Airdate: Monday, January 13, 2003
Sender: kaizer [sic]
Kaizer wants to know if Strong Bad can show off his "skills of an artist" and draw a dragon.
Strong Bad's first attempt starts off well enough ("First, drawn an 'S' for snake. Or dragon, whatever. Next, we'll draw a more different 'S'.") But the addition of human arms and legs throws Strong Bad off his stride.
Strong Bad starts again with an S and more different S, and with generous use of consummate V's, smoke and fire, wings ("You know, if he's... a wing-a-ling dragon") and a beefy arm sticking out of the back of his neck "for good measure", Trogdor the Burninator is born.
Strong Bad checks in on his other "students": Coach Z's attempt looks more like a snake or a deep-sea fish (Strong Bad blames it on not using enough consummate 'V's), Strong Mad is simply carving the word "DAGRON" into the tabletop with an X-acto knife, and Homsar (in an Easter egg) just writes the words "Taster's Choice" on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, Strong Sad makes the mistake of showing up his Jerkass older brother with a much more elaborate drawing of a dragon, which inspires Strong Bad to take a BMW lighter to Strong Sad's picture. Then to cap the whole thing off, Strong Bad makes up a theme song for Trogdor the Burninator:
Trogdor was a man
I mean, he was a dragon-man
Or maybe he was just a dragon...
But he was still
Trogdor! Trogdor!
Burninating the countryside
Burninating the peasants
Burninating all the peoples
And their thatched-roof cottages!
Thatched-roof cottages!
This episode would go on to become the basis for Peasant's Quest, the final episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People "8 Bit Is Enough" and the crowdfunded board game Trogdor!! The Board Game.
Tropes:
- Bragging Theme Tune: At the end, Trogdor gets his own theme tune. It was given a remix on Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits, which would later be an unlockable song in Guitar Hero II.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Homsar's attempt at drawing a dragon was to write "TASTER'S CHOICE" on a piece of lined paper and tape it to the table.
- Continuity Nod: Strong Bad's Trogdor theme song ends with a nod to the earlier e-mail "guitar".
- Get Out!: Strong Bad's reaction to Homsar is to simply shout at him "Get outta my house!"Homsar: [sadly] I do what I'm toooooold...
- I Will Show You X!: When Strong Sad says he's improved on Strong Bad's methods, the latter shouts "I'll improve on your methods!" and sets Strong Sad's drawing on fire.
- Noodle Incident: The following exchange happens after Strong Bad criticizes Coach Z's "Wormdingler".Strong Bad: Guy wouldn't know majesty if it bit him on the face.
Coach Z: That happened once! - Our Dragons Are Different: Trogdor has a long, serpentine body, stubby wings and legs, the traditional fire breath, and a beefy human arm sticking of the back of his neck "for good measure".
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Strong Mad's attempt at drawing a dragon is simply carving the word "DAGRON" into the table.
- Say My Name: "TROGDOR!!! TROGDOR!!!"
- Shout-Out: According to the official Twitter account
, Strong Bad's intro for this email was lifted from "La Schmoove" by Fu-Schnickens. - Stylistic Suck:
- Strong Bad's attempts to draw a dragon are decidedly crude, and Coach Z's isn't much better. Strong Sad's dragon is actually pretty good, so it gets set on fire.
- The guitars in Trogdor's theme song are badass, even if Strong Bad's lyrics could use some work.
- Uncommon Time: "Trogdor" alternates between 4/4 (for the chorus) and 9/4 (for the verse). The "burninating the countryside" bridge is mostly in 4/4, but has an interrupted bar of 3/4 before it returns to the chorus.
- Was Once a Man: Subverted with Trogdor; Strong Bad says that Trogdor was a man, then changes his mind and says he was a Dragon-Man before deciding that Trogdor was just a dragon.
