#wouldn't it be funny if i made a lil au based on this? ... no...i shan't...i have too many juggling plates with too much on each one...

[puppyluver256]

[Image Description: Strong Sad, Strong Bad, and Strong Mad from the Homestar Runner internet series dressed as the Nailmasters from Hollow Knight. Strong Sad is dressed as Sheo, Strong Bad is dressed as Mato, and Strong Mad is dressed as Oro, the distinctions only indicated via Strong Sad wearing Sheo's paint-stained apron and each brother having an emblem resembling the menu icon for each Nailmaster's respective Nail Art on the clasp of their cloak. Strong Bad and Strong Mad are both holding a nail, with Strong Bad resting his confidently over his shoulder as his free hand is on his hip and Strong Mad holding his by his side, while Strong Sad is holding up a paint brush. The background consists of abstractly streaked grey and white with a brown "floor". End ID.]

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I've been meaning to do some more Homestar Runner art for a while anyways, and with my recent fixation I figured I could combine the two because both properties have a trio of prominent brothers. Of course there are distinct differences between the two families--namely the Brothers Strong looking so wildly different from one another and often being physically if not always emotionally close, whereas the Nailmasters would be completely identical if not for Sheo's added apron and are located at considerable distance from one another especially in Oro's case, but there's enough similarity on an individual level for me to have made it work.

Strong Sad is Sheo here, as he seems to be the most outwardly sensitive and creative of the three Strongs (though tbh they're all creative, Strong Sad just has the highest combo of both skill and sincerity). Strong Bad is Mato because they both seem to be the most enthusiastic about their narrative purpose--Mato is proud to be a Nailmaster and wants to pass that teaching onto a student, while Strong Bad is both a troublemaker and always tries to come off as "bad" in the "cool" sense, a badass if you will, in desire if not in full execution. And of course, Strong Mad is Oro, not because they were both the last ones to get matched, but because they're both outwardly tough while inwardly soft (Oro's reluctant acceptance of the Delicate Flower paralleling with Strong Mad's deep friendship with The Cheat and genuine love for his younger brothers). And something that I didn't realize while working on this that makes this even more fitting: the Godhome fight where Oro and Mato finally come together and, even if only in a dream, make amends and fight side by side as the brothers they are. In one of the earliest HSR toons that is now apparently taken off the site, Marshmallow's Last Stand, the whole plot was Strong Bad and Strong Mad challenging Homestar and Pom Pom to a tag-team fight. :3

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The Brothers Strong and other Homestar Runner concepts © Mike and Matt Chapman The Nailmasters and other Hollow Knight concepts © Team Cherry Artwork © PuppyLuver Studios