Strong Bad is one of the major characters of the Homestar Runner series of animated Flash web cartoons. He is portrayed by Matt Chapman, the principal voice actor and co-founder of the series. Strong Bad enjoys pranking the other characters of the series, along with his ever-diligent lackey pet named "The Cheat" and his older brother Strong Mad. The main segment that Strong Bad is a part of is "Strong Bad Email", in which he answers emails sent to him by fans. The Strong Bad Email series grew to be so popular that seven DVDs featuring the emails have been released, as well as a podcast where emails could be downloaded to digital media players, since its first episode in 2001.
The character sports a red lucha libre mask with 4 laces in the back and a blue diamond in the center of his eyes. The diamond has the power to open bottle caps from "Cold Ones" and remove Homestar's hat, though he has only been seen doing this once. His eyes are green and shiny, and apparently turn grey when he is dead. Usually his mouth is a peach-colored rectangle when not speaking, and can form the shape of an "o" when using words with an "o" sound in them. He lacks a shirt (but wears certain ones on occasion), nipples, and a belly button. Strong Bad also has boxing gloves for hands, though mysteriously he can type with them in his Strong Bad Emails. He also wears black pants, along with red shoes with white soles that curve outward.
Strong Bad is sometimes referred to as the main antagonist of the series due to his pranks that he, Strong Mad, and The Cheat play on the other characters, and his insulting of his brother Strong Sad. He seems to be a character influenced by the American popular culture trends of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, such as heavy metal music and the second and third generations of video games and video game consoles. Since he is one of the site's most popular characters, merchandise has also spun off of Strong Bad, which includes t-shirts and sweatshirts sold by the website.
Strong Bad has been one of the most popular characters in the series, and has been well received. In an article by National Review Online, Strong Bad was described as "a non-stop braggart, liar, manipulator, and egotist", but also "one of the coolest characters on the Internet and the real star of Homestarrunner.com, which may be the most popular homegrown animation in the world". Segments have been spun off of his emails, including "Teen Girl Squad", a comic drawn by Strong Bad about four teenage friends.
Read more about Strong Bad: Role in Homestar Runner, Reception
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