On the Subject of Main Page

homestarrunner.net: “It’s dot com!”

On this module will appear a Homestar Runner main page. However, Homestar, the background and the button effects will come from various different main pages (see appendix FHQWHG4D5 for reference and description).

In the top right corner, there will be a bubble cycling through 3 messages and changing color.

#	Code	B	G	R	Y	#	Code	B	G	R	Y	#	Code	B	G	R	Y
1						10						19
2						11						20
3						12						21
4						13						22
5						14						23
6						15						24
7						16						25
8						17						26
9						18						27

The letters represent 'Toons, Games, Characters, Downloads, Store, and E-mail. Take the buttons in the order of the bubble’s colors, and convert their effects’ main page numbers to their alphanumeric positions (1=A, 2=B, etc.; An effect from main page 27 is not used).

Decryption

If the serial number contains three unique letters, remove duplicates and numbers and arrange them in alphabetical order. The changes made in position in the serial number from original to alphabetical order should be replicated in the module’s three-letter sequence. If this condition is not met, skip this step.

Take the effects of the 3 buttons not in the table from top to bottom, find their main pages’ codes, and create an 18-letter string. The first button’s letters are 1, 2, and 3, the second button’s letters are 4, 5, and 6, and the third button’s letters are 7, 8, and 9. Take the codes of the background (10, 11, and 12) and Homestar (13, 14, and 15), then convert the number of letters in each bubble message to their alphanumeric positions (16, 17, and 18), and concatenate them all to the string. From there, arrange them in a rectangle as shown in the picture.

Skew it (left if in the sequence, right if ), squish it as demonstrated in the photo, and turn it all around. If , . Otherwise, . After doing so, go through each letter in the string. If the letter has occurred previously, replace it with the next letter in the alphabet. Replace it more than once and/or loop around if necessary to ensure each letter is unique. Insert this code in reading order into a 13x2 grid, with the remaining 8 letters in alphabetical order occupying the last 8 spots. From here, find the three letters of the message and replace them with the letters below or above them.

Finally, shift them backwards in the alphabet via a Caesar cipher using the number of ’s main page of origin.

The resulting string should match up with one of the 27 three-letter codes in the above table. Press the numbered button along the bottom that corresponds to this code to solve the module. A strike will not regenerate the module’s elements. Upon solving, the effects will no longer play.

Example (rule seed 1):

• Messages: “new strong bad email” (17 letters), “biz cas fri” (9 letters), “short shorts!” (11 letters)
• Colors: Yellow, Green, Blue
• Background: 22
• Homestar: 13
• Toons: 19
• Games: 11
• Characters: 15
• Downloads: 26
• Store: 5
• E-mail: 17
• Initial encrypted message uses Email, Games and Toons: QKS
• Serial number: V59EG0
• Letters in serial number: VEG
• Serial number alphabetical rearrangement: EGV (first letter moved to end)
• Message rearrangement: KSQ
• Initial sequence of 18: PBC GOS SSC VRS PXL QIK
• Skew left, yellow is present
• Squish: PKBICQGLOXSPSSSRCV
• Turn all around (Homestar does not have default voice lines, reverse string): VCRSSSPSXOLGQCIBKP
• Replace letters: VCRSTUPWXOLGQDIBKY
• Table:

V

C

R

S

T

U

P

W

X

O

L

G

Q

D

I

B

K

Y

A

E

F

H

J

M

N

Z

• After translation: SKZ
• Shift backwards by 22: WOD
• Answer: Main Page 23

Appendix FHQWHG4D5: Main Page Reference

1. BG: The Moon HS: Orange Spacesuit FX: Green alien bouncing across	2. BG: Mountains HS: Green Overalls FX: Eagle flies	3. BG: Beach HS: Yellow Shirt w/ Flowers FX: Plane flies by w/ banner reading “WEAR A BIKINI!”
4. BG: Bowling Alley HS: Red Polo Shirt FX: Red bowling ball held up and spun	5. BG: Kitchen HS: Waiter Uniform FX: Plate w/ food held up	6. BG: Heaven HS: White Robe, Halo FX: Planes fly
7. BG: Graveyard HS: Pink, brains visible FX: Green character pops up from bottom of screen	8. BG: Falling through the sky HS: Upside Down FX: Bird w/ human legs flies across	9. BG: Notebook sketch HS: Drawn outline FX: Paper football flung

Appendix FHQWHG4D5: Main Page Reference (continued)

10. BG: Old-Timey HS: Black and white FX: Black-and-white character w/ mustache dances	11. BG: News Report HS: Suit and Tie FX: Block that displays a picture w/ text	12. BG: Night, Black Hills HS: Facing away, wearing America-themed top hat FX: Multicolored firework
13. BG: Atari 2600 HS: Heavily pixelated FX: Atari dragon chasing pixelated character	14. BG: Shower HS: Shower cap and towel FX: Display steams up, “LEMKE” traced on steam	15. BG: Basic Drawing HS: Poorly-drawn FX: Boat reading “wear a bikini” spins and shrinks

Appendix FHQWHG4D5: Main Page Reference (continued)

16. BG: Snowy HS: Brown cap and yellow scarf FX: Snow falls	17. BG: Futuristic HS: Anime FX: Red character w/ blue hair runs and frontflips	18. BG: Tiled Ground, Spiked Background HS: Normal FX: Small brown character dashes in, exclaims “Eh! Steve!”, and leaves
19. BG: The Show HS: Normal w/ microphone FX: Round yellow character wearing nametag reading “downloads” bounces across	20. BG: Very Basic HS: Dotted eyes, yellow shirt w/ duck FX: Pile of grapes appears in background, small yellow character jumps out	21. BG: Vector Video Game HS: Green and blocky w/ lines FX: Red face appears, says “WELL, MY HEAD A SPLODE”, and explodes

Appendix FHQWHG4D5: Main Page Reference (continued)

22. BG: Broken Computer HS: Normal head, old-timey body FX: Multiple popups appear	23. BG: Rear-View HS: Normal, facing away FX: Wooden circle reading “wear a bikini!” floats across, tape plays “I’m the floating head of doom!"	24. BG: Generic (has text saying “24” on module) HS: Blurred shirt (not shown in image) FX: Notice appears requesting Flash 8 (not shown in image)
25. BG: Generic (has text saying “25” on module) HS: Puppet FX: Yellow character walks by holding blue boombox playing music	26. BG: Bright, Spiked HS: Pointy, angry FX: Angry elephant flies by, exclaiming “I’m mad that I’m flying!”	27. BG: Mountains, Cottage HS: Hooded FX: None