Strong Bad was created to be the main antagonist of the series but since then has become less of a villain and more of an antihero. However, he is still occasionally referred to as an antagonist, due to the pranks that he, Strong Mad, and The Cheat play on the other characters, and his insulting of his brother Strong Sad.[4] 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.[4] Since he is one of the site's most popular characters, merchandise has also spun off Strong Bad, which includes T-shirts and sweatshirts sold by the website.