Editing trading cards

{{sbenav}}

[[Image:Sbemail157.PNG|thumb|"Those aren't even from the same lame game. Or 'SLG'."]]

{{aboutemail}} {{for|cards shown in various toons on the website|Trading Cards}}

Strong Bad shows us several examples of character trading cards.

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' {{Film|Strong Bad}}, {{Film|Coach Z}} (pictured), {{Film|Homestar Runner}}, {{Film|Cheatball}}, {{Film|Stinkoman}}, {{Film|Strong Sad}} (pictured)

'''Places:''' [[Computer Room]], [[Planet K]]

{{Comp|Lappy 486}}

'''Date:''' Monday, September 11, 2006

'''Running Time:''' 3:26

'''Page Title:''' Lappy 486

{{dvd|strongbad_email.exe Disc Five}}

==Transcript==

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{singing}'' A-when you dribble down the court with an email, you leave your dreams at the top of the keeey. ''{brings up the email}''

<blockquote class="lappy email">
<div>subject: Trading Stong-gum</div>
Hey Strongbad-<br />
You should have trading cards...With a stick of gum in them.<br />
Nerdly yours,<br />
Daniel,<br />
N.S. CANADA
</blockquote>

''{Strong Bad says "Another freakin' guy named Daniel" instead of "Daniel" and "not safe in Canada" instead of "N.S. CANADA".}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{typing and whispering}'' Oh! Thanks for the tip, Daniel. I'll lay low here in the <!--sic-->states for a while until things cool off. ''{clears screen, talking normally}'' Daniel, trading cards are the biggest waste of not a video game on the planet! In fact, I thought trading cards were outlawed the day they invented good graphics. As for that "gum" that comes with them, I'm pretty sure they replaced that with a pink piece of balsa wood back in the early '80s and nobody ever noticed. So, no, I shouldn't have trading cards. But most of the other idiots round here have engaged in some form of trading cardery. Let's rag on them, shall we?

''{A small area of the top of Strong Bad's computer desk is shown. A trading card of Coach Z entitled "Coach-Like Figure" is placed onto it.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{offscreen}'' First up is Coach Z's line of vaguely sportsish managerial cards. ''{Another trading card entitled "Horrendous Spitter" is placed on the table.}'' What self-respecting twelve-year-old doesn't want to collect pictures of the smelly old men behind their favorite sports teams? ''{A third card entitled "Showering Expert" is placed.}'' And who could resist memorizing all these fabulous stats? ''{Card is flipped over showing vaguely sports related stats}'' Ooh, a record high 23 butt pats in '84!

''{Cut back to Strong Bad on his Lappy, with Homestar Runner next to him.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' And, who do you think was the lucky recipient of all those ''{wiggles his rear end}'' butt pats 'cept a one?

'''STRONG BAD:''' Let me guess, it{{--}}

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{interrupting}'' No, it was me. ''{close up on Homestar}'' It was like I was made to hustle that season.

''{Cut back to wide view of Strong Bad and Homestar}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' So, who got that last butt pat?

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Oh. I think he gave himself that one. He's re-known for his ''{wiggles his rear end again}'' self-butt pats.

''{closeup of Strong Bad's head}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, ''known'' in seven states.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{offscreen}'' What?

''{Cut back to Strong Bad typing on his Lappy. He clears the screen.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{typing}'' Next up, we got the<!-- sic! --> Cheat's trading card game, which is really more like a trading card activity or trading card goings-on, because the word 'game' implies fun and enjoyment.

''{Cut to the top of Strong Bad's computer desk. A trading card of "Cheatball" slides into view.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{offscreen}'' And you won't find none of ''that'' here.

''{Wipe to 20X6 the field with Stinkoman and Cheatball.}''

'''STINKOMAN''': CHEATBALL POISON RAIN VORNADO!!!

''{He throws the Cheatball toward the screen. The animation stops briefly with a fart sound.}''

'''CHEATBALL''': Cheatball!

''{It explodes in a green cloud of gas. As it dissipates, numbers appear in the four corners of the screen and change rapidly. The words "PLAY GET!" flash on the screen and the 20X6 credit song from [[Under Construction]] plays}''

'''STINKOMAN''': Uhm, so, did I win? Does anyone know how this game works?

''{Wipe back to the top of Strong Bad's computer desk with trading cards titled "Cheatball" and "Stinkoman" lying on it.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{offscreen}'' I'll trade you your Cheatball card for my Deathly Pallor Lonely Lurker Attack card. ''{said trading card appears on the table}''

''{Cut back to Strong Bad on his Lappy, with Homestar Runner next to him.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Homestar, those aren't even from the same lame game. Or SLG.

''{closeup of Strong Bad's head}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''Your'' game is for musky nerds to play in the basement of the freshman dorms. This cutesy Japanesey game is for little kids to play during recess, to make sure they don't get any real exercise.

''{Cut back to Strong Bad on his Lappy, with Homestar Runner next to him.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Well, how are them kids gonna earn any ''{wiggles his rear end}'' butt pats if they don't hustle it out?

'''STRONG BAD:''' I don't think butt pats are part of the approved curriculum in elementary schools these days.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{looks sad}'' Well, that's just sad.

''{Strong Bad turns back to his Lappy; cut back to him typing.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{typing}'' The only trading cards I really gave a toot about were...

''{Cut to the top of Strong Bad's computer desk, where a trading card entitled "Petey POOPsmith" appears.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{offscreen}'' .. the Poopsmith's line of gross-out cards for kids.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{offscreen}'' I'll trade you that Petey POOPsmith for this Marzi-PANCAKE. ''{said trading card appears on table}''

''{Cut back. Homestar is still there.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' You just keep showing up, don't ya?

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Okay, okay, I'll throw in this rare STING of Town, too.

''{Cut to table, where said trading card is placed down. Cut back to Strong Bad on his Lappy, with Homestar Runner next to him.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' How 'bout I trade ''you'' a "get outta my face" for this... 

''{Cut to Strong Bad drawing on a sticky note, with the Lappy in front of him.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ...uhhhh...

''{Cut to the top of Strong Bad's computer desk, where a post-it note entitled "148 more reps!" appears.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{offscreen}'' ...one of a kind Strong Bad bench-pressing dinosaurs collector's card.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{offscreen}'' Hooo-ray!

''{Cut back to Strong Bad on his Lappy, with Homestar Runner next to him. Homestar is covered in sticky notes with Strong Bad and dinosaurs on them.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' My collection is complete! And ''here'', my good man, is your "get outta your face". ''{runs off}''

''{[[The Paper]] comes down. After some time has passed...}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' How many times have we had that conversation?

''{Homestar Runner quickly pops his head back into the screen.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{quickly}'' Thirty-five!

''{disappears again quickly}''

== Easter Eggs ==
[[Image:Fan with dimetrodon.PNG|thumb|i fan myself w/ dimetrodon]]
*Click on "good graphics" to reveal the title screen of the 1982 [[Videlectrix]] video game [[C.H.E.A.T.]]
*Click on the [[Strong Sad]] card when Strong Bad turns around to see another The Beleagured: Alliance card featuring Strong Sad dressed as a harlequin, labelled "Prancibald: Limerick Swirl".
*Click on the stack of cards at the end to see all of the trading cards (except the alternate Strong Sad Easter egg card) featured in this email up close.
*Click on the sticky notes on the floor at the end to see them up close.

==Fun Facts==

===Explanations===
*Coach Z's trading cards are references to sports cards which often feature an image of a player of a sport playing said sport. Statistics like the ones on the back of Coach Z's cards are similar to the statistics found on sports cards as well.
*"Fiery How to Play [[Deliberately Poor English|Convusion]]" is a reference to the "How to Play" card in some card games.
*The "N.S." in the email's closing refers to [[wikipedia:Nova Scotia|Nova Scotia]].

===Trivia===

*The back of the "Showering Expert" card reads:
<blockquote>Coach Z<br>
Crunk Warriors<br>
1984 Stat-at-at-ats<br>
Butt pats..................23<br>
Hat throws.................8<br>
Dirt kicks...................13<br>
Shorts.....................3 in.<br>
"Ol' Butt Patterson<br>
once made a castle<br>
out of toilet paper!"</blockquote>
*This is the first time that [[20X6]] The Cheat is referred to as [[Cheatball]]. It is also the first time his voice or appearance (other than his face) has been revealed.
*The floppy disk container reads "[[Floppy Disk Container#kyrandia series|kyrandia series]]".
*Homestar is "wearing" 23 [[sticky note]]s.
*The email [[Stong Bad|misspells "Strong" as "Stong"]] (in its [[Strong Bad Email Sender's Subject|subject line]]) and [[Poorly Written Emails#Emails that spell Strong Bad/Strong Badia as one word|writes "Strongbad" as one word]].
<!-- The part about stickies being the same is already in goofs -->

===Remarks===
[[Image:TradingCardNumberSequence.gif|frame|The number sequence followed by the counters.]]
*The [[Wikipedia:Dimetrodon|Dimetrodon]] Strong Bad fans himself with in an Easter egg was a real creature that is commonly mistaken for a [[dinosaur]]. In actuality, it was a [[Wikipedia:synapsid|synapsid]] (mammal-like reptile) that lived at least 30 million years before the first dinosaurs appeared.
*Strong Bad's dinosaur cards do not use the usual AhnbergHand [[font]] for his handwriting.
*The "Fiery How to Play Convusion" card's white shadow says "Fiery How to ''Score'' Convusion".
*Strong Bad says "Another freakin' guy named Daniel", but, at the time of this email, there had been only one other [[Strong Bad Email By Name of Sender#D|email sender]] by the name of Daniel. However, there had been nine senders with names that are variations of Daniel, e.g. [[Dan]] and Danny.
*If the Flash is viewed externally such that the parts outside the frame can be seen, it can be seen that, even though he is out of the frame at the time, Homestar jumps slightly and has mouth movement for his line "What?"
*The four number counters all count the same numbers; they just start at different times.
*When Strong Bad draws himself bench-pressing dinosaurs on a sticky note, he uses his [[Left Handedness|left hand]], although he is usually right handed.
*The "Showering Expert" Coach Z trading card does not have a gray border on the outside.
*The sticky notes and trading card Easter eggs are clickable before the email is completely finished.
*Strong Bad uses the abbreviation "SLG" for "same lame game". This is a play on TCG, for "trading card game". SLG is also an abbreviation for "simulation game" in Japan, which is fitting because of the appearance of the Cheatball's trading card game in this email.

===Goofs===
[[Image:SB Dino 09.png|thumb|125px|Drawing outside the box]]
*For a single frame, Strong Bad's drawing (148 more reps!) remains after he holds up the sticky note.
*When Homestar leans forward and talks about Strong Bad's "get outta your face", part of the drawing on one of the sticky notes moves outside the border of the note.
*Strong Bad does not capitalize "The States" when he types it, even though he's referring to the United States of America.
*Also, Strong Bad types "the Cheat", even though the "the" should be capitalized, since it is [[Integral Article|a part of]] [[The Cheat]]'s name.
*When clicking on the sticky note on the right at the end, it comes from the left sticky note.
*The closeups of the sticky notes are not the same as the sticky notes on the floor.

===Fixed Goofs===
[[Image:Deathly Palor.PNG|thumb|125px|Deathly ''Palor'' Lonely Lurker Attack card (now fixed)]]
*When this email was first released, "Pallor" was spelled as "Palor" on Strong Sad's playing card. This has since been fixed.
*When this email was first released, the [[sticky notes]] at the end could be clicked on, but doing so did nothing. This was changed shortly thereafter.

===Inside References===
*Strong Bad's intro song for this email includes the phrase "top of the key", a phrase associated with [[Reg Having the Ball at the Top of the Key|Reg having the ball]].
*Strong Bad refers to the activity as "[[Noun-ery|trading cardery]]".
*Strong Sad's [[Grim Reaper]] costume originally appeared in [[Experimental Film]].
*Strong Sad was known as "The Deathly Pallor" in [[impression]]; this is also the name of his [[The Deathly Pallor|radio host alter-ego]] in [[radio]].
*Strong Sad's Easter egg card calls him [[Prancing|Prancibald]], which was first used in [[flashback]] by Strong Bad to describe Homestar.
*The name "Butt Patterson" is another appearance of [[butt-patting]] and a [[names ending in -erson|name ending in -erson]].
*Coach Z's feature fact says he built a castle out of [[toilet paper]].
*Strong Sad was described as a lurker in [[garage sale]] and [[Senorial Day]].
*"Crunk Warriors" refers to Coach Z's [[hip-hop]] tendencies.
*The Coach Z trading cards closely resemble the Pom Pom basketball card in the email [[different town]].
*The capsules on the top of the Stinkoman cards are the same as the capsule in [[time capsule]], as well as the powerups in [[Stinkoman 20X6]] and the Isle of Poms in [[Pom Pom, Too]].
*The song when "Play Get!" appears is also the same song at the end of [[Under Construction]].
*The "biggest [[Waste of X|waste]] of [[Not X|not a video game]]" is similar to other remarks in Strong Bad's emails.
*"Vornado" is another example of [[portmanteaus]], being a combination of "vortex" and "tornado".
*One of the cards says that Coach Z is a "[[Showering]] Expert".
*Strong Bad says that he thinks trading cards were outlawed the day [[good graphics]] were invented.

===Real-World References===

*"[[Whatsit]] Pile Tikes" are a parody of [[Wikipedia:Garbage Pail Kids|Garbage Pail Kids]], which is in turn, a parody of [[Wikipedia:Cabbage Patch Kids|Cabbage Patch Kids]].
*The title screen for "C.H.E.A.T." is a reference to the notoriously unpopular [[Atari 2600]] game ''[[Wikipedia:E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)|E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'', which is often cited as one of the main causes of the [[Wikipedia:Video game crash of 1983|video game crash of 1983]]. The game featured an uncharacteristically detailed [[Wikipedia:Image:ET2600-TheBestPart.png|title screen]] commonly described as being the "best part of the game".
*"The Beleaguered: Alliance" cards with Strong Sad closely resemble "[[Wikipedia:Magic: The Gathering|Magic: The Gathering]]" cards in both art and gameplay mechanics. The numbers in the lower right corner of Strong Sad's cards mimic the power and toughness ratings found on Magic's creature cards.
*The Stinkoman Cards are a parody of Japanese trading card games such as ''[[Wikipedia:Pokémon Trading Card Game|Pokémon]]'' and ''[[Wikipedia:Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game|Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''.
**The points that appear onscreen during the 20X6 sequence resemble the life counters from the [[Wikipedia:Yu-Gi-Oh! (second series anime)|''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime]].
**The yellow cards with attack names resemble the cards from the Pokémon TCG.
**The name Cheatball, as well as the way Stinkoman throws him, is a reference to the Poké Balls used in ''[[Pokémon]]''.
**Cheatball saying "Cheatball" is also a reference to the [[wikipedia:Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon anime]], where most Pokémon speak by saying their species' name.
*The Fiery How to Play Convusion could be a parody of the fact that many trading card games are very complicated, involving odd rules that few people follow.
*The Crunk Warriors is a reference to the former Atlanta CBA team called the [[Wikipedia:Augusta Groove|Atlanta Krunk]] (originally the Charlotte Krunk, and formerly Atlanta Krunk Wolverines). [[Wikipedia:Crunk|Crunk]] is a genre of [[Wikipedia:Hip hop music|hip hop music]] based particularly on the eastern side of Atlanta, [[Georgia]] popularized by [[Wikipedia:Lil Jon|Lil Jon]] and more.
*The "Showering Expert" card not having a grey border around it might be a reference to many vintage sports cards, which were known for having many different versions of the same card with minor differences.
*Daniel's suggestion and Strong Bad's "pink piece of balsa wood" remark refer to the fact that most baseball card packages, up until the 1990s, came with a stick of [[gum]] inside. This is due to the fact that most baseball cards were made by chewing gum companies. The gum was often hard to the point of being unchewable and periodically ruined the card it was resting against in the package. Newer card series have chewing gum also, but now it comes in a plastic wrapper and is fresh and soft.

===Fast Forward===
*A revised version of the C.H.E.A.T. title screen became the title screen of the [[Where's The Cheat? (game)|Where's The Cheat?]] DVD game on [[Everything Else, Volume 3]].
*The Cheatball card would later make an appearance as one of [[Perducci]]'s playing cards in [[Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective]], labelled as a "creature card".

== DVD Version ==
*The stack of trading cards Easter egg is now shown thus: instead of clicking on each of them to make the next one in the stack appear, they all appear automatically, one at a time, with the elevator music heard throughout the email (during the "Crunk Warriors" and "Whatsit Pile Tikes" sequences, respectively) playing in the background.
{{commentary|email=true}}

=== Commentary Transcript ===
('''Commentary by:''' [[Mike Chapman]], [[Matt Chapman]], [[Ryan Sterritt]])

'''MATT:''' You guys, I'm totally bummed.

'''MIKE:''' Why?

'''MATT:''' My Dwight Gooden Rookie card...

'''MIKE:''' Uh-huh...

'''MATT:''' It was worth like, 17 bucks in 1986, probably.

'''MIKE:''' Uh-huh...

'''MATT:''' It's probably worth less than that now.

'''MIKE:''' Yeah...

'''MATT:''' That was a surefire... I mean, you know, it was gonna be worth hundreds by now.

'''RYAN:''' That{{--}} that guy...

'''MIKE:''' You gotta look at your Beckett's catalog.

'''MATT:''' I know.

'''MIKE:''' To find out how much it's worth.

'''RYAN:''' Do they still make Beckett?

'''MIKE:''' I don't know.

'''MATT:''' Isn't that what it was? The first guy?

'''MIKE:''' Yeah.

'''RYAN:''' Mm-hmm.

'''MIKE:''' I think Robin Yount was the character; the player that I collected all his cards; I got all of Robin Yount.

'''MATT:''' I got a lot of baseball character cards.

''{Mike and Ryan laugh}''

'''RYAN:''' A lot of Tony Peña...

'''MIKE:''' Oh, he's a{{--}} he's a good character.

'''MATT:''' You met Tony Peña, right?

'''RYAN:''' I did.

'''MATT:''' Remember when he used to catch when there was nobody on base? And he would stick his leg straight out?

'''RYAN:''' And he could do... let's see... left-handed? There's something where he could whip it while at first base while there came the capture of condition...

'''MIKE:''' Oh, yeah. Look, here's a sports character, right here! The Crunk Warriors, that was originally gonna be a joke in a Teen Girl Squad that we were gonna make about the school Olympics. And{{--}}

'''MATT:''' Yeah, that was the team The Ugly One{{--}}

'''MIKE:''' Yeah, they agreed to let The Ugly One name the team, and that's what she came up with; it was the Crunk Warriors.

''{Pause as Homestar asks Strong Bad who received the butt pats}''

'''MIKE:''' What are they playing, the Kyrandia series of games... Legends of Kyrandia...

'''MATT:''' Yeah...

'''MIKE:''' Malcolm's Revenge{{--}}

'''MATT:''' Joker...

'''MIKE:''' The Hand of Jester or some kind. Is he a bad guy, or was he{{--}} Malcolm, I think. Malcolm was the jester guy. He was a bad guy, but in the third game, you played as him. 

'''MATT:''' Malcolm doesn't sound like the name of a ''jester''.

'''MIKE:''' I think it was. Malcolm's Revenge{{--}} I don't know, maybe I'm making it up.

'''MATT:''' Malcolm Jamal Jester... man? There's a guy that used to walk around here that ha{{--}} wore a jester hat.

'''MIKE:''' Last summer.

'''RYAN:''' That's right.

'''MATT:''' And in the thick of summer, he had this{{--}}

'''MIKE:''' Leather jacket.

'''MATT:''' And a jester hat.

'''MIKE:''' ''{as Cheatball explodes in a green gas cloud}'' Ohh! So this is something we had to do{{--}} get on YouTube and look for some of these cartoons that we're making fun of, 'cause you're like, "Well, you sure we're close with this, these trading card cartoons, but we've never seen one, so let's check 'em out."

'''RYAN:''' ''{softly}'' Beleaguered: Alliance...

'''MIKE:''' Dude, Beleaguered: Alliance... Beleaguered... uh, Beleaguered: Crossroads is my favorite of the Beleaguered card series; Beleaguered: Alliance was whether the attacks was only good. The stitch points...

'''MATT:''' I remember my friend Jason in college coached a soccer team of, you know, eight-year-olds, and we went to a practice one time and that was the first time I ever heard of Magic, the card game...

'''MIKE:''' Uh-huh...

'''MATT:''' ...because the kids were asking us, "Do you play Magic?" Not that they were just asking us if we did magic tricks.

''{All laugh}''

'''MIKE:''' Stupid kids!

'''MATT:''' Yeah, why are you trying to ''play'' magic? It's like you ''do'' magic. And no, I don't do magic.

''{Strong Bad talks about the Whatsit Pile Tikes card series}''

'''MIKE:''' Um... so the Garbage Pail Kids are still around.

''{Matt and Ryan both speak at once, making this bit of dialog inaudible}''

'''MATT:''' Look at that. That is an angry bee that stung the King of Town's face.

''{Pause}''

'''MIKE:''' C'mon, just 148 more abs! Look at his disgusting arms!

'''MATT:''' Um... so wait, aren't they supposed to be{{--}} aren't they all supposed to be bench-pressing... dinosaurs?

'''MIKE:''' Oh, was it bench-pressing?

'''RYAN:''' I think so.

'''MIKE:''' Yeah.

''{Pause}''

'''MATT:''' He's clearly just lifting some of them. 

'''MIKE:''' Yeah... Dimetrodon.

=== Fun Facts ===
*{{w|Dwight Gooden|Dwight "Doc" Gooden}} is a former [[Wikipedia:Major League Baseball|MLB]] player. He was one of the most dominant and feared pitchers in the [[Wikipedia:National League|National League]] during the mid-1980s, but his career declined due to injuries and drug abuse.
*"Beckett's catalog" refers to ''{{w|Beckett Media|Beckett Baseball Card Monthly}}'', a no-longer-in-print publication that provided monthly price guides for trading cards.
*{{w|Robin Yount}} is a former MLB player for the [[Wikipedia:Milwaukee Brewers|Milwaukee Brewers]].
*{{w|Tony Peña}} is a former MLB catcher known for his defensive skills and unorthodox squatting position.
*"Kyrandia" refers to ''{{w|The Legend of Kyrandia}}'', a fantasy point-and-click adventure game trilogy. 
**''{{w|The Legend of Kyrandia: Malcolm's Revenge|Malcolm's Revenge}}'' is the third and final entry in the series.
**Coach Z would later dress up as Malcolm the jester in [[Halloween Hide & Seek]].
*"Malcolm Jamal Jester" refers to {{wp|Malcolm Jamal-Warner}}, best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on ''[[Bill Cosby|The Cosby Show]]''.

==External Links==
{{sbemailextlinks|157|9786}}
{{Strong Bad Email}}