Nintendo Character Profile | Strong Bad

Strong Bad
"That freakin' duck swallowed both my pixels!"

Statistics

Age: Strong Bad's age is generally ambiguous. He seems older than most of the characters of the Homestar Runner cast, and most episodes suggest he is in his mid-to-late 20s, with others going as far as saying mid-30s.

Species: Unknown, but he was originally a tag-team wrestler with his brother Strong Mad, who is a completely different shape and size to him. He does, however, seem to have always had the same appearance, suggesting that he was born as a Mexican Wrestler. His poor mother…

Location: The world in which Strong Bad and his Homestar Runner pals come from is unnamed, but they do make quite a few references suggesting that they actually live on Earth. He also rules the land of Strong Badia, which is a desolate field behind two skips (or dumpsters) and lives in ‘The House of the Brothers Strong’ with his brothers Strong Mad and Strong Sad.

Birth: Whilst nothing is known about Strong Bad's actual birth, we do know he is the middle child of the Brothers Strong with Strong Mad being the oldest and Strong Sad being the youngest.

Main Features: Strong Bad has boxing gloves for hands and a Red Luche Libre wrestling mask on his face, which is, believe it or not, his real face and not an item of clothing, except in one episode of the animation where he takes it off, causing him incredible, seething pain, but this had caused no visible damage whatsoever. He has green eyes, with black markings around his face, and a shield-shaped diamond with a silver/grey curved V (probably eyebrows) set in-between them. He also has a rectangular mouth, which never seems to close.

He was originally the villain of the series, trying to cheat his way to the top, of which he still does, which also goes wrong for him in one way or the other, normally in a comical manner. He does not particularly like anyone and always has something spiteful to say, and he is also a form of comic relief for the episodes, which may be due to him being a stand-up comic as a youngster. Also, he loves to reply to emails; at his fastest he can type at 240 words per minute. Astonishing, right?

Clothing: Strong Bad wears a white sweater with black trousers and red shoes with a white trim and he never seems to deviate from this, although in-game he can put on various costumes, ranging from plain oven mitts (over the top of his gloves) through to impersonating other members of the Homestar Runner universe, including Homestar and Strong Sad. He is not even afraid to dress up in drag…

Concept

Strong Bad first appeared in the episode “The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest” in which he tries to cheat using a furry yellow animal known as “The Cheat” to win the “whoever holds the most grapes wins” competition, but he is eventually defeated by Pom Pom after Homestar revealed his method of cheating.

Strong Bad likes to big himself up, claiming to be a mastermind criminal, the strongest man in the world and a hit with the ladies, although there is either no evidence, or at least very little, to support any of these claims. In fact, Strong Bad is shown to be very weak; so weak that he replied to an email once showing he couldn't even manage a push up, he never has any women around him and his “master plans” are always thwarted by Homestar, or one of the other characters.

He works with Homestar and The Cheat at an unnamed company with Homestar being his enemy and The Cheat being his partner in crime. He has his own email list and has his own episodes replying to emails from fans with a passion, often being rude or sarcastic, mocking their spelling errors with his own incorrect writing. He also illustrates and narrates the Teen Girl Squad comics, and has his own band -- DOI -- that appears in the game Baddest of the Bands.

He also has a rather prejudiced side to him, making fun of anyone who can't speak English, is banned from the UK for various reasons, and he hates the Swedish, plus couldn't care less for old people and children, despite claiming to have children of his own with Jeffrey Beffrey Mudgeman apparently being one of them. Strong Bad is apparently known as Vance Mudgeman in his other house and on his children's birth certificates, although he has shown no evidence whatsoever.

His appearance is due to the fact that the Creators viewed Masked Wrestlers as the embodiment of evil when they were youngsters, making him the perfect villain. He is more of a comic relief anti-hero in newer episodes and the games mainly because of his popularity.

Appearances

Strong Bad has made many appearances in the Homestar Runner series and was popular enough to get his own video game set of episodes: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Strong Bad’s name was inspired from a NES wrestling game Tag Team Wrestling group named “The Strong Bads” that included his older brother, Strong Mad. The Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People series was originally released for the Wii and PC, and later ported to the PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network download service.

• Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner (WiiWare)
• Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free (WiiWare)
• Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands (WiiWare)
• Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 (WiiWare)
• Episode 5: 8-Bit is Enough (WiiWare)

Best Appearance

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, Episode 5: 8-Bit is Enough has to be the best of the bunch so far. In the final episode of the first batch of games, an arcade game comes to life in circumstances caused by Strong Bad, mixing the “real world” with that of a video game, starting the 8-Bit wars. Like the other episodes in the series, this is a point-and-click adventure, but the way the game makes fun of many classic video games would make any retro gamer laugh. You can also play certain games that resemble retro games, ones that Strong Bad himself is a massive fan of, like a Wolfenstein-style shooter, for example. The game is also the least linear of all the releases, letting the player choose what to do at any specific time. The game is in no way the best game in the world, and it is rather easy like the other four, but it is the best in a series of extremely enjoyable comical point-and-click adventures.

Do Not Mention

Homestar; the hate for this guy is mainly because he is always the one to put a stop to Strong Bad's cheating. Not only that, but Homestar doesn't appear to be very smart, mainly due to the way he speaks, something that Strong Bad constantly criticises under his breath, even impersonating him when he's not around. Some actions would even suggest that Strong Bad is jealous of Homestar, due to him being admired by quite a few of Homestar Runner cast, with him being good at everything Strong Bad isn't.