Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

Complaining about in-jokes and running gags is silly.
Homestar Runner is not just another cartoon with the typical surreal sense of humor, TBC have developed a unique sense of humor for HR. To uphold the quality, you may need some repetition to get that across.

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Typically when I introduce someone to H*R I show them first the intro then a couple of the classics (like dragon, techno, japanese cartoon, any others that pop into my head at the time). It would be nice if we could make a list of the toons to introduce people to the site with, by the way. But regardless, I don't see it as a problem. I agree it's a bit annoying that people see it as inaccessible, and I've experienced this. Me, I was hooked at my first sighting, couldn't get enough of it, and I don't think the style has changed all that much in these four(?) years, so I'm thinking it's their problem, not the site's problem.
The site wasn't made for everybody! everybody! to love, only a select few everybody!s who like surreal, intellectual, medium-brow, humor.

Was that coherent? I think I need to sleep.

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Sure, maybe... I never really thought of that. I suppose it also would be funny, even if you don't watch the show on a regular basis...

Homestar Runner thrives on in-jokes. It makes true nerds laugh and the uninitiated scratch their heads.

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Everybody, Everybody!
The Cheat = Win

It doesn't bother me one bit. I'm a die hard H&R fan. I've seen all the toons on the site. I don't care if they throw an inside reference at me, because I know where it came from.
One of my favorates:

(Head explodes)
Woah the cheat! That computer has something against you! Did you ever like, pour Mountain Dew all over it?

Wow did I laugh.
If you're going to get someone into homestarrunner, have them I guess watch a few really good new toons, and then get them to start watching toons at the beggining of the compy era. Maybe show them a couple of the few good ones from back then though (halloweener, Vacation). I mean most of the compy emails are as funny as the ones today.
I can't see why anyone would be of not wanting to sit down and watch a bunch of old toons. Like it's almost the best entertainment in the world. I thought homestarrrunner.com was quite funny, What did I do? I spent hours watching every sbemail put on the site. I mean it's hardly a waste of time in comparrision to watching TV or playing videogames, and it's almost always more entertaining than watching either of them anyways.

An edit: I'd rather homestarrunner use inside jokes more than a TV show anyways, because if it's a TV show, you have to find a way to get your hands on all the earlier seasons. YOU HAVE TO PAY A BUNCHES OF MONEY to see them. Just so you understand the inside jokes. Homestar runner on the other hand is free, and would only take like, a day or two to watch everything.

I don't think it's getting any more self-referential than it has been. I think observational humor is always more funny than self-referential (which is why I think TBC are comical geniuses - they always get everything so spot on (for example, "theme park")), but you need the character continuity (including in-jokes) to maintain an interesting and believable cartoon universe.

I think the best thing for a first time visitor to do is to watch the "first time here?" video (obviously) and then the character videos. Then they should go and watch some of the classics, like "A Jorb Well Done," and "japanese cartoon," maybe even some of the older stuff like "duck pond" (come here, ducky).

By the way, is that Randy Disher in your signature?

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Datum sounds good!

It would take over ten and a half hours of solid back-to-back-to-back viewing just to watch all the Strong Bad Emails, not to mention the rest of the toons. You could do it in the time you mention, but it might be easier to spread it out over a week or more. *Sigh*, I must be getting old. I remember when you could watch everything in one sitting.

I've been thinking for quite some time now that there are too many inside jokes. We all love a good inside joke, but when 50% of every cartoon is a reference to an old cartoon, it gets annoying. Can we at least demolish some of the lame ones like "shut up lady!" and bring back some of the cool ones? (Stinkoman)

I think the inside jokes is a great way to reward those of us who've been constant viewers for a while. And, really, there isn't enough inside references to ruin cartoons for new viewers; it just makes it that much better for those of us who can understand it.

I feel ya Hairu. For a while I was starting to get really annoyed with all the inside jokes, but they've been backing off, thank the lord. Dth'mberween was the last straw for me. It wasn't funny even if knew what the Thnikkaman was. I'm O.K. with the slight excess of inside jokes in the games, since it makes sense to put more than normal in them. But I was really annoyed for a long while with the amount of self-referencing. I remeber my first email. It was Japanese Cartoon. Back when you could get into it without having to go back and watch a ton of the better ones. Also, I see alot of you saying that it doesn't push out people who don't get the inside jokes. It does. IT REALLY DOES!
I'll get off my Soap Box now.




Edit:

It's not a reward when it is overdone. More like a curse.

I think it sometimes does get a bit too self-referential but, a bit of consistancy is good.

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I know how em ducky goes, quack quack. Oh and please click on the 5 eggs once per day or something. Don't let them die!

I think it's just fine. Perhaps a tad more even...

Just a tad though.

The first toon I saw was DNA Evidence, but it didn't confuse me. I thought Homsar was Homestar's sidekick though, and I did not know the references on the sbemails that provoked the toon.