Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I was wondering. Is Firebert a reference to Dilbert?

The characters in the strip also includes Dogbert, Catbert, and Ratbert

Yeah, it sounded like someone going "EEEEohhhEEEEohhh". It's like they got Crackotage to do the alarm.

All of Crackotage's lines were about Reynold dying, by the way. Since he had only two, that shouldn't be too surprise, though it would make an interesting running gag.

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“Feelings…” he said slowly, as if he wanted to hold on to the words, “change.”
-Weirdoes in Paradise: Chapter 5

Probably not. It doesn't make sense.
And, for you Dilbert fans, Dilbert's Ultimate House (DUH) is finished.
Check it out.

Regarding the The Cheat-ness of Firebert, what about the origin of the Cheat Commandoes? Remember it all started with the Homestarmy email, in which The Cheat is Firebert, and then the others were an Easter Egg. So Firebert is the only one we've seen in "real life"; it makes sense that he'd be the most direct link to their "real life" ancestor The Cheat!

That said, I think we've got to look at CC and the rest of HR as inhabiting different realities; it's not like "The Cheat IS Firebert," or he's playing him or anything. Firebert as The Cheat's disguise in the email and Firebert as one of the CC are very different fish.

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"Good job, The Cheat! Now try harmonizing with the butternut squashes!" ... "Side effects include wine, women, and song."

Once again, The Cheat Commandos rocked, rocked on!

Even Reynold was funny!!

And it's so obvious that he is in love with Foxface secretly, and the bad name reference from Firebert is a direct reference to the "army" email.

All in all, a sold cartoon.

But of course, as great as The Cheat Commandos are, their great moment shall be surpassed when Ichiro breaks the single season hits record!!

Folks, he's 1 away from tying the all time record in 1 season, and 2 away from being the new single season hit !! (As of Friday night)

Ichiro will rock, rock, on, and so will the Mariners!!!
And thanks to Edgar Martinez (The best DH on the planet) for all the great years he had in Seattle.

I will be very sad when he retires.

But I saw him make so many clutch hits in person, including "The Grand Salami," and "The Double" in October 1995.

I sat in the upper deck in right field at the Kingdome for those two moments with my dad. I feel so thankful I went to those playoff games, and so happy I saw him as many times as I did over the last 10-15 years.

Unless your from the Northwest, or not like baseball, you may not know what I'm talking about. But I forgive.

Anyways, I apologize for getting off subject.
Seriously, awesome cartoon, it made me laugh, and in closing:

Cheat Commandos:
ROCK, ROCK ON!

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-Homsar rules!
-Cheat Commandos Rock Rock On!
-SB Emails are awesome!
-Edgar Martinez belongs in the Baseball Hall Of Fame!
and of course . . .
GO MARINERS!

I think The Cheat could be Firebert. He hasn't done anything completely out of sync with The Cheat's normal behaviour yet, and now we've heard that he sounds just like him - I reckon Firebert is The Cheat. He's just represented in a different animation style.

Anyway, I love this cartoon. As has been observed, there was hardly a passing moment that wasn't funny in some way. The bit that crakced me up the most was when Gunhaver rode the zip line. "Whee!"

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"You get the Most Annoying Transsexual I've Ever Spoken To award." -The Zephyr Song

I had an idea for a little "educational" message they could have at the end of Cheat Commandos. You remember when cartoons had little messages at the end telling you to stay in school, drink your milk, or don't do drugs, so that they could call themselves educational? (They even added one to the American dub of Sailor Moon) How about one for the Cheat Commandos?

Scene: Strong Bad has Strong Sad tied up on a pyre. He is about to light the pyre when...
Gunhaver: Stop, youth of America (and possibly Canada)!
(The rest of the Cheat Commandos enter)
: Whoa, it's the Cheat Commandos!
: Oh, thank goodness.
Gunhaver: This is very dangerous! You should always have adult supervison when you light someone on fire!
Flashfight:(about to say something, then remembers the show can't afford his lines)
: Don't worry, I'm an adult (shows him fishing licence)
Gunhaver: You're good to go, private. Just remember to put out the fire when you're done.
: What?!? Aren't you going to rescue me?
Gunhaver: Take it like a man, boy.
(They leave as Strong Bad lights the pyre)
(Cut to an American flag with Gunhaver in front of it)
Gunhaver: Because learning is half the battle!
No were hurt during the making of this short

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“Feelings…” he said slowly, as if he wanted to hold on to the words, “change.”
-Weirdoes in Paradise: Chapter 5

That sounds res-onable

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-Homsar rules!
-Cheat Commandos Rock Rock On!
-SB Emails are awesome!
-Edgar Martinez belongs in the Baseball Hall Of Fame!
and of course . . .
GO MARINERS!

Oh, man, I LOVE this toon! It seems like it gets better and better each time I watch it. Just the concept of the Cheat Commandos trying to stop Blue Laser from shopping on double coupon is enough to make me giggle, but when you combine that with TBC's stellar animation and wacky dialogue, I'm rolling on the ground.

"Could you reach that tub of Old Lady Rub for me, young man? 'Cause I'm an old lady!"

"I never doubted that you were a lady, sir. ... Ma'am."

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Banner coming soon... I hope...

I, for one, loved this. However, I thought that the other CC episode was better.

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Evidence of the ol' glassies! Nothing up our sleeves, no magic little Alex! A job for two who are now of job age! The police!

Reynold's voice was funny, it sounded like a mix of Strong Sad and '36 Homestar. But I thought the Blue Laz-Alert sound was the best part.

Now WAIT a minute Upsilon--are we talking about Firebert being The Cheat... or The Cheat being Firebert?!! Now there would be an interesting hypothesis. That all this time The Cheat has really been one of the CC; his mild-mannered The Cheat identity is the real cover.
But let me restate that I consider this conversation entirely hypothetical.

On another note, anybody notice that the Cheat Commandoes use different visual "rules" from most of HR? The backgrounds in emails and such are usually the same cartoony, almost glossy style as the characters. In CC they're often fuzzy and more detailed, as if based on photos. I think this is TBC finding new creative outlets in visuals; Experimental Film gave them the chance to do awesome "experimental film" effects; this gives them the chance to draw just a little differently.

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"Good job, The Cheat! Now try harmonizing with the butternut squashes!" ... "Side effects include wine, women, and song."

Well, think they're just trying to make it look like a low-effort, saturday-morning cartoon effort- hence the in my opinion) crappy backgrounds!

Hooray for new animation styles! And, you know what? I just noticed this, but CC is kinda Anime, isn't it??? I mean, its drawn in a similair style. Hmmm...

CC vs. Stinkoman- The anime showdown of the century!!!

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New Banner Soon...

No, anime usually has really good backgrounds. There is actually a good psychological reason for that, but I don't feel like going into that.

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“Feelings…” he said slowly, as if he wanted to hold on to the words, “change.”
-Weirdoes in Paradise: Chapter 5

The backgrounds annoyed me. It was super blurry!

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I think that's the point. The whole thing IS a GI Joe spoof, after all.

My opinion: Very, very funny. Best thing they've done in a while.

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I feel kind of sorry for Blue Laser. All they want is to live normal lives, but the Cheat Commandos stop them from doing anything. If Cobra went shopping, would GI Joe bust them for no reason? Probably.

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A proud member of P.O.S.T.E.R.S.! No room for the banner, though.

Well, they went shopping because they wanted to get rid of the reason not to crush the Cheat Commandos: MILDEW!!!

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Pikachu, I'm shocked! You call blowing up the ocean normal?!

Yeah, you guys are right about the backgrounds and GI Joe. Again, I feel like I'd find CC even funnier if I had watched GI Joe when I was a kid.

And I realized something that conclusively proves that Firebert (within the CC setting) and The Cheat are not one and the same! The mouth. Check it out; the indentation in The Cheat's head IS his mouth:
... whereas all the Cheat Commandoes have somewhat Eh-Steve!-style mouths more centered in their face: (That isn't the best example of their mouths, but if you watch the cartoon you'll see what I mean.) If the same being is playing both, then he's got a good make-up artist.

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"Good job, The Cheat! Now try harmonizing with the butternut squashes!" ... "Side effects include wine, women, and song."

I've watched a tiny bit of anime, and I'm curious about the backgrounds thing. Please explain?

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Unfortuately, I have already used up today's alloted supply of "clever quotes".

When you look around you, you see things in great detail. You see other people in great detail as well. The outside world is filled with detail. Now think about the way you look right now. Don't go to a mirror, just think about it. You have only a vague image of what you look like. We identify with more abstract or stylized images than we do with more complex and realistic ones.
=almost every human being. We have a rounded head, two eyes, and a mouth. A more realistic face would be specific to only one person.
:20x6: In anime, the characters we identify with have simple faces. More distant characters, such as a villain perhaps, tend to have more realistic looking faces. The backgrounds are realistic because we don't need to identify with them.
I got this all from Scott McCloud, so credit him.

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“Feelings…” he said slowly, as if he wanted to hold on to the words, “change.”
-Weirdoes in Paradise: Chapter 5

Identity Crisis in Free Country, USA
by Buz, Guest Columnist
In a twisted turn of events, an article intended for the Wiki News Thread ended up in another thread. In related news, My forensics team's dental records conclude that The Cheat is not Firebert from the popular show, Cheat Commandos (weekdays at 4:30). As you can clearly see from these... x-rays... the Cheat has a Gold Tooth (although finding that out yourself could end in the throwing of a bust of Van Buren at you).
above: AP Staff Photo ... or notstrongorbad

The hypothesis this reports has is that The Cheat watches TV, and like any kid watching too much of something, he identifies with it. So, much like fans dress up as for halloween, The Cheat dressed as Firebert for two of his covert missions in Free Country, USA (Army SBEmail and SB is in Jail Cartoon). Impressionable children. Next thing you know, they'll be baking The Cheatcakes for Thanksgiving.

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You mean Novemberween?

But is this a case of life imitating art--or... of art imitating life? Because I'm sure I don't need to point out the marked similarities in the cranial structure of The Cheat himself and the Cheat Commandoes. I have yet to see a convincing study that would suggest that children who watch excessive levels of primetime cartoons are physically influenced by the skeletal structure of their heroes. (If it's true, though, I'd better start watchin' me some He-Man...)
No, I'm afraid this must remain one of forensic science's Unsolved Mysteries. (At least until a government grant comes forward to research it.)

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"Good job, The Cheat! Now try harmonizing with the butternut squashes!" ... "Side effects include wine, women, and song."

Um, I think we're losing perspective. Turn off the computer and go outside and play.

I'm just picking on you. We both know this discussion is futile, because probably TBC just made the cartoon without thinking of all the ontological and causal relationships. But as long as we're deluding ourselves, Let's discuss structural similarities.

As we can clearly see, the relationship between the skelebrates and ulterior sclipula of The Cheat implies an omnivorous diet, and the posterior ganglia (not labeled) are consistent with being drawn by Macromedia Flash's unbounded curve tool by a single artist. This is of modern origin, unlike The Cheat modeling we can see in Cheat Commandos and when he mashed play on an expensive boom box with high-speed dubbing. The latter drawing (not shown) has solid coloring and an unspecified relationship with other foreground objects, as is consistent with Asian sweatshop animation circa 1984. I think this artefactual anecdotal evidence represents a chronological and comicological progression with Commandos preceeding the Cheat's established presence in Free Country, U.S.A.


You think you should watch He-Man? I recommend against even watching commercials with Skeletor. How about Gummi Bears (another 80's cartoon, complete with bouncing)? Or perhaps Transformers; great skeletons there. Or, if you prefer adamantium, X-Men could work.

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I likes the new word "comicological"! I finds it hysterilogical.

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"Good job, The Cheat! Now try harmonizing with the butternut squashes!" ... "Side effects include wine, women, and song."

Comicological is a perfectly cromulent word.

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First used by Romulent, the Desert Foxulent! (Who led a brilliant military career until a tank squished him flatu... eh, never mind.)

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"Good job, The Cheat! Now try harmonizing with the butternut squashes!" ... "Side effects include wine, women, and song."