Recap / Strong Bad Email E 206 Sbemail 206

Airdate: April 1, 2015
Sender: MattMacroPika

Strong Bad: (sitting in front of a microwave on the kitchen counter, singing) Emails are like Hot Pockets: they're full of garbage and cheese!

Strong Bad fires up... er, Marzipan's Econowave 4761-V to check an email from "Matt Massapequa" asking "WHEN ARE YOU GONNA DUST OFF THE COMPÉ AND ANSWER AN EMAIL?".

Strong Bad: Wait a minute, have I not always checked my email on kitchen appliances?!
(Cut to a montage of Strong Bad checking emails on various appliances)
Strong Bad: (in front of a blender, the words "DEAR STRONG BAD" appear on a small display screen) "Dear Strong Bad..."
Strong Bad: (in front of a toaster, a slice of toast with "DEAR STRONG BAD" burned into it pops up) "Dear Strong Bad..."
Strong Bad: (in front of the fridge, he gets some ice from the ice dispenser) "Dear Crushed Ice..."
Strong Bad: (in front of the Compé) "Dear Strong Bad..."
(Cut back to Strong Bad in front of the microwave)
Strong Bad: Oh yeah, computers! Let's go see how the old Compé is doing.

"The old Compé" doesn't seem to be doing very well, as it's literally almost completely buried under "some serious dust". Strong Bad gets to blowing the dust off, only to find a new (relatively speaking) computer beneath it.

Strong Bad: Whoa! All that dust compressed my old computer into a newer, even better computer! Like coal to a diamond! (Strong Bad picks up the remaining corner of the Compé's monitor) Ah, Compé, we hardly knew yé.

Strong Bad boots up the Lappier ("Just like the previous model, only crappier. I mean, more expensive. I–I mean... Lappier.") Unfortunately, it's April 1st, and Strong Bad seems highly reluctant to answer his email today, despite Homestar's anticipation.

Homestar: (sitting on the computer table, excited) Here it comes, here it comes! Brace myself!
Strong Bad: Homestar, what are you doing here?
Homestar: Just waiting for you to drop that A-pro Foo' Day bomb, Strong Bad! (hops off the table) Our website always has the best pranks!
Strong Bad: Homestar, everybody knows the Internet already ruined April Fools' Day... On February 7, 2008, ironically enough.

While Homestar is excited for "the day the Internet gets on the Internet to make inside jokes about the Internet", Strong Bad is tired of Internet pranks, listing such examples as:

• Ones where the website appears to be "from another time period", as demonstrated with an "Old Time Jones" version of the "Come on In" page featuring crude animatronic versions of Old-Timey Strong Bad and The Homestar Runner.
  Animatronic Old-Timey Strong Bad: Insert one pence for tomfoolery!
  Animatronic The Homestar Runner: Insert a baby! (opens its mouth wider)
  Homestar: Oh, no. I'm not falling for that prank again! Strong Bad, let's move on to the next thing you're gonna make fun of.
• Fake movie trailers, such as a teaser for Dangeresque 4/2=6, a movie that apparently involves Dangeresque and Dangeresque Too facing doppelgangers of themselves.
  Dangeresque: Or did I? ...I, I, I, I, I? ...Is that— is that six?
• "Fake ads for nerd culture products that don't exist", which has nothing to do with Strong Sad's home microbiology experiments ("Did someone say nerd culture?") and everything to do with Nerd Cultch's "Trogdor Beefy-Arm Backpack" and "Burninated Peasant Zip-Up Trench Hoodie". Of course, these products are only fake until enough people demand one and donate to Strong Bad's crowdfunding campaign on "Kickcheater".

While Homestar looks forward to alerting all his "Google Wavebirds" about these hilarious pranks, Strong Bad announces he's "yanking April Fools' off the Internet and back into the real world, where it can physically hurt people!" After tricking Homestar into running into a mirror by introducing it as his "long-lost twin brother", Strong Bad proceeds to prank the ever-loving crap out of his friends and neighbors:

• Marzipan gets tricked into swallowing The Cheat as part of a "gluten-free concert for birds".
• The King of Town gets tricked into eating a hand mirror. ("I'd like you to eat your long-lost twin brother!")
• Strong Mad gets stuck upside-down. ("GET ME DOWN! I'M SCARED OF HEIGHTS!")
• Strong Sad gets a microwave upside the head while acting as Dangeresque's stunt double (again).
• Strong Bad manages to inconvenience both Bubs and Coach Z by wrapping The Gremlin in duct tape.
  Bubs: How am I supposed to get inside my car?
  Coach Z: (inside the Gremlin) How am I supposed to get outside my apratment?

Back at the Lappier, Strong Bad seems satisfied to get that out of his system.

Strong Bad: Now, that's how you April Fools' a body. Pain and suffering. Not... inconvenient web browsing. (The Lappier plays a notification, and displays the message "Time is 12:00 am. It is now April 2".) Hey! Look at that! Now I can check my email. All right, boxing gloves, get ready to work your inexplicable magic! (singing, as he types "strongbad_email.exe") I check my email on computers, huh-HA! Uh, no toast!
(Cut to a Flash Player Settings popup with the message "April Fools!". A 3D version of The Paper comes down from the top of the screen reading ">tweet here to email strong bad @StrongBadActual")
Strong Bad: C-G-eeow! (beatboxes as the CGI Paper starts spinning and twisting around)

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Tropes:

• Continuity Nod:
  • Upon seeing the "old-timey" version of the website, Homestar exclaims, "What happened to my wedsize?!"
  • Strong Bad gets an email from "The Tawdry Man" asking "Do you enloy reasing?"
• Creator Cameo: Co-creator Mike Chapman appears as the model in the fake merchandise pictures.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Old-Timey Strong Bad advertises Olde Time Jones Drug-Filled Tonic by saying "It's for children, you!", referencing how medicines in the early 20th century (including ones for children) often had ingredients that would be considered questionable at best in the modern day, like opium or cocaine.
• Department of Redundancy Department: According to Homestar, April Fool's is "the day the Internet gets on the Internet to make inside jokes about the Internet".
• Dinner Deformation: Strong Bad's prank for Marzipan is tricking her into eating The Cheat. He gets caught in her throat.
• Failed a Spot Check: Apparently, it took Strong Bad nearly six years to remember that he answered emails on computers, not kitchen appliances.
  Strong Bad: Wait a minute, have I not always checked my email on kitchen appliances?!
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: There's a brief shot of Strong Bad reading an email from "The Tawdry Man" asking him if he "enloys reasing."
• Mythology Gag: Instead of having the name of a DOS game, Strong Bad's floppy disk container reads "Level 10," a reference to how Stinkoman 20X6's tenth level was stuck in invokedDevelopment Hell at the time.
• Noodle Incident: Since when did Homestar fall for his old-time animatronic self's prank that involved inserting a baby into his mouth?
• Real Trailer, Fake Movie: Strong Bad uses bogus movie trailers as one of the examples of lame April Fool's Day pranks.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • Strong Bad rags on websites changing their appearance for April Fool's Day, which the website itself has done several times.
  • Strong Bad describes the Compé turning into the Lappier as being akin to it being turned from "coal to a diamond".
• Shout-Out: Homestar mentions Google Buzz and Google Wave, two short-lived web services that were run by Google. He also mentions sending something to "all his Google Wavebirds."
• Take That!:
  • The whole email is essentially a jab on the different stunts that websites usually pull on April Fool's Day.
  • The fate of the Compé^note which is a nod to the fan backlash to the computer: it was under so much dust, that it was compressed into a laptop reminiscent of the Lappy; or, as Strong Bad put it, it was turned into a better computer.
  • "Emails are like Hot Pockets! They're full of garbage and cheeeeeeeeese."

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Animatronic Old-Timey Strong Bad: Olde Time Jones Drug Filled Tonic! It's for children, you!