah ^Preeow! 16:32, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

agree Loafing 22:38, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Statistics

This was added to the page by an IP:

Note: Stats apply to modern Free Country, USA only. This includes pseudocharacters. (see characters)

• Percentage of citizens who speak English - 42.3%
• Percentage of English speaking citizens who have a speech impediment or an accent - 40%
• Percentage of citizens who have arms - 45.7%
• Percentage of citizens with hair or fur - 23.7%
• Percentage of citizens who are made partially or fully out of wood - 10.1%
• Percentage of citizens who are animals - 15.3%
• Percentage of citizens who are overweight or obese - 22%
• Percentage of US citizens who are overweight or obese - 65%

There are two ways this IP worked out this information. The first way is that he went through all the characters, counted how many had the listed trait and worked out the percentage with a calculator. The second way is that he made it up. – The Chort 18:50, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Considering that there need to be at least 1000 citizens in FCUSA to make these numbers work, I would assume that he used a calculator worth $BUTT ;-) (btw, It should also say "percentage of citizens who are dumb animal characters - 100%")  Loafing 23:44, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, if there's rounding going on, it could be much less than 1000 and work. Still, I doubt these are accurate just based on some cursory arithmetic. It WOULD be interesting to work this out showing proof, however... devilish laugh... - Qermaq - (^T/C)  00:28, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Homestar's employment?

Hello everyone -

Employment : One menu screen (no5) presents Homestar Runner as working in some... place where he makes gophers (or whatever it is called in english...), operating beverage equipment etc...

Does anyone else agree? We could list it as a job of Homestar's. Or at least as a job in an alternative universe...

--Algoblin 17:36, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Star, Pop, And Brothers

Just recently someone Qermag has edited this page to show that some of the observations contradict one another. I'm wondering if we should "off" 3 of these observations:

• The Star on the USA globe - The center of America is somewhere in Nebraska (or in Kansas; I don't remember which). To me the only thing the star tells us is the country.
• Pop - I and my family use the term "pop." We're not in the Midwest, nor are we from there. In addition, I have a friend who is in the midwest, but when I mentioned pop to her once, she wasn't sure what I was talking about. I don't think word usage should be considered observations here.
• The Brothers - Yes, they are in Atlanta, Georgia. Doesn't mean the characters are.

If those three items are removed, the remaining statements do not seem to be contradictory. What do you all think? -WarthogDemon 00:00, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm the someone. Let's not forget how the "wharf" implies a coastline, while other evidence makes that impossible. Re: the "pop" issue, see this page: [1]. The bottom line is, who are we to say which side of the evidence is wrong? Rather we should simply say the truth: that some of the evidence contradicts other evidence. Otherwise is speculation. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  00:21, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

My apologies if I came across poorly by saying "someone." *Changes that.* When it comes to the "sides," those three seem to be just outside observations. The other instances are all mentioned by a character, whereas those three aren't. (Unless there's one I forgot.) *Checks list.* -WarthogDemon 00:30, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

• After checking.* The weather one and the radio one don't give facts stated by characters, (though I suppose it'd be a coin toss with radio). So perhaps I'm incorrect in suggesting those three statements be offed. Though if I may say a contradiction that perhaps has not gone noticed, heavy snow usually comes late in the central USA. (At least from what my friend there tells me.) -WarthogDemon 00:33, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Believe me, as someone in the Northeast US who has just recently seen the first appreciable snowfall, while other regions not as prone to snowfall have been blanketed heavily, the presence of snowfall is a possible, yet not positive, indicator of location. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  00:37, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

location

Twp points. First of all, yes, generally speaking W designations are east and K are west, but radio stations were grandfatehred in that violated the conventions. Second, about the temerpature point, I live in New York City and we are (obviously) near the water and have extreme temperature fluctuations (in the summer it can get past the high 90s or into the 100s) and there's no evidence in "keep cool" that that was a typical day. 140.180.166.176 16:02, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

City?

I'm not sure if FCUSA is a city name at all. It might just be a running gag The Brothers Chaps made for characters caling the United States "Free Country". If you look at any time the phrase is spelled out, such as here, here, and here, there is never a comma between "Country" and "USA". Who else agrees with me or has their own opinion? Homestar-Winner (talk) 01:49, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Wuh-ho my god I see it. Yeah, that's a pretty observant observation. Maybe it's possible. Strike that, probable. I'm all for it, unless someone can find a source that says otherwise. Bluebry 02:18, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay! Anyone else agree or anything? Homestar-Winner (talk) 10:58, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Erm, patience! It can take some time for people to respond to talk page posts. Especially if you consider that it's currently between 7 and 4am in the US. See the previous discussion on whether FCUSA is a town or a country (it's a town). As for the comma, you might be on to something there. It seems like the article had the comma from the very beginning on (September 2004), and it might simply never have been questioned. Maybe someone more crazy than me knows the answer to this. Loafing 11:15, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Soooooooooo, could I change the page title to Free Country USA and make Free Country, USA a redirect page, or should I wait for more comments? Homestar-Winner (talk) 11:54, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Wait a minute. Let's wait a little while until someone can find a use of the comma. If not, go ahead, but I think just in case you should put "(also spelled Free Country, USA)". Just my random speakings. Bluebry 15:43, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

A-HA! (Take on me) I hath found the comma! Strong Bad Sings. At the way end, it displays (bold added for emphasis):

P.O. Box 212

Strong Bad's House

Free Country, USA

However, there have been a TON of other sighting of FCUSA sans-comma. Which is why we need to make a decision: what should the page's name be? I mean, this is just ONE instance of a comma, but there must be more. I mean, I only looked through two toons (highschool and SB Sings) and found the comma. Bluebry 15:52, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, there's no doubt that one should redirect to the other, but which should be primary? DeFender1031 15:59, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Like I think I said before, I say we move Free Country, USA to Free Country USA and make Free Country USA a redirect. Homestar-Winner (talk) 17:48, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

To be honest, life would go easier if we didn't have to change hundreds of links. Now that we know it can be spelled with the comma, there's no need to move it. Bluebry 17:52, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Bluebry. Just mentioning the alternate spelling is fine. --DorianGray 17:57, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay. Fine with me. Homestar-Winner (talk) 19:54, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Politics? Economics? Estimated Location!?

These three paragraphs bug me for a number for reasons.

1. I'm pretty sure that TBC don't even have a clear decision on these matters. Like springfeild from the simpsons, or where Fes is from in that 70s show.
2. These ENTIRE sections are pure speculation, something that is highly frowned upon here on the wiki. (except for the "Economics" one which is only MOSTLY speculation.) The location one even has the word speculation in it.

In addition, i've seen numerous other tidbits of speculation on this page. I propose a MAJOR rewrite and cleanup. DeFender1031 12:07, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Wait a second! This is a FEATURED ARTICLE!? How did this get past the usually exacting eyes of ALL of our sysops? DeFender1031 12:10, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

What are you talking about? Those sections are fantastic! I say that without exaggeration. I don't see the speculation you do. Everything written in those sections is directly based on one toon or another. The Brothers Chaps may not think about the implications of the details they include in each toon, but that doesn't mean we can't take those details and interpret them as though they were real (just like everything else we talk about around here). These sections, as well as the whole article, are interesting and spur thought and discussion, and I for one like them a lot. — It's dot com 14:50, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps we could compromise and stick the excellent FCUSA article in Category:Research. --DorianGray 17:17, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Makes sense, all of our "research" is actually speculation loosely supported with facts... DeFender1031 17:37, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Hardee's is NOT called Carl's Jr. in the west - Carl's Jr. is a separate restaurant chain that was purchased by Hardee's. Hardee's then appropriated the star logo for its other restaurants. Incidentally, Hardee's goes as far west as Montana - but it is by-and-large a midwest and southeast phenomenon. After reorganization, the parent company for both chains is CKE Restaurants.

Population

Is the population really at least 19? Let's see: we got the 12 main characters, the KOT's 5 other servants, Senor Cardgage...who's the last one? --Charlie Jr. 15:17, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

The Announcer? —Shwoo 03:29, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh yeah! Him too. Silly me. --Charlie Jr. 14:07, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Now I'm noticing that there are at least 21. I believe it was updated ever since email 177 came out, but I don't think we should count Original Bubs and Crack Stuntman as part of the population because the regular Bubs is the original Bubs and, as Marzipan puts it, "Strong Bad made all that stuff up." Whom are we including besides the other 19 anyway? --Charlie Jr. 15:54, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I can see how Original Bubs might not count, but why not Crack Stuntman? He's been featured several times outside of that email. — It's dot com 22:16, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

So have Limozeen; but we have no proof that he lives in FCUSA (unless I've missed something?). Strong Bad claimed he ran Bubs' after 'Original Bubs' left, but as Marzipan states, Strong Bad was making all that up. StarLion 22:50, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

So...who is #20 and who is #21? 74.245.20.195 00:49, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Governance

I have deleted the sentence "This would suggest that the King of Town wishes to change Free Country to a more feudal style of governance." It's speculation to say he wants to change it. In my opinion, it's more likely that he wants to uphold the feudal system. After all, he already is the king. The thing is, we don't know either way, so I don;t know how to save that sentence. A link to Wikipedia:Feudalism would probablybe good somewhere. Loafing 23:08, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

"Weird Dream"

I was looking at the bottom of this post, and wouldn't the email weird dream be a good example of it being in America, as it shows different United States wearing underwear? --Abelhawk 18:15, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

not really. i can dream about italy, doesn't mean i live there. — Defender1031*Talk 18:17, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Possible Locations

Well, this isn't particularly important as this one piece of evidence most definitely will NOT determine anything, but it mentions that Hardee's are typically called Carl's Jr. in the west and Hardee's in the east. I don't know how it MOSTLY works, but I'm from Helena, Montana, and it's called Hardee's here. So yeah.

Yep, it's Hardee's here in Montana. There's a map on Wikipedia that shows which states have which thing, I don't know how to put it here, but I think the fact could be changed or removed or something. Maybe? TheGirl 04:41, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

The Dragon

In Flora and Fauna - The dragon rumoured HAS been seen. We see him The King of Towns Very Own Quite Popular Cartoon Show (KOT's VOQPQS)

"I'm gonna set this thing to sanitize and it'll burn the stink right off ya!" *Hits 'instant death' and is crushed by giant dragon*

So yeah. Kii. I don't mind really just thought I'd point it out.. --lustmyeyes <3 13:09, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

That's true, although that toon was so stylized it might not count in the normal continuity. — It's dot com 23:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

No Final Comma

If Free Country, USA, is supposed to be a town in USA, why does it lack the final comma throughout the entire wiki? I'm assuming that every single person on this wiki isn't ignorant of basic English grammar...

I'm afraid I may have to explain myself later, so I'll cover it now: The ending comma would, of course, be left out at the end of a sentence (where it is replaced by a period or whatever) or title (which function as sentences.)

^(The)trlkly 14:48, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm actually a proponent of avoiding the issue by leaving out both commas: Free Country USA. The "USA" seems to be an integral part of the name and thus should not be set off. (I don't know how much, if any, this would contradict the source material.) — It's dot com 16:03, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Let me get this straight, you think there should always be a comma after "USA"? That's NOT grammatically correct. — Defender1031*Talk 19:30, 14 October 2008 (UTC)