Okay, you've taken the plunge. Here goes nothing.

The Cheat is actually a familiar! Like Strong Sad, he also has a shadow form that he can freely switch between, but unlike SS he has no qualms about doing so in front of other people. On a similar note, he also does not go through any major personality changes when he switches, and is always in a state of at least semi-permiability (which is why his bottom portion sinks into the ground).

As a familiar, The Cheat is naturally much more animal-like than the other residents of Free Country. However, through the long-term exposure of FC's particular brand of strangeness, he's actually much more cognitively aware of things to such a degree that he can hold his own in any kind of conversation.

Main Ability: Semi-Permiability (permanent)

Secondary Abilities: Common Speech, Astral Projection, Item Transfer (linked to Main Ability)

Shadow Version:

The main difference between the mainline universe version of The Cheat and EXPMAU TC is in regards to his role in The Brothers Strong's lives. Since (spoilers) they all got sent to FC when they were fairly young, TC had no choice but to act as a sort of surrogate parent/guard dog, meaning he's naturally more protective over them (especially SM). Funnily enough, this nature has only really grown over the years, meaning that he can be unreasonably wary of new things. He will still leap in front of The Brothers to protect them, despite the fact that all of them can hold their own with ease.

His shadow form has glowing spots, which are relatively strong as light sources. He can control their strength at will, and turns them off when he sleeps. He usually takes this form for energy conservation, when he feels safe, for speedy travel, and whenever he wants to prank someone by popping back up into his normal form.

Main Ability: Shadow Manipulation

Oh, and as a side note, only Strong Mad knows who actually summoned The Cheat. And it wasn't him.

If you already read my first post (featuring Marzipan) then you know what's going on. If you haven't, too bad. Read that one first. This one will make a tiny bit more sense if you do. Or maybe not. I dunno.

Anyway, here is Strong Sad! And as you may note, he is special because...

He gets two forms! They each represent the different characterization he's had over the years, with the physical form representing his early and more depressing days, and his ghostly form being more like his modern incarnation.

I will refer to the different forms he has as "Husk" and "Ghost" forms respectively, and they will get their own descriptions below.

(Also, unrelated, but I really like how the sketch of this looked. That's pretty much it.)

With that out of the way, let's get to it!

Husk Version:

Before I basically redid the entirety of this AU (more on that later), I was having trouble really tying all of the Brothers Strong together in a cohesive way. Eventually, I can up with one connection to signify their familial bond: all of them are considered constructs, a concept I may explain in a later post.

Man, I'm really setting up a lot of stuff up, huh? Ah well, moving on.

Despite this connection, Strong Sad is still treated differently by his siblings because of his origins. The parents of the Brothers Strong were already content to have two young boys, but when a ghostly duo came to the Mother Strong with an even more sickly ghost child, begging for her help, she couldn't find it in herself to deny them. Since he has an actual soul (unlike his older brothers) he isn't fully accepted as a full brother (at least, by Strong Bad's standards). He was supposed to fully integrate into his form were he to have a normal life, but he never could. He's not quite sure why, and he feels quite self conscious about it.

Like his brothers, he was brought to Free Country for his controversial origins.

Main Power: Astral Projection (or whatever the equivalent of that is, I dunno)

Secondary Powers: N/A

Ghost Version:

Alright, I already mentioned it before, but this AU used to be almost completely different to its current version. It focused almost solely on Marzipan (as stated before... I think. I don't remember if I was clear on that) but it also focused on Strong Sad! Before, the ghost form was his only form, and looked completely different. Below is the only image I have of this early design.

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Ignoring the fact that he simultaneously looks like a beached seal creature and a sad beach ball, the AU itself was supposed to be more romantic before I realized I had no interest in this ship nor did I have any knowledge on how romance happens. Speaking of, if y'all notice anything resembling romance in the future, it's purely accidental.

Main Power: Shadow Manipulation

Secondary Powers: Possession and Aura Reading.

Yeah, that's it for now. Next up on the chopping block is our favorite old man in green footies, Coach Z!

So, um, yeah. This entire thing sorta just came to being by me being half asleep and thinking of ways to flesh out Marzipan via a journal-style fic (that I never made) detailing her coming to Free Country USA and her history with all of the characters. That somehow ended up turning into the AU I'm about to describe in [insert however long it takes you to read the rest of this sentence here] today. If I could tell you how, I would, but I can't. So I won't.

Instead, let me introduce you all to the

Explicitly Magical Homestar Runner AU

Or the EXPMAU for short.

You can probably already tell the trajectory of the rest of this post from here, but basically it turns every character into some variety of magical creature and/or just straight up gives them magical abilities because I'm not as original as other people seem to think I am, and then plops them all into an angst-filled plot line that could easily take up three to five YA novels' worth of space were I to actually write out the story. I'm probably not gonna do that though, so be grateful for that.

If you’re still interested in this whole thing at this point, Congratulations! You can no longer escape. You better enjoy your stay, or deal with the consequences of your actions. Here's some Marzipan info to solidify your position here.

Here she is! She used to be the girlfriend of The Hurricane, and was part of a group similar to druids before being sent to Free Country for bringing dangerous animals into the group's living area (more on that will be in a different post).

Main Power: Light Magic

Secondary Abilities: Magic Mastery, Potion Making Skills, Telekinesis

Relationships with other Characters (like Homestar, Strong Sad and the others) will be explained in a separate post. You know, when I make more posts about this.

Feel free to ask me more about this is you really care that much about this.

...then here's his backstory!

Coach Z (real name unknown) lived his life in a swamp with his group of sirens, where they resided in relative peace and quiet. Sirens naturally love singing, but Coach had aspirations to travel and sing around the world, which developed after meeting and befriending Champeen the Nomad (a young and inexperienced bard). Unfortunately, due to the sirens' already tainted reputation among sailors and Champeen's less-than-stellar description, others started going to the swamp to harrass and/or hunt the sirens. Thus, Coach was exiled from his group for causing the chaos, sent out in a suit full of water to live out the rest of his days being hunted by those who hated what he was and shunned by those who knew the truth.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. As Champeen was making her way to see Coach and tell him about the new lute she had obtained, the sky grew darker. By the time she reached him...

(I'll be honest, this isn't accurate to how the scene actually plays out but I made this sketch at 12 am so whatever)

It was already too late.

Coach was sent to Free Country for endangering his entire species.

So yeah, if you've read my other posts on this AU, you may have seen "[Character] was sent to Free Country for [reason]" and wondered what that meant. Free Country does not exist as an actual place in the world, instead serving as a sort of playground for higher beings where those few creatures seen as truly dangerous are sent. There's also a second determining factor for people to get sent over, but that's for another time.

In essence, the banishment works like this; once someone is sent over to FC, they get erased from everyone's memories except for one person: whoever the person involved was closest to carries the burden of their memory (though it's such a recent phenomenon that only a few people have been sent, and nobody, not even the creator of FC knows what happens after a memory bearer dies). For Marzipan, only The Hurricane remembers her; for Strong Sad (along with all the Brothers Strong), their parents remember, etc. The last full piece of info on this will mist likely be shared with Homestar's description.

Oof, that was a lot of non-Coach Z related info there. Here, let's get back on track!

Main Ability: Water Breathing

Secondary Abilities: Hydrokinesis (very weak), Regular Breathing (developed in Free Country), Swimming Boost.

And some extra fun facts to end things off!

Coach's accent comes from the fact that he lived his life underwater, where sounds don't travel the same. However, his particular speech patterns are quite exaggerated, even for his species.

Coach and Champeen had developed an almost familial bond before being separated: Champeen saw Coach as a father figure, while Coach always felt a sense of pride whenever he could help Champeen get some rhyme or tune just right.

Homestar reminds Coach of Champeen, which has lead to sobbing sessions by the lake.

Speaking of, this version of Coach spends much more time at the lake and much less at the track field & locker rooms. Smells much more fishy too.

Champeen misses him. A lot. If only she knew how much he missed her too.