Homsar

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Character: Homsar
watch Homsar's character video ← The Poopsmith Homestar Runner →
This article is about the character. For the Strong Bad Email, see homsar.
Not to be confused with Homestar.
Homsar
"Here comes the Yogurt Patrol!"
Domicile Homsar Reservation
Voiced by Matt Chapman
Debut homsar
Complete Filmography
Related Articles
Character Video
Character Relationships
Character Evolution
Other Costumes
Nicknames
3D Variation
"Incorporated!"

Homsar is perhaps the strangest and most enigmatic of all the primary residents of the Homestar Runner universe. Created in response to a misspelled email asking about Homestar, Homsar visually appears as a distorted version of the terrific athlete.

Though Homsar was killed off in his first appearance, recurring appearances in Easter eggs and occasional minor roles led to him becoming the twelfth main character. He is a particularly bizarre character even by the standards of Homestar Runner, speaking in nonsensical word salads punctuated by an iconic "DAaAAaaAAaaAAaa!" wail, and seemingly disregarding normal laws of physics and reality.

Contents

[edit] Characterization

Homsar occasionally makes brief appearances in various cartoons, often in Easter eggs (and has even been referred to as the "secret guy"). Homsar has appeared in an Easter egg somewhere in the middle of every Halloween toon from his introduction through I Killed Pom Pom, except for Which Ween Costumes?. These eggs are typically triggered by clicking somewhere on or near The Poopsmith. Beginning with The House That Gave Sucky Tricks, his Halloween appearances have not been in Easter eggs, except for Haunted Photo Booth.

Homsar doesn't have very many friends other than Strong Sad and Marzipan. Most of the other characters generally regard him as a nuisance. In Fall Float Parade, Marzipan describes Homsar as "never a hit with anyone." In particular, Strong Bad seems to dislike him the most; he states in interview that he would rather gnaw his own leg off than talk to him for 3 seconds. Bubs apparently refuses to talk to him, as evidenced in Where's The Cheat?. Despite his unpopularity, he serves in the Homestarmy and occasionally attends parties where the other main characters are present. He enjoys playing board games with Strong Sad, and has organized his own activities, such as a tree hugging concert and the play "Butt's Twelve by Pies" (starring Lighting and Set Decoration). He ran the Merch Masala on the Cool Tapes tour in Weclome Back and played a theremin in Strong Bad's band in Baddest of the Bands.

In the email interview, Strong Bad, using a pen puppet, claimed that Homsar was "raised by a cup of coffee" (also mentioned by the narrator in Strong Badia the Free when you take over the Homsar Reservation: "raised by a cup of coffee indeed"). In fan club, Homsar proclaimed that he was "the son of a Chipwich", and an Easter egg revealed a photo of a cup of coffee and an ice cream sandwich labeled "Homsar's Parents". Homsar finally says "I was raised by a cup of coffee" himself in an Easter egg in Haunted Photo Booth.

Homsar was the winner of a month-long sales competition between himself and Senor Cardgage for the title of Non-Sequitur Champion. The topic was brought up in fan club, and the loser had to complete a coherent thought as punishment on Homestar Runner's The Show. (It was later announced that Senor Cardgage was the loser.)

[edit] Character Design and Conception

See also Homsar Evolution
Early sketches of Homsar by Matt Chapman.

From a 2003 interview with UMFM:

KEVIN SCOTT: Now, [Homsar] came about because of a typo in an email message to Strong Bad, didn't he?
MATT CHAPMAN: Yes, exactly. I think it was the second Strong Bad email, I found that email where the kid misspells "Homestar," and I was like, "Oh, Mike, this'll be great, we should just make up this guy that just has "Homsar" written across his chest, and then Strong Bad kills him, drops a big weight on him." And so we did that, and then just a couple of other times we thought it'd be funny to bring back that little guy that we killed off in that one episode. Then he just kept getting more and more interesting the more he would pop up. He's kind of become, like, the Easter egg of the entire site.

Homsar was created in response to a typo in a Strong Bad Email: Vinnie C. asked, "If you hate Homsar so much, why don't you kill him?" The Brothers Chaps took advantage of the misspelling to create an oddball one-off character: as the Brothers were living apart at the time, Matt Chapman sent the voice recording to Mike Chapman, who finalized Homsar's design. In the final homsar email, Strong Bad drops a Heavy Lourde on Homsar, presumably killing him.

Homsar was later brought back as an Easter egg in The House That Gave Sucky Treats; in many subsequent Halloween toons, Homsar would be included as a hidden Easter egg. Despite continuing appearances throughout many toons, Homsar has never had a starring role — as Matt has explained, despite Homsar's fan appeal, "it's possible for there to be too much" of the character.

Homsar's character design has remained largely consistent. Created much later than other main characters, when the site's visual style had already been mostly solidified, his design has only undergone one minor revision.

[edit] Similarity to Homestar Runner

In terms of general appearance, Homsar bears a striking resemblance to Homestar Runner. Although he is grossly exaggerated, pigeon-toed, and more curved, he and Homestar share underbites, clothing style (a hat and shirt), feet style, shading, skin color, and a lack of visible arms. As he was originally a misspelling of "Homestar", it is logical that Homsar is somewhat of a badly-drawn Homestar. Strong Bad remarks upon this in the email for kids, where he refers to Homsar as a "blue midget Homestar". Homestar himself even calls Homsar "Homestar" in looking old. In Baddest of the Bands Strong Bad calls him a "weird little misspelling", and when Homestar is impressed with his performance, he curses the letters E and T in his name for preventing him from being as cool as Homsar. Despite their appearances, Homestar claims that he and Homsar are not actually related in the SBCG4AP Collector's DVD Credit Sequence.

[edit] Walking

Homsar has pigeon-toed feet that move incredibly fast, but his movement is very slow. Also, whenever Homsar walks, he makes a peculiar fluttery noise, although this sound effect is not present in Strong Badia the Free. Some other characters have also made this noise.

[edit] Speech

Homsar's most distinct characteristic is his unusual manner of speaking, which has varied over time. His tone of voice is generally quite exaggerated, and he often begins sentences by wailing "DAaAAaaAAaaAAaa!". His speech tends to range from perfectly normal English to often random and disconnected phrases that have little to no connection to the scene. Many believe that Homsar speaks in word salads (a speech disorder characteristic of Receptive aphasia in which grammar and sentence structure is often intact, but the words themselves have no particular meaning), but this is not always the case. Instead, it seems that Homsar can and does relate well to his environment and other characters when he needs to, but is also prone to saying completely random things when there's no particular reason for him to stay in context.

It has been argued that his unusual speech patterns are the result of being crushed by the Heavy Lourde. This could be evidenced by the fact that in homsar, he is able to speak "normally" to Strong Bad. Some find this unlikely, considering that he was able to speak more or less normally when he called Marzipan after that event. Alternate theories suggest that his speech patterns came as a delayed reaction or, as stated in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 17.2, he is simply more articulate while speaking on the phone. This exception to his speech does not seem to extend to recording outgoing messages for his own answering machine, as seen in Homestar Ruiner.

As shown in DNA Evidence, he can make his voice sound like a whole crowd of people, even when he is alone. In Happy Dethemberween, he and Strong Sad demonstrate that he can also make chiming noises when hit on the head.

In Strong Badia the Free, Strong Sad describes him as speaking an entirely different language altogether. Strong Bad briefly gains complete understanding of Homsar's language by collecting the Homsartifacts and utilizing a nearby "pylon". He is the only one who understands Homsar, however (as evidenced by a quick view of the conversation from Strong Sad's perspective, in which Homsar not only sounds normal, but Strong Bad is speaking in word salads as well), and at the end of the conversation, the pylon is destroyed, ending Strong Bad's ability to understand him. This version of Homsar has a distinctly different voice (like a stereotypical Native American, which Strong Bad describes as "soothing"), and quite visibly understands everything that's going on around him in a very coherent manner, though he also has a tendency to talk a lot. This would be contradicted in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 17.2, in which he recognizes his nonsensical speech patterns and expresses frustration that he cannot take part in a constructive conversation when not on the telephone.

When temporarily understandable in Strong Badia the Free, he mentioned an Uncle Chet teaching him an ancient sacred ceremony, a summoning song caused by "let[ting] the energy build" , which apparently consisted of wailing "DAaAAaaAAaaAAaa" strongly enough to cause tremors in the nearby surroundings. One would be tempted to think this explains the wail that he always does, but he also states at the time that he "always wanted to try it."

[edit] Naming of Other Characters (and Himself)

Homsar often assigns the other characters, including himself, strange names. This could be because he has forgotten their real names, is confused, or disregards their real names. These "names" are sometimes based on the character's appearance (Strong Sad: That Rhinoceros) or a similar-sounding name (Bubs: Tubbs). When asked for an Autograph for Homsar by Strong Bad in Baddest of the Bands, Marzipan signs herself, "Matzah Ball", indicating that is what he calls her. One might reason that the epithet is used due to the fact that both monikers have the same starting letter and amount of syllables. They are also both foods. Others (Strong Bad: Reggie) hardly make sense. This is assuming that he is speaking to/about these characters and that he is not just disoriented or believes he is talking to someone else. His way of naming may also be used to describe how a character looks at the time, like when he called The Cheat "chocolate cake" when The Cheat was covered in whatsit. Homsar also thinks up strange names for himself, such as "Homsar, the captain of the gravy train", "the human wedgie", "a friendly reminder", "a knock-knock joke about jogging suits", "a song from the '60s", and "a real batch export". Homsar doesn't seem to repeat any of his made-up names (except a song from the '60s), in keeping with his tendency to forget or disregard things or become confused. Homsar has also been named by others, like when Homestar called him "the secret guy" or when Strong Bad referred to him as "America's favorite blue midget Homestar".

[edit] Homsar and the Laws of Physics

Homsar floating in The Field.

Another bizarre aspect of Homsar is his ability to defy the laws of physics through means that are not entirely explained. In many cases it would appear that Homsar can bend reality to his will, performing feats that other characters cannot. Various feats of science defiance include:

On top of this, Homsar's yellow bowler hat can levitate and float around, as well as transmute into different shapes (e.g an engineer's cap as seen in his character video). It is possible that this hat, which levitates when Homsar speaks (including when he is upside down, as in cliffhangers), is actually being manipulated, as opposed to just flying about on its own. Homsar, after all, lacks visible arms. However, Homsar's solo in the music video One Two, One Two involves his hat flying farther than arms on a character his size would allow. Another theory for this is that Homsar, and quite possibly the other characters lacking arms, have limited psycho-kinetic abilities. Indeed, it appears that the laws of both science and logic do not apply to Homsar. The powers of Executive Meddling in recreating Fiction also do not apply, as evidenced in Xeriouxly Forxe, where he doesn't get changed into a hip new character, unlike the rest of the cast (he is in fact called "Still Homsar").

In Strong Badia the Free, after the "secession", Homsar lives in a place called the "Homsar Reservation". Everything in this location seems to defy the laws of physics as much as Homsar himself. Examples of this phenomenon are floating and moving rocks, ripples in the sky, and a strange rock structure with the ability to make others understand his language. Strong Bad is also seen defying the laws of physics by floating like Homsar whilst the rock structure is in full effect.

[edit] Character Video Transcript

See main article: Homsar's Character Video

{The background is upside-down throughout the video, with the blue sky on the bottom of the screen and the green grass at the top.}

HOMSAR: AaAaAaAaAaAaA! Hi, Wonder Mike! I'm Homsar! The captain of the gravy train.

{His bowler hat pops up and turns into a railroad engineer's hat.}

HOMSAR: Climb aboard!

{His hat returns to normal.}

HOMSAR: I've brought my best foot flowered... Pshoooo!

{His hat slides down the back of his head, then snaps back at the end of the sound.}

HOMSAR: Sure beats breaking up with me. Don't look now! I'm just a friendly reminder. AaAaAaAaAaAaA! AaAaAaAaAaAaA!

{While screaming for the second time in a row, he spins around the screen backwards two and a half times. He ends up at the top, upside down.}

HOMSAR: Think I won the Powerball. {His hat pops off, then lands back on his head before the video ends.}

[edit] Fun Facts

Homsar remains "Still Homsar" in Xeriouxly Forxe.
  • Homsar is the only main character with no Old-Timey or Dangeresque counterpart. In fact, he has only two character variations (not including style changes)— the least of any main character.
  • Homsar is the only character debuting in a Strong Bad Email to be a main character.
  • Homsar's coloring is similar to that of the unused character Homeschool Winner.
  • Homsar is the only male character with an animated girl variation, Modestly Hot Homsar. (see below)
  • The font on Homsar's shirt is Bauhaus93.
  • Besides Homestar, Homsar was the only one not to get the Jibblies in Jibblies 2. In fact, the opposite effect occurs when the Jibblies Painting gets the Jibblies instead.

[edit] Relationships

Main article: Character Relationships

[edit] Variations

[edit] Halloween Costumes

[edit] See Also

[edit] Quotes of the Week

Homsar's Quotes of the Week

[edit] External Links

Main Characters

Homestar Runner | Strong Bad | The Cheat | Strong Mad | Strong Sad | Pom Pom | Marzipan | Coach Z | Bubs | The King of Town | The Poopsmith | Homsar

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