Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 13:10:13 GMT -5
Cypher Raige: Hey, party people! We are back from a long holiday break to pick up on the Homestar reviews. I am super unexcited about our crop of toons this week. We have one holiday shorty with not much meat, three largely boring Marzipan's Answering Machine toons, and one bona fide classic HSR jam! But hopefully soon we will have blasted through the last of the lame and finally hit the warm gooey center of the Homestarniverse (that's right, bitches, I have embraced my own word!). I kind of liken these first few batches of reviews to getting through watching the first couple of seasons of The Simpsons. There's some good stuff, but we're still waiting on the brilliance to come. What do you think, Roy Batty's Pet Dove?
random dude: Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the holidays; they're America's pastime! I'm with you on this week's cartoons being a bit dull, Raige. Although we're getting pretty close to where the site would experience a pretty dramatic improvement in quality, so for now, let's just get these weaker cartoons out of the way before we reach that aforementioned highly-vaunted, warm, gooey center of the Homestarniverse.
A Mother's Day Message
Cypher Raige: HAHA! LOOK! It's Strong Bad in a sailor suit holding a wowwipop! If that ain't comedy then I don't know something something. Anyway, simple premise here: Strong Bad loses a bet, and now he has to dress up like a sissy and say "Happy Mother's Day." This is pretty much the equivalent of a Mother's Day card, and there really isn't any more to it. The "sissy" look harkens bag to some old Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes cartoons. Um, that's all I got.
random dude: Yeah, I didn't get too much out of this one either. Dressing a character in a sailor suit for comedy is an overused and largely unfunny visual gag, and it's no exception here. In the Brothers Chaps' defense I will say that it didn't seem as if they were trying to do anything other than make a slight Mother's Day sketch, which is what it is.
Fluffy Puff Commercial
Cypher Raige: The Fluffy Puff commercial is a stone cold classic, and it is only slightly detrimental that it is the exact premise as the Homestar Runner Welcome Speech. Homestar is at his cutest when he is super confident and also super clueless, which this toon has in spades. Fluffy Puff Marshmallows really needs to reconsider its marketing strategy. If only they could get a spokesman who is more creepy, kinda scary, and infinitely more marshmallow-like. If only.
random dude: "Before I drink something often times I eat something too." You're right Raige, Homestar's joyous stupidity never gets old, and the vagueness of the aforementioned line, and Homestar's repeated "I know! Can you believe it?" are probably my favorite bits from any of this week's cartoons. Of course Homestar would repeatedly forget the two sentences that compose his lines for a commercial, forcing the exasperated director to improvise and give Homestar lines so simple that even he can't screw them up: "I like marshmallows!"
Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 3.0
Cypher Raige: More of the same here. I mentioned on the very first one of these that we reviewed that they don't start getting very funny until around Version 8.0 or 9.0. Version 3.0 does introduce a recurring theme of the other characters hitting on Marzipan. As noted before, Marzipan is the only girl in Free Country USA. In this way, Marzipan is mostly Smurfette, devoid of any other real defining characteristic other than the fact that she is female. Boo.
random dude: Yeah, I think I've said this before, but one of the things I don't care for about Homestar Runner is how often Marzipan, particularly in these earlier cartoons, is reduced to a parody of some sort of female stereotype, and here she isn't even a parody, her character is just "girl". And what makes this specific cartoon particularly egregious is the fact that the three messages in which Marzipan is being hit on aren't even remotely funny, but rather a mixture of awkward and creepy. The only humor that comes out of is are in Homestar's two messages, in which he's either blissfully oblivious to Bubs' intentions or needlessly complicating a simple "yes" or "no" question. I did sort of like Strong Bad's pathetic attempt to prank call Marzipan as herself: "OK, I'mma see you tonight, because I'm you."
Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 4.0
Cypher Raige: *SNORE* Wha? Huh? Oh right, another Answering Machine thing. The only thing I found entertaining in this one is When Strong Mad attempts to prank Marzipan, while Strong Bad yells at him in the background. This is just a small hint of how the Brothers Chaps would turn these simple and one note jokes on their heads within a few more attempts.
random dude: I actually thought that this one was at least marginally better than previous editions of Marzipan's Answering Machine. Strong Bad saying "Doo hoo hoo hoo hoo" to imitate the King of Town was somewhat amusing, as was the KoT's completely unnecessary prank call as Strong Bad admitting to being the culprit of the prank calls. The Homestar and Strong Sad stuff was mostly forgettable, although Strong Sad calling his own house to remind himself to check his caller ID was characteristically pathetic of Strong Bad's little brother.
Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 5.0
Cypher Raige: Drunk Coach Z and drunk Bubs! Bubs has failed Rule #14 of the Bro Code: Bros don't let bros drunk dial! Homsar pops up again, presumably after recuperating from having a Heavy Lourde dropped on him by Strong Bad. Homestar even manages to screw up a job as easy as telemarketing, but more importantly, he actually enjoys being a telemarketer! What a dumbass! And Strong Sad continues to live up to his name, at least the latter part. Are we done with these yet?
random dude: Yeah, this one seems like another example of Matt Chapman largely riffing in character. Homsar's return isn't very exciting, as his character at this point is still nothing more than a funny voice. Strong Bad's obligatory prank call is somehow even more poorly executed than usual, and Coach Z is unfunny in this cartoon whether drunk or sober. I did kind of enjoy listening to how bad Homestar was at telemarketing, and his working at this job seems to be a bit of a precursor to future cartoons set in the office, which are generally much funnier than any of these early Answering Machine toons.
Cypher Raige: Okay, folks, that's all we have for this week. Thanks for reading! I will update this later when we figure out what cartoons will be reviewed next week.
random dude: Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the holidays; they're America's pastime! I'm with you on this week's cartoons being a bit dull, Raige. Although we're getting pretty close to where the site would experience a pretty dramatic improvement in quality, so for now, let's just get these weaker cartoons out of the way before we reach that aforementioned highly-vaunted, warm, gooey center of the Homestarniverse.
A Mother's Day Message
Cypher Raige: HAHA! LOOK! It's Strong Bad in a sailor suit holding a wowwipop! If that ain't comedy then I don't know something something. Anyway, simple premise here: Strong Bad loses a bet, and now he has to dress up like a sissy and say "Happy Mother's Day." This is pretty much the equivalent of a Mother's Day card, and there really isn't any more to it. The "sissy" look harkens bag to some old Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes cartoons. Um, that's all I got.
random dude: Yeah, I didn't get too much out of this one either. Dressing a character in a sailor suit for comedy is an overused and largely unfunny visual gag, and it's no exception here. In the Brothers Chaps' defense I will say that it didn't seem as if they were trying to do anything other than make a slight Mother's Day sketch, which is what it is.
Fluffy Puff Commercial
Cypher Raige: The Fluffy Puff commercial is a stone cold classic, and it is only slightly detrimental that it is the exact premise as the Homestar Runner Welcome Speech. Homestar is at his cutest when he is super confident and also super clueless, which this toon has in spades. Fluffy Puff Marshmallows really needs to reconsider its marketing strategy. If only they could get a spokesman who is more creepy, kinda scary, and infinitely more marshmallow-like. If only.
random dude: "Before I drink something often times I eat something too." You're right Raige, Homestar's joyous stupidity never gets old, and the vagueness of the aforementioned line, and Homestar's repeated "I know! Can you believe it?" are probably my favorite bits from any of this week's cartoons. Of course Homestar would repeatedly forget the two sentences that compose his lines for a commercial, forcing the exasperated director to improvise and give Homestar lines so simple that even he can't screw them up: "I like marshmallows!"
Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 3.0
Cypher Raige: More of the same here. I mentioned on the very first one of these that we reviewed that they don't start getting very funny until around Version 8.0 or 9.0. Version 3.0 does introduce a recurring theme of the other characters hitting on Marzipan. As noted before, Marzipan is the only girl in Free Country USA. In this way, Marzipan is mostly Smurfette, devoid of any other real defining characteristic other than the fact that she is female. Boo.
random dude: Yeah, I think I've said this before, but one of the things I don't care for about Homestar Runner is how often Marzipan, particularly in these earlier cartoons, is reduced to a parody of some sort of female stereotype, and here she isn't even a parody, her character is just "girl". And what makes this specific cartoon particularly egregious is the fact that the three messages in which Marzipan is being hit on aren't even remotely funny, but rather a mixture of awkward and creepy. The only humor that comes out of is are in Homestar's two messages, in which he's either blissfully oblivious to Bubs' intentions or needlessly complicating a simple "yes" or "no" question. I did sort of like Strong Bad's pathetic attempt to prank call Marzipan as herself: "OK, I'mma see you tonight, because I'm you."
Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 4.0
Cypher Raige: *SNORE* Wha? Huh? Oh right, another Answering Machine thing. The only thing I found entertaining in this one is When Strong Mad attempts to prank Marzipan, while Strong Bad yells at him in the background. This is just a small hint of how the Brothers Chaps would turn these simple and one note jokes on their heads within a few more attempts.
random dude: I actually thought that this one was at least marginally better than previous editions of Marzipan's Answering Machine. Strong Bad saying "Doo hoo hoo hoo hoo" to imitate the King of Town was somewhat amusing, as was the KoT's completely unnecessary prank call as Strong Bad admitting to being the culprit of the prank calls. The Homestar and Strong Sad stuff was mostly forgettable, although Strong Sad calling his own house to remind himself to check his caller ID was characteristically pathetic of Strong Bad's little brother.
Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 5.0
Cypher Raige: Drunk Coach Z and drunk Bubs! Bubs has failed Rule #14 of the Bro Code: Bros don't let bros drunk dial! Homsar pops up again, presumably after recuperating from having a Heavy Lourde dropped on him by Strong Bad. Homestar even manages to screw up a job as easy as telemarketing, but more importantly, he actually enjoys being a telemarketer! What a dumbass! And Strong Sad continues to live up to his name, at least the latter part. Are we done with these yet?
random dude: Yeah, this one seems like another example of Matt Chapman largely riffing in character. Homsar's return isn't very exciting, as his character at this point is still nothing more than a funny voice. Strong Bad's obligatory prank call is somehow even more poorly executed than usual, and Coach Z is unfunny in this cartoon whether drunk or sober. I did kind of enjoy listening to how bad Homestar was at telemarketing, and his working at this job seems to be a bit of a precursor to future cartoons set in the office, which are generally much funnier than any of these early Answering Machine toons.
Cypher Raige: Okay, folks, that's all we have for this week. Thanks for reading! I will update this later when we figure out what cartoons will be reviewed next week.