HRWiki:STUFF/Archive/Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2

[edit] Buck tooth-ed fool

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 21:02, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

• They really do sound similar, and they're both villans.
• TBC have referenced Roger Rabbit before.
• No one really is buck-toothed in HR, and there didn't seem to be any other reason for him to use that description.
• The words (which are already highly improbable to occur in H*R) are also identical, not just the pronunciation.

Arguments against:

• Just because one character in one media uses the same clearly derivative pronunciation as another character in another media does not mean it is a reference.
• Pronounced 'ed's have occured elsewhere in H*R (strip-ed pants, as one example).

Additional comments:

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[edit] This isn't dirt! It's STUFF!

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 23:12, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

• Stinkoman is the only character up 'til now known to eat dirt. The fact that Marzipan is "probably" eating dirt makes this a valid reference. (This is separate from a RL reference to Missy C. being pregnant, or to the Inside ref to the "dirty hippie without the dirt" comment in Marzipan's Yearbook Character Page.)

Arguments against:

• Mentions of dirt are not necessarily related to each other.
• See below for arguments for the pregnancy.
• TTATOT
• This fact is now part of the revision for the 'hippie' fact.
• Pregnant women craving dirt (called pica) is not really intuitive enough of a reference to include on an Answering Machine. It sounds like Strong Bad was making fun of Marzipan's penchant for organic food, and she was offended.

Additional comments:

• What makes this TTATOT? It's not in the realm of "It could be this, or something else, or even something other than that" - it's a reference to a single character who eats dirt.
• This is probably based on a real life event (the pregnancy). This makes it unrelated to the other dirt mentions, and the only resemblance is coincidental.
  • Is it worth mentioning at all that Stinkoman also eats dirt?
  • Keep in mind that Missy's pregnancy is NOT (currently) mentioned anywhere on H*R.com - it's only known to the people who were following the Flashforward event. (For instance, *I* didn't know about that until people started talking about it here on the wiki.)
    • Why would it be mentioned on H*R.com in the first place? If we have evidence that she's pregnant, no matter how obscure it is, we can assume that Missy's pregnancy was in their minds when they made this.
      • But how would ANYONE know that? TBC do not have a habit of referencing events in their own lives in their cartoons. Real-life events, yes, but generally ones that are easily verifiable. Aside from the announcement at Flashforward (which apparently we don't have directly referenced yet), there's no reason to believe this was a reference to a personal TBC event.
        • Not every reference has to be understood by all the viewers. For example, do any of us here at the wiki know about the importance of 1987, or what the crap "Get Fushing!" is supposed to mean?
          • We also don't try to guess.
            • Are we absolutely SURE Marzipan's "eating dirt" is a reference to Missy's pregnancy, and not a coincidence? I admit the evidence is strong, but to me, it's not a sure thing.

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[edit] A Dirty Hippie Without the STUFF

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 22:46, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

• This is an interesting reference - while the meaning of "Dirty Hippie" doesn't literally mean "hippie covered in dirt", the phrasing is similar enough that it warrants a mention.

Arguments against:

• She's probably eating dirt because Missy is pregnant (which was announced at the Flashforward convention).
• It seems odd to me that the Brothers would reference something that is not linked to anywhere on the site.
  • Such as Missy being pregnant?
    • I don't understand what that reply is supposed to mean. Are you saying they don't reference Missy's being pregnant on the site? Because of course they don't. They only publicly announced it a couple of days ago.
      • Simply that fans would not be likely to know about her being pregnant, less so even than be aware of the old yearbook. If the obscurity of the topic is a factor, Missy's unannounced pregnancy is a whole lot more obascure.
• TTATOT

Additional comments:

• A reference to Missy being pregnant makes a lot more sense as a reference than this.
• WHOA, wait a minute... the Stinkoman reference and the Hippie (and/or Missy C) reference are two separate references and should not be combined wholesale into the same STUFF.
  • Originally, this was STUFFED on just the "dirty hippie" part, NOT the Stinkoman part. If people think Missy being pregnant is more reasonable, then propose a rev.
    • The Stinkoman bit is just as unlikely as the dirty hippie part. They should both be considered STUFF'd.
      • STUFF'd as a separate fact, then. See above.
        • Now incorporated into the revision below.
• See Geophagy, the actual practice of eating dirt.

Proposed revision:

Arguments for:

• This fact incorporates both Missy's pregnancy and the fact that Stinkoman is also known to eat dirt.
• This version does not necessarily make Stinkoman a reference, just a mention.

Arguments against:

• There still isn't a real link to those other instances of dirt. The reason Stinkoman and Marzipan each eat the dirt are completely unrelated, and the dirty hippie bit refers to dirt on the outside of her body.

Additional comments:

• Adding "Coincidentally, Marzipan was referred to in the yearbook..." would flesh this out nicely, but it's fine as is too.
  • Done.
    • I have to say, the very first thing I thought of when hearing the line was that Yearbook Page and how now she's no longer "without the dirt."
• I'll accept that as a valid reference even though it's not publicly mentioned on H*R.com.
• I don't think we should mention the pregnancy connection as fact, but it seems much more likely than trying to stretch it into an inside reference.
  • It's also interesting that some anonny correctly guessed that Missy was pregnant... before the Flashforward event even occurred.

Proposed revision:

Arguments for:

• This version captures the pregnancy information while excluding the (specious) inside references.
• There isn't a real link to those other instances of dirt. The reason Stinkoman and Marzipan each eat the dirt are completely unrelated, and the dirty hippie bit refers to dirt on the outside of her body.

Arguments against:

Additional comments:

• Reworded this a bit.
• Personally, I think that even if the reasons for it aren't the same, the link between this toon and Stinkoman's dirt-eating should be mentioned - we mention other supposedly unrelated links all over the wiki, why not this one?
• May I ask why this was revisioned twice? Just seems weird.
  • The first revision includes the information about Stinkoman and the "dirty hippie" thing; this revision contains just the pregnancy garble.

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[edit] Banana Manana?

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 04:20, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

• It's good to muse on deeper issues like this.

Arguments against:

• Simply commenting ruins the joke. It's not needed.
• Its a cartoon... people can use a banana as a phone without the need of an explanation.
• Sing it with me... "Homestar is a dumb guy, a dumb guy, a dumb guy..."
• All this is just speculation.
• I don't think TBC intended any of the above options--I know that's somewhat speculative, but this seems to fall into the homestar flying around category--things that are just funny without having a deeper meaning.
• It is indeed good to muse on such possibilities. But this wiki is primarily for documenting the objective facets of H*R cartoons; although there is some room for speculative hypothesizing and subjective interpretation in main-page articles, they can find a cozy and happy home on the talk pages, or, if they choose, run amok like proverbial bulls in proverbial china shops on the forum.
• It could be that Homestar is leaving the message as he's walking by, and the answering machine is simply playing it aloud like many machines do.

Additional comments:

• This fact is ruining the whole joke. I don't want facts explaining why Homestar fly away in technology or Homsar can fly around.
  • This fact is making the joke better. I enjoy thinking about such things.
    • It's just cartoon magic. All of these possibilities seem contrived and spoil the joke.
• What about option 4: the "Homestar talking into a banana" is actually a service robot programmed by Louis and Gilbert from Revenge of the Nerds to provide a visual representation of the messages left on the answering machine. The answering machine is, of course, connected to the "Homestar" robot by invisible nanowires or Marzipan's wireless network.
• homsar does heaps of impossible things, strong mad sent an email via paper bag and we're caring about a banana?
• I'd say it's a mixture of comments 1 and 2; Homestar did actually record the message, but he just happens to be walking by with his Bananaphone at the same time.
  • Another theory is that the Homestar on Pom Pom's mobile is, in actual fact, Mustachioed Homestar Runner, and the real Homestar just happens to be walking by with his Bananaphone at the same time. (It may just be another instance of Twin Characters, but as it is believed by a minority that Mustachioed Homestar and Homestar are two separate characters, and assuming that the Homestar on Main Page 23 is actually Mustachioed Homestar (we never see his face), I will put forward this theory also.)
    • Obviously, these are both theories, and are not necessarily true. Indeed, they may bring up further questions, such as How did Pom Pom manage to mistake Mustachioed Homestar for Homestar?. The ambiguity of the seemingly innocent gag is further intensified when taking into account the events of pizzaz (although the interview conducted in pizazz may have been obtained by Strong Bad filming himself twice, and splicing the footage together later. However, this further brings into question Strong Bad's video editing skills, as seen in stunt double and dangeresque 3). The world may never know.
  • Option 2 is unlikely since there wouldn't be a recording on an answering machine if it was silence. Most answering machines (even earlier ones) can distinguish a dial-tone and background noise and just stop recording after two or three seconds of opening silence. I think option 1 is the most likely.

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[edit] Bana...Banamana...Banamanamana tonight!

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 15:13, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

• the bananaphone is a cellular phone...
• 'I've never heard of this CD' isn't a reason to decline.

Arguments against:

• Though I'm familiar with the concept of pretending that a banana is a telephone, I've never heard of this CD. (In other words, one can pretend to talk into one's banana without it being a reference to our dear friend Mr. Raffi and his beloved compact disc.)
• It's just a comedic gag as old as slipping on a bananna peel. Raffi was not the first person to use a banana as a phone. It's been done far too many times to be a specific reference to him.
• Once again must we bring up the fact that Homestar is a very dim light bulb. If this was the only toon every we'd see that by him trying to send a text message to an answering machine.
• Homestar has treated a Twinkie as a phone before, too. If anything, it's a reference to that.

Additional comments:

• I admit that "Bananaphone" did cross my mind as I watched it, but the thought went something like "I bet someone on the Wiki is going to say that's a reference to 'Bananaphone'." I'm split either way, myself.
• There also is a popular vaudeville joke in which one person has a banana in his ear, and somebody comes up to him and says "Hey, do you know you have a banana in your ear?" to which the man replies "I can't hear you, I've got a banana in my ear!".

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[edit] Speculation into the Stratosphere

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 20:53, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

Arguments against:

• It's a stretch.

Additional comments:

• Nothing was launched anywhere in time capsule, the capsule was just buried. This doesn't even make sense.
• I agree that there are similarities to Time Capsule, in that OTSB is sending a message to the future. Maybe a revised version that draws the comparison a little more circumspectly would be in order.
  • OTSB also sent his mustache and a message to present-day Strong Bad in flashback. But in both time capsule and flashback, there was no launching involved - if there's a reference to anything in the "launching", I would think it'd be to space program, but even that's a stretch.

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[edit] A hankering for some prankering

From: Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2
Posted on: 15:44, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Arguments for:

• Copious other Simpsons references on H/R.

Arguments against:

• Much like the banana, rhyming "hankering" with something that normally wouldn't rhyme is an old, 'oft used joke.

• I've never heard this gag anywhere else. Can you cite that?

Additional comments:

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