Airdate: Monday, July 19, 2004
Sender: Kevin OH
Strong Bad gets an email from "Kevin Oh!", who wonders what would happen if Pom Pom was poked with a pin. Strong Bad decides he'd either pop or explode, depending on whether he's filled with hydrogen or helium, and if he's on fire.
Equipped with a pin, a lighter, and a "Rising Sun" headband, Strong Bad wanders off to the Field and gets to poking Pom Pom... or rather Homestar, who's in the middle of a conversation with Coach Z about domain names ("You sure it wasn't dot-com? Or dot-org?" "No, I'm pretty sure it was dot-egg.") when Strong Bad interrupts. Turns out Pom Pom's over at Bubs filming a documentary. Strong Bad departs, leaving Homestar with pink welts on his face doing an impression of an acne-riddled teenager ("Hey, Coach! Check me out! I've got bad zits!")
Over at the concession stand, Strong Bad makes his move, but since he's even less of a match for Pom Pom than usual when he can't see where he's going, Pom Pom proceeds to lay the smack-down on Strong Bad, sending him flying all the way back to the computer room, where he crashes through the roof.
(The Paper comes down.)
Tropes:
- Blatant Lies: Strong Bad insists that Pom Pom did not "beat the ever-loving snot out of [him]", despite the fact that the audience sees that happen.
- Continuity Nod: In an Easter egg, "email gambler" Strong Bad has a "pair of Abdis and a Viklas", while the best Bubs has is a MonkeyDude with a picture of Monkey D on it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Strong Bad, despite his claims to the contrary, gets the everloving snot beat out of him by Pom Pom.
- Didn't Think This Through: Strong Bad decides to cripple himself by putting on a blindfold before poking Pom Pom with a pin as part of his experiment. This choice, in addition to making it incredibly hard for him to stab Pom Pom, would also prevent Strong Bad from viewing the outcomes of his experiment if he even succeeded.
- Honest John's Dealership: Bubs tries to charge Strong Bad five bucks for "Face Smashings" and ten bucks for "Severe Pummelings".
- For Science!: Strong Bad claims that blowing up Pom Pom had to be done for science, but then says that it was actually because somebody asked for it.
- Never My Fault: Kevin asks what would happen if Pom Pom got poked with a pin, and Strong Bad decides on his own to actually do it. After the attempt, Strong Bad claims Pom Pom died in a fiery explosion... and gets mad at Kevin for telling him to do it.
- Noodle Incident: Bubs has apparently either almost died at least fifteen times or actually died at least fourteen times.
- Orphaned Punchline:
- Homestar trying to remember a web address saying "I think it was dot-egg or dot-muffin or something."
- Bubs first appears saying "And that's how I almost died the fifteenth time!"
- Self-Imposed Challenge: In-universe, Strong Bad decides to blindfold himself to make it harder to pop Pom Pom.
- Shout-Out: The moves Pom-Pom uses to beat up Strong Bad are based on Kirby's neutral and up-tilt attacks from Super Smash Bros.. Pom Pom also scores a 1-Up from hitting Strong Bad seven times in a row, accompanied by sound effects from Super Mario Bros..
- Stuff Blowing Up: Strong Bad assumes (and adamantly insists) Pom Pom exploded in a big fiery ball that was visible from space.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When writing a letter to Pom Pom's parents about his death, Strong Bad makes sure to point out that "In no way did he beat any of the everloving snot out of me."
Bubs: Oh, man! Alls I got is a lousy MonkeyDude! (throws down a card with a picture of Monkey D on it)
