Homestar Runner: How to Master a Dying Art Form

[@schmo49]

The proper words to describe what this era of the internet was like don't exist. Every day was a new adventure and I could not wait to jump online and see what I would discover. Now it's become like opening the fridge to find something to eat. Every now and then I find something great like this video. But most of the time it's the same old stuff.

[@broodypie2216]

Modern life in general has become as malaise as pacing to and from the fridge.

[@flashypork]

My friends and I would literally run home from school so we could be the first to watch a new sbemail. It was like a contest to find all the easter eggs, and we'd offer tips to each other to catch the ones we missed. It was always amazing finding someone else who knew Homestar because even at peak popularity, it was still relatively niche, but every now and again you'd come across someone casually drop a word like "burninating" and you could spend the next three hours talking to them about Homestar lol. It was like by watching it, you couldn't help but be drawn into this larger community. No one was ambivalent about Homestar; if you knew about it, you were 100% in.

[@dash4800]

Back when you had an hour online before your parents kicked you off. I remember a friend got his email made into a video. That was something else for us. Not like today where everyone pander to the viewers and you know exactly what videos will entail.

[@HellyeahRook]

You explained it perfectly.

[@trista-iw5su]

Yup, everything nowadays is mass produced bullshit.

[@JorgeTorres-ek5qs]

I tried to explain to a post-millennial what HSR was, and I told her: It was like a menu page for a streaming video website, but fun! Imagine clicking on a show in Netflix, and the entire show itself was just one long dynamic menu screen with clickable menu buttons coming and going throughout the episode. She said: Whoa... It almost seems like we kinda took a step backwards as the Internet evolved. We're gonna be okay you guys. This next generation has some good heads on their shoulders. 🥲

[@DMLand]

"A free piece of white-collar malware that moonlighted as an animation tool" summarizes the entirety of late-90s Internet everything.

[@Omnywrench]

Everyone loved the Homestar Runner. He was a great athlete.

[@Spthomas47]

Stiny! Get me a danish.

[@AugustusBohn0]

terrific, even

[@jamiethedinosaur869]

@@Spthomas47 Stiny! Who spilled coffee all over the plans to my death ray?

[@thumper5555]

Terrific*

[@myboatforacar]

And so, The Cheat mashed play on an extremely expensive jambox with high-speed dubbing and everybody put their weight on it!

[@CesarTheKingVA]

Fun fact- if you downloaded sbemails to an iPod (the original, bulky type that used the dial to navigate without a touchscreen) they had a unique little animation for the beginning and end of that as well! If I remember, it involved SB being "claustrophobic" and headbutting the screen to get out, making a "shattered screen" effect. It was amazing.

[@DuskusCB]

*UH-OH, FACE PRINT!*

[@vaderdudenator1]

LET! *bang* ME! *bang* OUT! *bang tinkle tinkle* Oops, I hope you bought the extended warranty *zap*

[@BokBarber]

My old 5th gen ipod still has every single one of the original Homestar Runner videos that they offered to download.

[@FosukeLordOfError]

Let me out of tiny box... oh hope you got the extended warranty

[@ohhellobethany]

OMG I had all of those episodes downloaded onto my iPod video!

[@pawned79]

Whenever I make some Homestarrunner joke, my kids just look at me in bewilderment. Then I pull up the reference on KZbin to show them - and they just look at me in bewilderment. “I’m sad that I’m flying.”

[@maricampari3970]

Carrageenan, monteljohn. Can you detect me to the nearest bus stamp?

[@Crudely-Drawn-Cupcake]

I’m MAD that I’m flying…

[@UliTroyo]

It makes me sad that a generation is growing up without knowing what we gave up in interactive art when Flash died :/

[@charleyedwards2121]

agreed, they dont get to know the joy of creating stuff like this just because you wanted to and could.

[@AwesomeYena]

Which generation are you talking about?

[@curtbert2121]

@@AwesomeYena gen alpha coming after Gen z.

[@AwesomeYena]

@@curtbert2121 I'm sure some will, Homestar Runner was before my time too. I only just found out about it in May. If KZbin's still around by then maybe they could watch KZbin videos about Flash.

[@thedangersofoxygen135]

H*r is still alive and well

[@RealLukeWilson]

I found an old DVD of Strong Bad’s 50 Best Sbmails in the dollar bin the other day, and buddy, I picked it up SO FAST

[@onebchillin2366]

Does it have the long pants man episode?

[@Magknot707]

What info does the case have on it? Who made it & distributed it? Please

[@RealLukeWilson]

@@onebchillin2366 Unfortunately it does not, but during the FBI WARNING at the beginning, Strong Bad pops up to make fun of people who complain about their favorites not being included!

[@RealLukeWilson]

@@Magknot707 The copyright says it's produced by "Useless Junk, Inc." but I'm assuming it was something the Brothers Chaps used to sell on their webstore. A friend of mine used to have a CD of Strong Bad Sings, so I know they produced at least some physical content.

[@onebchillin2366]

@@RealLukeWilson thats great! I ask because my wife is "Clanky" and i happen to come across a video about strong bad recently!

[@pgj1997]

Homestar Runner was ahead of its time, and dare I say, peak internet content.

[@TheAsrielDeal]

Are you Mario

[@sweetdannyandlisa]

It was a peak, alright. That kind of peak that never comes again.

[@RamadaArtist]

The whole reason why Flash can do so much more than typical video animation, is because Flash isn't really a video player. It's great for making animated videos, but at its heart, Flash is basically a video game engine lite. Hence why there were so many Flash games in the years following Homestar Runner, (a lot of them remarkably high quality, considering they were usually straight up freeware.)

[@liammartin6636]

This was very well done. Too many times when I see retrospectives on Homestar Runner, it's either by people who weren't fans who don't understand how to talk about it, or by people who were huge fans who don't know how to explain why we should care about it, but I think you nailed the spirit of being a fan of a weird talking animal cartoon and still being presentable to regular people. Thanks for explaining why we all loved the easter eggs so much because finding out about them was when I really went from liking H*R to REALLY loving it back in the day.

[@MrSqueamishJam]

Yes this is exactly how I felt. When trying to talk about this to my friends I was never able to articulate what exactly kept me so engaged

[@athousandpins]

Only a few years into Homestar runner I tried to find everything on the site. 7or 8 dedicated hours later, I didn't even get close. No reason to quit trying though. The amount of material is astoundingly large. Out of all the "flashes" in the pan from back then, this was engaging for many years. Seeing some of these easter eggs I didn't know about is very bittersweet since we can't interact quite the same anymore.

[@TheSilverVixen]

Strongbad emails were what got me through middle/high school.

[@Echo81Rumple83]

it got me through college :3

[@karmew32]

They got me through elementary school.

[@sketchur]

Yeah, same. Strongbad emails. The rest of the website's content didn't click with me. I actually didn't know about a lot of it. I just knew about the Strongbad emails.

[@VinnyMartello]

I feel you there

[@ellpoyohlokoh]

Seriously, having that guaranteed weekly piece of new content gave my friend group and I a huge boost of excitement the day before and the day of. Not to mention it was all so unique and felt so perfectly designed for us.

[@TopHatJackStudios]

This took me back to a time when the internet was still a fun, magical place of discovery. It was something you purposely sat down to do, before wireless connection existed in our pockets. Man, those were good days.

[@RedZeshinX]

And what's really amazing was that all this content the Brother's Chaps put up for our entertainment was entirely FREE. No ads, no popups, no subscriptions, no patreon, no shameless plugs or sponsors, they rolled up their sleeves and cranked out cartoons, games, music, videos, the whole shebang for anyone anywhere in the world to enjoy absolutely FREE. To this day their work was entirely funded by sales of merchandise on the HR store, which you can still visit and buy stuff from, they've even partnered with FanGamer to release vinyl records like "Strong Bad Sings!" and cool plushies and even made an entire Trogdor Board game for the family fun times.

[@MarionStevensJr]

I don't know how much paid work they did, but I discovered, completely by accident, that they built the Mellow Mushroom site. I went there to see the hours or menu for the one nearby, and something seemed familiar, so I looked around until I realized why it looked familiar. Not nearly as intricate as the Homestar Runner site, but their fingerprints were all over it.

[@legendarygary2744]

@@MarionStevensJr You weren't kidding about the mellow mushroom site

[@HonkeyKongLive]

They put in the effort to make something people would love. Buying H*R merch wasn't even a question. It was an "of course I'll buy that" situation. They didn't make content that's just good enough to have playing in the background.

[@UniQueLyEviL]

YESS 🥺

[@LikaLaruku]

I still need to buy the last DVD.

[@MemeSupreme69]

You perfectly captured the style and tone of sbemails in your intro skit. Man, I miss homestarrunner.

[@Goon-124]

Miss it? he's on youtube. Uploaded just a couple days ago.

[@Magknot707]

@@Goon-124 You missed most of the point, chief. It was interactive.

[@XianHu]

@@Magknot707 Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined. (Sorry, I couldn't resist)

[@polancoboomer]

Well, they're still pretty active. Strong Bad has active Twitter and Instagram accounts, retweeting fan art, new videos, and even riffing his unofficial appearance on Robot Chicken (that outright uses assets from the cartoons, by the way, violating the site's legal fine-print page)! Meanwhile, Videlectrix, the Brothers Chaps' way of branding their games starting in 2003, re-released and expanded the Dangeresque Flash game, and released Halloween Hide and Seek to Steam, now with voices.

[@cheerfulspace]

truly stunned to realize PQ was done on Stone Mountain. a 2004 me living 15 minutes from there would have melted with the knowledge.

[@CesarTheKingVA]

SAME! I've been to stone mountain so many times, and I knew the brothers chaps were based around Atlanta, but I didn't know they'd filmed that there!

[@elijahbrown5818]

They’re from Atlanta?? I thought there were like, New York, or somewhere in the NE.. . .

[@Link2edition]

@@elijahbrown5818 one of them lived on the west coast for a bit(This was way after the golden era of homestar and was a bit of a content drought), but other than that they have been in Atlanta.

[@JamesRoyceDawson]

That Beast Wars joke was a deep and personal attack on me specifically and I appreciated it

[@JamesRoyceDawson]

@Wirewolf616 Same. I even printed custom disc covers for them to pretend they were genuine

[@ThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan]

Same bro. I remember being a kid and the wait between Season 1 and Season 2 was absolute torture.

[@Jettison42]

For me, it was Samurai Pizza Cats but yeah

[@ProgShell]

Lucky Yates has the most interesting career. At the same time he shot Peasants Quest he was also a regular on Good Eats.

[@Ringcaat]

It's worth mentioning that Homestar Runner is not just a thing of the past, as one would assume from this video--it's still up and still putting up new content! Just... not nearly nearly as often as it used to, is alls.

[@theseanwardshow]

I had a huge website made of flash with all kinds of animations and interactivity but I was a struggling street artist and couldn't afford to renew my hosting so it's all been gone for many years

[@Gooberpatrol66]

Ever made a torrent of it?

[@justarandomhandlewithnomeaning]

@@Gooberpatrol66 The Wayback Machine might have it archived

[@AntiSuccess]

yooo homestar runnerrr. my college-age babysitter showed this to me when i was super little and i was OBSESSED with it

[@lundylow]

"Highly specific microgeneration" and "it has seeped into the way you speak" are so alarmingly accurate. It's such a fond part of my adolescence, but I have no idea how to share it with anyone who didn't also grow up with it. It was a special pocket of the internet. And it's surprisingly been able to maintain its charm in recent videos, but that charm is only noticed by people who grew up with it. I have no clue what a first reaction from Gen Z to Homestar Runner would be like.

[@maxwibert]

I'm right on the Gen Z and Millenial border and I remember crying tears of joy when they announced SBCG4AP. So now you know.

[@mr.w4873]

Gen Z/late millenial here. Found HR when I was just 9. Grew up with it since I was a little kid, at a time when nobody else my age even knew what it was. It was still worth it then and still amazing now

[@mikeey6804]

I totally agree. I got into it in my tweens or a little earlier maybe, a bit after it's peak, but when Flash was still alive. And it's seeped into the way I speak. Sometimes I'll jokingly refer to something "asploding" or slip in an "all the time" out of order in a sentence. None of my friends know about it though, and even though we have similar senses of humor, I don't know how enjoyable H*R would be to them if I just introduced them to it now. I didn't realize how much of an impact it was making while I was enjoying it.

[@mayayamato7351]

i was told about it on a childrens game forum (rip roblox forums) and while it wasnt like a main obsession of mine at any point it still found a way to ruin my vocabulary

[@jonforbes9792]

The "Oregon Trail Generation" consists of young members of Generation X and the oldest millennials who might have played the original Oregon Trail game on an Apple II computer. I think there also is a Homestar Runner Generation consisting of people who might have visited the Homestar Runner website. I think viewers ranged in age from 8 to 35, but perhaps the biggest chunk of viewers were people who were in middle school to college between 2002 and 2005. So, I would say the Homestar Runner Generation consists of internet users who were born between 1978 and 1993.

[@LNSLateNightSaturday]

I worked an overnight job at a bank's data processing center, all alone in a server room for 10 hours straight. Homestar Runner kept me sane in my downtime. I really suffered at that job with loneliness and depression, and the site helped me get through it. I was legitimately saddened when it dawned on me the impending death of Flash would mean HR would cease to work, but I'm glad to see it's accessible again (even if some of the deeper Easter eggs no longer function). Thanks for the retrospective! You've got a new subscriber, buddy! ;)

[@CesarTheKingVA]

Also my favorite gag of all time has to be in SBemail a hundred (or was it 150?) Where they put the site in... WIDE SCREEN! Left side brooowww. Right side brooow- wait, what are you doing there? Oh I'm always here, just standing in the black. Oh... Guess I need to start turning my head to the right more. (All these years later, and I think I mostly remembered that bit correctly!)

[@JeremyHoffman]

Hahaha. I've been saying "guess I need to start turning to the right more often" for so long that I forgot where it came from!

[@davidmartin5145]

I remember noticing the “sbemailahundred” in the url (well after the release) and changed it to 100 on a whim.

[@ultimateninjaboi]

Not gonna lie. I was tearing up by the end of this. This was my childhood.

[@nickthompson2023]

Back then, part of the fun of Homestar was you felt very accomplished when you found some Easter egg because there wasn’t much info online unless you knew where to look for help. I spent hours on the site finding as many of them as I could. Long live Homestarrunner.

[@luchilenium]

As someone who was a regular on the homstar runner wiki and its connected forum throughout the peak years of its popularity, I can also attest that a lot of the Easter eggs the Brothers Chaps left in their videos were literally for the wiki editors. They knew that these fans would delve into everything concerning these videos, and even admitted to sometimes using it themselves to look up one-off characters and running gags.

[@takashiross8553]

I was at GenCon this week, randomly walked up to a guy holding a Dangeresque puppet, and in my best StrongBad voice said, “Dear Strongbad, how do you play card games with boxing gloves on your hands?” Imagine my shock when the guy who responded was StrongBad! I freaked out that I got to meet the brothers Chaps and they were incredibly cool that this random guy walked up and interrupted their card game. That’s 30 seconds I’ll be feeling out about for the rest of my life!

[@RealLukeWilson]

YESSSSS THANK U Albino Black Sheep was so good but no one I talk to these days even seemed to know about it!!! “The Llama Song” was peak humor for 11 year old me.

[@KrishnaWashburn]

Ronald Reagan! You're not a licenced fugu chef!

[@revums]

lo bob! you have pie?

[@godessesque]

What a gorgeous love letter to not only homestar, but to flash itself. 100% sharing

[@ShaozenSC]

GenX rep here. I was working in a DSL sport call center from 2004 to 2008, and we had an open internet policy while working. We all discovered this stuff together and loved it so much. You just brought back the feels, watching this with my 15 y.o. artist of a son. You nearly made me cry nostalgia tears 3 times and inspired him as an artist. Two new subs and thanks for the beautiful, heartwarming video ❤️

[@yngvaldr]

Pure Nostalgia right here. I remember watching these religiously with my girlfriend at the time and hunting for Easter eggs. The System is Down still pops into my head occasionally. Of course bobbing around rhythmically singing Doo do do do DOO, The System is Down, The System is Down causes everyone to stare at you as if you've finally snapped.

[@heathertaylor16]

Facebook's "homestar runner crapposting" has now been linked to this. Really hope this means a subscriber bump/takeoff for you, because your work merits a lot more exposure than it gets. I listen to a lot of youtube essay content and finding your stuff recently has been a breath of fresh air :)

[@LordRavenscraft]

Thank you so much! I'm glad to know HSR fans have been enjoying it.

[@spugintrntl]

I had to stay an extra semester in college as a part time student, so all my friends had graduated and I had to live in a rented attic room. I spent most of my free time clicking the "random" button on HSR and watching whatever came up. I still have most of the emails memorized.

[@JamesRoyceDawson]

A Homestar Runner video? I see you're a man of culture as well

[@mr.w4873]

Gen Z/late millenial here. Found HR when I was just 9. Grew up with it since I was a little kid, at a time when nobody else my age even knew what it was. It was still worth it then and still amazing now

[@Geospasmic]

I got so much joy from this website over the years. The Halloween episodes were especially fun, and every ending screen was full of stuff to find. What a time.

[@AlexWalkerSmith]

This is an amazing retrospective, and now I want to be 12 years old again 😭 And you're right, I quote Homestar Runner almost every day, even without realizing it. "Baleeted", "I can do it 9 times", and "great jorb" are some of the most comment utterances, but there are countess others (off the top of my head: "Pomp-REER!", "Oh man I HATE this guy", "stooooore", "IIIII CAAAAAAN'T SPEEEEEEELL YOOOOOOOU!", "Doo-hoo-doo-hoo-doo!", "I'ma go shower up", "I'm buying you a pizza", and simply the word "burninate")

[@BonaparteBardithion]

My top quote was actually in this. "I'm gonna go...Place."

[@AlexWalkerSmith]

@@BonaparteBardithion omg, you're right, I say that one all the time too!

[@TheGolux]

There was actually a secret homepage, too. One of the games was a soundboard with voice clips of Homestar, and if you made him say the right phrase, it unlocked a Strong Bad mode. Then, if you made Strong Bad say the right phrase, it sent you to the Strong Bad-themed homepage.

[@MrLegendofLP]

I can only hope that someday soon, a proper replacement for Flash is developed. Something that allows for the seamless integration of animation, video games, web design, and video streaming. Things like Homestar Runner and Homestuck were the pioneers of a whole new art medium that got unfairly shafted because Adobe wanted to streamline their apps. But for the short time that the medium existed, it was glorious. Wish I’d been an active internet user before KZbin blew up, I’d have loved to experience H*R in real time. As it stands now, there’s just so much content to catch up on that it feels a little overwhelming. But alas, I was 4 when Homestar Runner started.

[@andrewsmithphoto]

Glad you made this video. Homestar Runner was a favorite of mine circa 2005-6. I had no idea how deep this website was, I wish I had known in the day.

[@sketchur]

20:01 Remember Neopets? Their games were all Flash. Damn, good times.

[@jacquehogan6240]

💜💜💜 I never knew anyone else who knew Home star Runner but I had a really bad lisp and LOVED him so much

[@fingalfingal7417]

I really love your editing in this video in particular. I just love a well-edited video essay and you have some of the best edited ones I’ve seen. Kudos to you and Niomi! Homestarrunner was my high school/college and I have bonded with many friends over our love of the site! My friend and I still say “Haldo” in greeting to each other. I have never stopped to think that, well, kids these days wouldn’t understand the site, how it worked, the interactivity of the Flash medium, etc. and I suddenly felt all of my almost 34 years watching this. It’s fun and strange to think about how our internet experience is so different now to how it was just 15 years ago. You really got that with the reference “what if they just stopped making movies in 1915” metaphor. Great way to explain it. I rec you to everyone as my new fave video essayist. And please don’t feel pressured to upload a specific video (regarding people asking for Animorphs 3). I know that getting more popular on KZbin can make one feel more beholden to demanding fans. I support creating at your own pace about whatever subject you wish.

[@NyanPoptartCat]

I was a massive HSR fan. This series is directly responsible putting the finishing touches on my sense of humor during my last days as an impressionable young person in the early aughts. From yelling "I'M A LONG PANTS MAN" as I dress myself, to liberal use of the word "Meh!" to delightfully exclaiming "CHOCOZUMA'S REVENGE!!" when I get frozen yogurt piled high with delicious, delicious chocolate everything. My avatar on my fitness app is a Trogdor, who burninates fat and calories. And I still learned a load of things I didn't know about the series. Great video. Also, Gregor is a weird name. Thanks for all the laughs, Brothers Chaps.

[@Psy1402]

This is such a good video. I miss Homestar. It was so good. The death of flash really signalled the end of the Wild West of the internet.

[@AshleyWool]

I consider myself a pretty hardcore fan and was certain I'd seen everything there was to see on the site, but I had NEVER seen the "stupid stuff" extra scene OR the hidden mustachio'd Homestar in Senorial Day until this video! Thank you for such an insightful deep-dive into one of my favorite things, and for masterfully tying it into the bigger picture of the cultural landscape and evolution of art and humor in the Internet age.

[@LendriMujina]

Even with all that isn't possible anymore, the cartoons themselves are still worth watching. Very few of them even feel dated at all; they typically stayed away from current events/trends, most of the technology shown was already several decades behind at the time of release, etc. It's virtually timeless.

[@RedBairnMedia]

PREEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOW Man, I absolutely loved this back in the day and it still has a very fond place in my heart. Pretty sure I bought some absolutely random guy a beer in 2015 just because he was wearing a HSR shirt.

[@Chronoplague]

That Peasant’s Quest trailer is still one of my favorite pieces of media in existence! No one knows I’m making a reference when I say, “haldo!”

[@SuperSmashDolls]

Fun fact: if you install the latest version of the Ruffle extension, the .swf tricks you mentioned work again.

[@JustcallmeGnarly22]

My favorite quote from the site was after the kickball game. Homestar said our strategy was to score more points than the other team in the allotted amount of time.

[@meowmiaumiauw]

As far as I'm aware, they're slowly trying to bring most of the features described in the video to formats like HTML, especially since now Adobe Animate exports to those formats

[@joeystuart2949]

Thanks for reminding me Homestar existed. That whole era was strange.

[@lucasandersons]

This has been the hardest video to ever watch. Because I have to constantly go rewatch all the cool videos he keeps referencing.

[@ProfCoolio]

I love how my brother described this series: dumb humor, done smart.

[@jesseburgener442]

What's impressive is that the Brothers Chap are still cranking out content, even if it's not regular video uploads. Games, merch, memorabilia, they're keeping Homestar and co going in some capacity. Would love to see another Homestar renaissance one day!

[@benjaminlevin9959]

It's very heartwarming that people care about this cartoon as much as I did, do, and will continue to.

[@Doughboy123x]

This form of entertainment needs to be revived in a new way somehow. I don't know if Ruffle can do it justice.

[@tonymorrill6561]

This gave me the feels. I was one of those avid fans that wasted hours (at work usually) checking the site at least once a day, every day> I watched each episode multiple times, and clicked the screen all over the place looking for the latest easter eggs. I thought I had seen them all (including the sbemail 100 bit) but you still managed to surprise me with a few. I never knew about the Tab trick.. that would have been good to know. Loved this!

[@xenos_n.]

The tab trick was great, I never missed an Easter egg that way.

[@ShockedLogic]

And now I will spend the rest of my evening overwhelmed with nostalgia

[@juliagoodwin9510]

Ah man, that brings me back... I remember checking back everyday for new cartoons. Screw whoever was responsible for getting rid of Flash. >_

[@PryinBrian]

I've been a Homestar Runner fan since 2008 and I never once knew about the tab button highlighting the easter eggs... and now I'm sad forever...

[@leitmotif7268]

Thank you so much for talking about this foundational cornerstone of the lonely Internet millennial childhood

[@leitmotif7268]

I remember finding that strong bad email 100 404 error trying the link!!!! 😭

[@BasementTermites]

I watched this video knowing nothing about H*R. Since watching this, I decided to watch through all of Homestar Runner. I really can't find the words to describe what it was lke watching through it. On my first watch I found it delightfully dated, such a strange & iconic product of it's lovely period. And then I watched it a second time. And a third. Strongbad Email is infinitely rewatchable, it's an amazing testament to media on the internet. I love it, I can't thank you enough for spurring me to watch it.

[@Foxpawed]

I feel like not enough people fully appreciate how great even their post-flash youtube stuff is, infrequent as it may come; Mr Poofers Must Die, Characters From Yonder Website, even their original brief return with HREmail 3184 ("Aww, a weasel!")

[@PopfulFrost]

How can we ever, how come we never?

[@romangeneral23]

Me and my crew did a homestar runner presentation for english class. Teacher had no idea what we were doing or saying. Totally worth it!

[@swishyclang9175]

I saw the title and knew this was especially for me. I watched the first minute and a half and was struck by such intense nostalgia that I had to pause to go tell my kid about the importance of trogdor

[@BJGvideos]

What did your kid say?

[@swishyclang9175]

@@BJGvideos something along the lines of "mhmm, cool story bro" while mostly ignoring me and shiny hunting in pokemon sapphire

[@polancoboomer]

I first discovered Homestar's world with a commercial for the in-universe restaurant Blubb-O's. And the rest is history, and that was during the time when the site is on a very long hiatus until April Fools of 2014. Also, the show is still alive. They rarely get new cartoons, but they are doing new stuff. Recently, they re-released the Dangeresque Flash game and expanded it, adding the unreleased second game and an exclusive third game, with cutscenes in-between each "roomisode". Strong Bad also has active Twitter and Instagram accounts too, so all hope is not lost for the Homestar Runner universe.

[@TurbopropPuppy]

I miss Homestar Runner Thank you for making this video, it was fantastic to watch, and a delightful surprise to see H☆R content pop up in my feed

[@Archgeek0]

I humbly advise you check out Skills of an Artist, if you've not already. Ol' SB is still up to internet tomfoolery.

[@beveltgr9705]

Cardgage telling SB to "go long" then immediately dropping the football to his side is one of my favorite physical gags

[@xenos_n.]

You truly expressed why Homestar Runner was so amazing. Thank you for reminding me, it's been so long. I'm just glad I spent those countless hours on the website for all those years.

[@natalieshark]

“This isn’t how people check email anymore, or ever.” Oh sweet summer child… The first time I ever saw email was on a computer like this.

[@RobberStormfire]

Loved Homestar Runner. Didn't discover it until around 2006 or so but when I did I binged everything on there. Strong Bad still cracks me up.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

A genuinely great piece of work. So happy I found you channel.

[@loadingscreens]

Its crazy how many points you made and there could still be more to say! I especially think about the telltale game, the hiatus, and the massive impact that was felt across the modern internet when the hiatus ended!

[@PrettyTranslatorSarahMoon]

I didn't even know about the easter eggs until I was a year into HSR. 😅

[@CaptainAye1]

Yooooo that 404 Easter egg blew my mind 🤯. Man round of applause to the Creator's!! 👏🏼 Hella funny! 😂

[@kmichael9787]

Man I love homestar runner and still get hyped on the rare occasion they still update. If they did a patreon to bring it back full-time I'd be iinnnnnn

[@laserfloyd]

To think that it only had a window of existence only a few years long. In my early 20s, we had Homestar Runner stuff ALL over the office and our cubicles. Good times.

[@BREWtaliTEA_]

Excellent opening lmfao.

[@dursty3226]

this video served, not only as a celebration of Homestar Runner and flash, but also as a eulogy for flash, and as an argument for bringing flash back.

[@shelbywatson1464]

I used to play the Homestar Runner Wii game on the daily. I loved that game!

[@hakimitus]

Omg...what a trip down memory lane. Thank you for this video! Not just for the nostalgia factor, but I also find everything related to flash and what the Brothers Chaps did with their website to be inspiring and fascinating. I was into it for a couple years, but then after graduation the real world and depression took over. But your video here is wonderful!

[@billyweed835]

The site is still up actually. Thanks, Ruffle!

[@Foreverthenerd]

Most of the time my brother and I spent on the family computer way back when was spent on Homestar content. Thanks for the video.

[@KairuHakubi]

I really hate when something wonderful like flash is taken away from us and replaced with nothing but it's worse when people don't recognize the deliberate acts being taken to reduce our interactivity and control over our internetting. Nobody talks about it at all. Not in a Gribblesque way, not in a resigned 'oh well that's the world we're in' way, nothing.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

It does feel like the internet has gotten worse post-Flash. There were so many creative games and animations made in Flash. It really was, the line was so blurred between game and video. I miss those times.

[@SatanasExMachina]

This was my childhood. I still watch it today here on youtube, but you're absolutely right.....it's not nearly the same.

[@bubsstand6388]

Thank you for this video documenting one of the most important events in the history of the internet and humanity in general. You did a groot joob. I mean a great jeaorb.

[@HayTatsuko]

What a fantastic retrospective. H*R was one of the very best parts of my early-2000s Internet experience.

[@MatthewHolevinski]

da cheet raving and strongbad talking mad smack is deeply engrained into my psyche

[@dan_zehner]

Great googly moogly, that was a shining moment in my youth. You ARROWED!! my heart with this one.

[@Loach461]

"I wanna be the guy!" "No way kid, maybe when you're older."

[@NoName-ik2du]

I remember playing around on the main page of this site as a kid. I never even watched any of the sketches. Just going through all the menus and seeing what they did was enough entertainment for me. I remembered this site about a year ago and was shocked to find that it still existed and was still receiving regular updates. Thought that was pretty cool even though I had no real personal investment in it.

[@theeggylegs]

This is a great deep dive into something that my friends and I used to love. Thanks for taking the time to make this.

[@patandmacmusic]

Homestarrunner holds a special place in my heart. Thank you for this walk down memory lane

[@marcusott5054]

I'm getting so nostalgic... This was there during my last years in technical college... lots of memories.