“Hey stupid! I brought you this stuff.”

I’ve rewatched nearly all of the Homestar Runner animations recently, and I’m pleased to officially declare that they still hold up. This singular Flash website from the early 2000s left a permanent impression on my personality and my family’s sense of humor, including even my parents, whose exposure to it was through being forced to overhear me and my sister countlessly reciting various bits from the series while we were growing up.

“Dear Prisoner Number 5408, aka Professor Tor Coolguy.”

Even if you’re not immediately familiar with the universe of Homestar Runner, chances are decent you’ve seen some of its more popular contributions: The System is Down, Teen Girl Squad, and of course, Trogdor the Burninator:

If you were online in the early-to-mid 2000s, you couldn’t escape the influence of Trogdor. No forum or MMO general chat was safe from his burnination. It feels weird looking back on it now, his existence mostly long forgotten. It’s probably a good thing his pop relevance was largely retired before the Mainstream Internet event horizon, a time when demotivational posters began to give way to animals giving dubious advice. I shudder to imagine what form a Trogdor reference would take showing up on a morning news show 20 years later.

“You see this guy? Rubbin’ a sammich on his head?”

Now as a certified licensed adult, I’m incredibly happy to see that the Homestar series has remained untarnished by the corrupting influence of capitalism. The site never ran ads, and the creators (Mike & Matt Chapman, aka The Brothers Chaps) never sold out for a big wad o’ cash. I’m absolutely certain they’ve received offers that people with less integrity would have leaped on.

“Don’t ask me why I said it. Because I already forgot.”

You can still visit it today, and it still runs in Flash! (Technically it’s Flash via Ruffle emulation. The Chaps also eventually uploaded many of their videos to YouTube, though it seems to be missing some stuff.) They still somehow find the time to update the site with a new video once or twice each year, usually for Halloween/Christmas. I suppose that’s a fine enough fate.

“The people need your help! It’s been too long since they’ve had a #1 jam!”