Recap / Strong Bad Email E 196 Hiding

Airdate: Monday, July 14, 2008

Sender: Dude 1, Scarlet MO

Strong Bad: (singing) Junk it, and check it, send me an email and I'll wreck it!

Dude 1 from "Scar, Let Moe" wants to know if Strong Bad has a really great hiding space when he plays hide-and-seek, a place where "noone can find you right." ("Hey man, Noone can find me wrong if she's good-looking enough!")

Strong Bad: Well, as anyone that has a little brother or a Homestar Runner knows, hide n' seek can be oh so much more useful than just playing it.

Strong Bad demonstrates with a cutaway scene in which he distracts Homestar from his offer to "make fifteen cents come true" by offering to play hide 'n' seek ("Er, more like just Hide n'."). However, another cutaway demonstrates one of many problems with this technique when Strong Bad finds Homestar in his bathtub in the middle of the night.

Strong Bad: Homestar, what are you doing in here?!
Homestar Runner: Remember last spring when you asked if I wanted to play hide 'n' seek?
Strong Bad: But I've taken at least three baths since then...
Homestar Runner: (weary) Oh, I've been in here...
Strong Bad: Aah!

Strong Bad demonstrates that this tactic "works the other way too", when Homestar is too busy hiding to fall for a trap Strong Bad and The Cheat set for him.

(Cut to outside Homestar's house, where Strong Bad and The Cheat are holding onto a rope holding up a cage, which is dangling over some Fluffy Puff marshmallows and a glass of melonade.)
Strong Bad: I don't understand! Where is he? He usually falls for this one by now.
The Cheat: (The Cheat noises)
Strong Bad: Oh, man! Stupid clever hide n' seek ploy. This thing's gettin' heavy! Switch to the Strong Sad bait.
The Cheat: (The Cheat noises, throws a powdered barrister's wig onto the Homestar bait.)
Strong Sad: Ooh, parliament!

As for actually playing hide 'n' seek, "It ain't easy with all the brain geniuses around here":

• Strong Mad tries (and fails) to hide behind The Stick... or rather, tries to hide behind a cardboard cut-out of himself hiding behind the stick.
• Marzipan seems to think Strong Bad's cry of "Olly Olly Oxen Free" is some kind of protest cry.
  Marzipan: (holding a sign with a picture of an ox on it) Yeah, Olly, set those oxen free! Oxen free, oxen free!
  Strong Bad: Oh, put your sign away, we're just playing a game.
  Marzipan: (flips the sign over to show a picture of an ox with baseball equipment) Playing a game! Playing a game!
• Coach Z fails to recognize Strong Bad posing as a statue, first mistaking him for a life-like Strong Bad statue, then for a "back-sassin' animatronic Strong Bad". Though this does inspire the creation of an actual Back-Sassin' Animatronic Strong Bad to serve as a distraction for Homestar.
  Homestar: Oh, there you are. I found you definitely found you Strong Bad.
  Animatronic Strong Bad: Shut your mouth, wimp-cake!
  Homestar: Hey, don't sass back at me! I found you fair, then square!
  Animatronic Strong Bad: Sit on a biscuit!
  Homestar: Look, Strong Bad, I haven't been playing this game of hide n' seek for six weeks just to have you poor-sportsmanship all over the place now. Why, I've got half a mind!
  (Cut back to the Lappy)
  

Strong Bad rests his case ("Rest, nothing. My case is in a coma!"!), and states that his awesome hiding place (which he mainly uses these days to hide from games of hide 'n' seek) will have to remain a secret.

Strong Bad: Yeah sorry. I'm taking this hiding place to the grave.
(Cut to a suit of armor in the bar, zooming out to show Pom Pom sitting next to a bowl of peanuts and a bottle of 'Old Ones. When Pom Pom looks away, Strong Bad's arm comes out from Pom Pom's belly to steal the 'Old One. Pom Pom turns his head and shrugs. New Paper comes down.)

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Tropes:

• Accidental Misnaming: Homestar addresses The Cheat as "The Squeak".
• Adoption Diss: In an Easter egg, the Grape-Nuts Robot plays this card in an argument with Back-Sassing Animatronic Strong Bad.
• Bait-and-Switch: The ending implies Strong Bad's hiding place is in the suit of armor in Pom Pom's rumpus room. It's actually in Pom Pom himself.
• Behind a Stick: Parodied; Strong Bad addresses what he thinks is Strong Mad trying (and failing) to hide behind The Stick, but it turns out to be Strong Mad hiding behind a dummy of himself hiding behind The Stick.
  Strong Mad: I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT!
  Strong Bad: And it was well worth your time.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Marzipan takes Strong Bad's "olly-olly oxen free" as a cry of protest.
  • Coach Z mistakes Strong Bad posing as a statue as an actual statue, and when Strong Bad talks and moves he assumes it's "a back-sassin' animatronic Strong Bad".
• Continuity Nod:
  • An easter egg shows Animatronic Strong Bad getting in an argument with the Grape-Nuts Robot from "personal favorites" over who Strong Bad loves more.
  • The Soap Box that first appeared in "fingers" appears again, this time reading "SIXTEEN FOR YOU".
• Hide and No Seek: Strong Bad likes using Hide and Seek as a way to get Homestar out of his hair for a while, though it has a tendency to backfire.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Strong Bad notes that his abuse of Hide and No Seek can occasionally backfire. A prank meant for Homestar involving a falling cage trap fails because their Hide and Seek game ensured he wouldn't be around.
• Orphaned Punchline: One scene opens with Strong Bad telling The Cheat "...prestigious monk, but I—" when Homestar interrupts. Lampshaded when Strong Bad angrily informs Homestar "The Cheat and I are in the middle of a sentence here!"
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Homestar is completely fooled by Back-Sassing Animatronic Strong Bad, even though it barely resembles the real thing.
• Robot Me: Coach Z's remarks inspire the creation of a Back-Sassing Animatronic Strong Bad.
• Sibling Rivalry: An Easter egg shows Back-Sassing Animatronic Strong Bad and Grape-Nuts Robot arguing with each other over who "Dad" (Strong Bad) loves more.
• Time for Plan B: Upon realizing that Homestar is too preoccupied with Hide and Seek to fall for their prank, Strong Bad and The Cheat decide to bait Strong Sad into it.
• The Triple: Strong Bad says that he mainly uses his "awesome hiding place" to avoid games of hide 'n' seek, along with "Kick the Can, Capture the Flag, and don't forget the nebulous TV Tag."

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(Cut to Back-Sassing Animatronic Strong Bad and the Grape-Nuts Robot sitting in the Field.)
Animatronic Strong Bad: Dad loves me more!
Grape-Nuts Robot: You're. Adopted.