Homestar Runner

Homestar Runner is an Flash-animated comedy web series. It started life as a paper children's book called The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest in 1996, followed up by the never-completed Homestar Runner Goes For the Gold. A third book, Where My Hat is At? was finished in 1999, after which Matt and Mike registered the domain name homestarrunner.com. Several Mario Paint and Flash animations followed, but the series did not reach its big break until 2001.
== Canon ==
=== Characters ===
* Trogdor the Burninator
* Strong Bad
* Homestar Runner
* Marzipan
* Strong Sad
* Bubs
* Coach Z
* The Cheat
* Pom Pom
* King of Town
* Poopsmith
* Homsar
* Teen Girl Squad
** Cheerleader
** What's Her Face
** So and So
** The Ugly One
===Strong Bad Email===
The character of Strong Bad was initially written as a villain, but had significant development into a wisecracking funny jerk character throughout several cartoons. In 2001, the brothers created a few shorts of Strong Bad answering fan mail in a snarky tone, and it quickly became the most popular feature of the website. Strong Bad himself became just as popular, surpassing even the titular Homestar Runner in terms of recognizability. The characters themselves would acknowledge this many times over the years.
The current count of Strong Bad Emails is at 209.
===The demise of Flash===
In the mid-2010s, Flash animation started becoming obsolete. Much of the website's contents were uploaded to YouTube, and in 2019 the site stopped updating altogether, with all new toons being uploaded to the homestarrunner YouTube account.
==Fandom==
Fan works operate on two ends of the spectrum: keeping strictly with the levity of the series or adding deep emotional themes. At least half of them manage to meet in the middle, however, blending speculation and hidden depths with the oddball humor.
Humanized fanart of the characters has been seen here and there, but for the most part fans stick with their canon designs.
Before the shutdown of Yahoo, there was an adult Homestar Runner group where members posted NSFW art and slash fic.
===Shipping===
Strong Bad/Homestar Runner is easily the most popular pairing due to their rivalry and the odd ship tease the creators will toss in sometimes. Homestar views Strong Bad as his rival, but also his best friend and has made flirty comments to him on occasion. Strong Bad claims to hate Homestar, but has willingly worked with him on several occasions.
The (mostly) canon couple is Homestar Runner/Marzipan, which is somewhat liked, but the series itself keeps the audience guessing about the nature of the relationship. Older cartoons show them as being a cute couple in love, while the later ones have them breaking up constantly, arguing, and Marzipan claiming theirs is an open relationship. The rocky nature of their romance is played for laughs, though, and they do show appreciation for one another now and then.
Other common ships:
* Bubs/Coach Z
* Homestar Runner/Strong Sad
* Marzipan/Strong Sad
* Strong Bad/Strong Sad
==Archives and Fannish Links==
* Homestar Runner fanfiction at FFN
* Homestar Runner fanworks at AO3
* Homestar Wiki
===Fansites===
* Homestar Sister
* Homestar Freakers
* Homestar Runner (FreeWebSpace)
* Homestar Runner Fan Club
===Livejournal===
* homestar-runner
* homestaricons
* hrwiki
* hsr-ratings
* the homestarmy
===Deviantart===
* club technochoclate
* strongbadia
== References ==
Category:Web Series
Category:Homestar Runner
Category:Fandoms by Source Text