I love the Boeing F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet… helps explain a lot of Barney’s Office Posters. Also B…if your reading, feel free to stop by and try our my drum set sometime.

My Thoughts:

This episode of How I Met Your Mother had some great moments but overall it just didn’t make me laugh I recant…this episode is hilarious when you watch it again later.. Barney being a little way into guys that fight was excellent.  Marshall had the best lines overall and made the episode descent. Along with that I do hope light sabers will be available for use in 3-5 years. The goat, murder train for Marshall’s fight scene… Great ep.

Despite the ongoing hints at a Barney/Robin story line (they like screwing with our minds don’t they?), the single contained episodes get me a little. I like them and all but I need some carry over here and there, some continuity…something that says wait till next week…but I’m sure like all other shows they will do that during the Season Finale so as to make everyone really mad (Anyone else hate that? and it’s not just HIMYM…must be something in “writing a T.V. Show 101)

Legendary Lines :

Lily: Stop fighting. It’s stupid and juvenile.
Kid: We’re 6. We are stupid and juvenile.

Ted: “It’s clobbering time” (I like this because of the Fantastic4 tribute aspect)

Barney (to Ted): That’s going to swell up real good. You’ll look like Owen Wilson.

Marshall: I’m serious woman, put it back in your pants!

Ted: Don’t ever get into a fight with Uncle Marshall.  The guy is freakin’ crazy.

Moments of Awesomeness:

• Ted’s flashback fight sequences, especially when he gets punched during St. Patrick’s Day
• when he and Marshall fight during “The Duel” from Season 1.
• But most awesome the flashback to the goat in Ted’s apartment! That’s two weeks in a row! And according to Ted the real “goat” story is only a few weeks away.
• Murder Train callback
• How into fighting Robin was…and how into Barney she was after the fight
• Marshall… the greatest guys in the universe are Crocodile Dundee and David Hasslehoff… how fun.

Vocabulary:

Other than the use of Marshall’s “Lawyered” phrase I couldn’t find much…maybe when I re-watch it tomorrow)

What really happened:

Ted decides to tell his kids the story of the only real fight he had ever been in. It begins with everyone being overly sympathetic to Ted because he got dumped at the alter.  A funny discussion goes on about how Barney fakes listening to conversations when he focuses in on a hot girl. Anyways, The group is hanging at the bar and we get introduced to Doug. Doug has been there since the since the beginning (don’t you love video editing?) and loves Ted, Barney, Robin, Lily, and Marshall. So much so that he tell some guys to leave their booth despite the protest of the group. Doug comes back to tell them that the ladies can take the booth and the men will be required in the alley so they can fight the guys who were in their booth.

Everyone is against the idea of fighting except Robin. Ted evaluates the the situation and decided he needs the experience of being in a fight. Robins love for the fighting man encourages Barney to jump in as well. Needless to say, Robin looks impressed.

When Ted & Barney finally get outside all 3 guys are unconscious and Doug thinks the guys were there all along and were apart of the fight.  After Doug goes back in Barney comes up with a legendary story (you have to love Barney’s speeches) but Ted says no one will believe them. So Barney punches himself, and then Ted.  Upon returning back inside the bar to cheers. Once back a the booth, Doug brings free drinks to everyone but Marshall, because Marshall didn’t have his back.

Later that night Marshall is upset because everyone made fun of him for not fighting. It should also be mentioned that Marshall mentions the 2 most manly men in the world are Crocodile Dundee and David Hasselhoff (no Chuck Norris? Please!).  Marshall goes to Lily’s class to teach the kids a lesson about not fighting. IT kinds of backfires and he ends up being called a wuss and laughed at by 6 year olds. Back to the bar, Barney and Ted ate trying to impress some girls with their fight story and then notice 2 guys in their booth. This time, they don’t want to fight, just serve papers for the fight the other day.

The guys take their papers to Marshall, who is still mad about last night. Even though he knows they are only liable for a fine, he lets them thin that jail time is possible and they fess up about what really happened. Robin comes in and is all into Barney and invites him to a hockey game until Marshall tells her the truth about the fight and leaves.  At the bar again, Marshall get’s the lawsuit dropped against Ted and Barney by telling them what pansies they really are. Then Doug finds out they sold him out.

Behind the bar again, Doug is mad the guy’s didn’t have his back. They tell him that he beat up the 3 guys by himself and he is less angry but still mad about Ted and Barney giving him up and tells Ted that is probably why Stella left him. Ted get mad and punches Doug. Then Doug knocks him out with one punch, thus the the only fight Ted has ever been in. Ted goes to Lily’s class to tell his story of why you should never get in a fight. Now he is a wuss too to the kids.

Ted then divulges what really happened. After, Doug punched Ted Marshall knocked out Doug. It appears he really did know how to fight thanks to his brothers (best laugh of the episode by the way…Murder Train…lol)

The Re-Return (a new little section I decided to add, this will include a short mention of the final scene that HIMYM comes back with after the show “ends”):

Sitting around the table for Thanksgiving (assuming 3-5 years in the future), Marshall, Lily, his brothers and family. Marshall prepares to carve the turkey…Jedi style with a green light

Just a heads up… I have been doing the “What really happened” first, but decided to move it to the end for those of you who might not like to know up front that the butler killed him in the Library with the Egg beater… With that out of the way, let’s begin.

My Thoughts:

Very funny episode. I honestly was afraid it might be a little too edgy but they kept it clean enough.  It’s always nice to see more of the old romantic and not quite sure of himself Ted coming back through. Like in the elevator with Vicky when Ted divulges a bit too much of his emotional state then says “Let’s pretend I said this instead.” The greatest laugh in the entire episode comes when Ted says he has walked in on some very strange things in the apartment, followed by the scenes. If I had to rate the show, I would give it 4.5 out of 5 pineapples. Also, anything that knocks being overly involved in fantasy football is awesome.

Legendary Lines :

Mitch: It’s shock, and awwwwwww.

Marshall: I call slut.

Robin: Exactly 10,000 drinks. However long that takes. (how long it takes to get over a break-up)

Barney: I’m like Batman. This Mitch fellow? He’s Superman, he just rips off his clothes and he’s good to go.

Ted: I just had decent sex with a terrible person. I’m back!

Ted: What pose did you go with?
Lily: I went with ‘I’ve got boobs.’
Marshall: And she nailed it.

Moments of Awesomeness:

Barney doing the Houdini Chinese Water Torture Cell was LEGENDARY! “You’ve been in there for 12 minutes!”

Robin holding of the Robbers at gun point.

The appearance of the goat (May 8, 2009…ahh, more goat clues…this is better than finding out who the mother is!)

Ted’s toast to Mitch. The superhero. The naked-man.

Barney’s mini speech on how the Naked Man could revolutionize one night stands. Also, his comparison of himself as Batman to Mitch as Superman. Did anyone else catch how curious Lily was again about Barney’s “gadgets”…much like in “The Goat (Season 3 ep 17) when she had all the questions for Robin about Barney?

Vocabulary:

Naked Man – Basically a hail marry move to get to sleep with your date when you know things aren’t going well on a date and you know there won’t be a second. Allure is from shock and curiosity. Effectiveness is 2 out of 3.

What really happened:

This episode begins with Ted telling the story of the girl that got him over Stella. He sees her in an elevator and the two immediately have a connection. After "testing the waters” (Saying Hello), we learn her name is Vicky and Ted, in his ever so open Ted-iest fashion, gets a date for that Friday. That afternoon Ted walks in on Robin’s date, Mitch, who is sitting on the couch totally in the buff (you know…au natural, exposed, in birthday suit, in the altogether,  in the raw, leafless,  unclad…I digress). Ted assumes that Robin and Mitch were in the middle of, well you know, and that Robin had forgotten to put out the sign (Mr. Wangs take our door hanger) and then walks out. He finds Robin on the phone and goes back up to Mitch who explains his last resort move “the Naked Man” which Mitch says works 2 out of 3 times. Ted joins the gang at the bar to tell them about the Naked man and they rush back up to the apartment to find the sign hanging on the door.

Later, back at the bar, Robin admits that she slept with Mitch. Marshall says it was only because he is naked and the only reason to sleep with anyone is love. Lily says there are more reasons than that and in fact can name 50.  The next few minutes are filled with some of these reason (side note: J.D. at have-you-met-ted.com get’s another great scoop and makes me jealous…again by getting the napkin from a “Carl Maclaren” with all 50 reasons…lucky bastige). Barney says he is going to try the naked man and Ted should try it with Vicky. Ted says he won’t because he doesn’t want to ruin things. Barney then picks up a blonde and the games begin.

Everyone is out to prove something. Robin that she is not a slut. Barney that the Naked Man can work. Ted that he doesn’t need a move like the Naked Man. Lily, that there really are 50 reasons to have sex. As it turns out, Robin is wrong, Mitch knows why they are on a second date and calls her on it. Lily can’t think of 50 without Marshall’s help. And Ted Barney engage in a phone conversation of some great “Austin Powers” type naked poses, when Barney calls Ted to tell him he is going for it and Ted replies with “Me Too”. Ted discovered his date was a horrible human being, thought he might be wrong and then went back to the naked man move. In a surprise move, even Lily uses the Naked Man on Marshall. the effect. It works for 2 out of 3. Marshall, Lily, Robin and Ted meet at the bar where Ted toasts Mitch for the Naked man. Barney, who’s ate wasn’t so excited about the move runs around in his favorite suit" (yes, the birthday suit) for the remainder episode. Classic.

The writers of How I Met Your Mother have done it with notafathersday.com. Barney(Neil Patrick Harris) was excellent in the episode “Not a Father’s Day” (it reminded me a lot of Scrubs, when Jordon told Dr. Cox that she was not pregnant and he went running through the streets screaming with excitement). The Who’s Not Your Daddy shirt’s and other merchandise was priceless. And the cheerleader effect was well thought out and so very true… I’m still pretty confused about the actually date we need to celebrate, is it November 10th?

Still… it’s an excellent use of off t.v. show marketing, you gotta love when shows do that. Check out the site, notafathersday.com; buy a who’s NOT Your Daddy shirt; or just re-watch the show..quite legendary. To encourage you to visit the site here is my favorite not a father’s day postcard from there:

Ok How I Met Your Mother fans, it would seem there has always been a lot of speculation about the "butt load of motivational posters" in Barney Stinson’s Office. Now there are many very cool fan posters floating about (the fan version of the Awesomeness Poster is also sweet) and even more speculation about what they all are and say. I actually get a question or comment related to this once a week or so… given the popularity of this topic I did some research, and feel it’s time now (before season 4 changes the wall again) the drop some knowledge.

You see, there is really not a simple question. For one thing, you never see all of them in one shot and when you do, you might catch a title but the catch phrase is a lot more difficult to see. The other, and more important issue is that they change from season to season! You may remember in my article about the Awesomeness Poster, that I posted this theory:

Finally… I feel the need to start a conspiracy theory. So what we know for sure is that the Awesomeness poster is first mentioned in Season 1 Episode 17 (Life Among the Gorillas) of HIMYM. And when it is mentioned Barney motions to either the back left corner of his office behind his desk. We also know that the poster makes it’s first “on screen” appearance in Season 3 Episode 1 (Wait For It…) (..stop waiting that was the name of the episode, sheesh) and at this time it is behind Barney’s desk to the right of the center of the room. So he just moved his posters around right? Wrong. ….

Let me point out a few things. First, in the area Barney pointed, the awesomeness poster is not there. Behind his desk there is no poster with the F-16 jet we saw in season 3 or the correct number of letters for the word “Awesomeness.” It can’t be on the wall to the left of Barney because as you can see there is just a huge set of windows. Was there even an awesomeness poster is Season 1…or just the mention of it.

… for more of the theory read the whole post

And to help prove my theory came shots from Season 3. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Lets start with what’s on Barney’s office walls during Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother. What’s more I’ve tried to let you know where you can either buy or make your own from stock photos. Hope this helps.

Season 1

During Season 1 there were 12 motivational posters. 10 Behind Barney’s desk and 2 on the wall next to his door. Given the way his office is laid out I don’t think there were more but I’m no Architect, though once I…ah, you don’t care so onward. As I mentioned earlier, despite the fact that Barney said there was an Awesomeness Poster in season 1, there is not one on the walls so it won’t count toward the "original 12" this time. Some are sold already and some were probably made by some HIMYM peeps, I couldn’t find everything but I do consider this to be the definitive work on the subject. It has taken many hours of research and browsing posters, stock photos, websites, etc… so enjoy.

1. Courage – "True greatness comes when you’re tested. Theodore Roosevelt"

This one is relatively easy to find, if you click on the word courage above you’ll see one place to buy it. You’ll notice the courage poster in the most top and left position behind Barney’s desk with a picture of firefighters on it.

2. Challenge – "We either find a way or we make one"

Funny that it should say make one, because that’s probably where this one came from. I can’t seem to find it on any rock climbing or motivational sites. The stock photo is no where to be found either. I can tell that is what the poster says but that’s about it. If I find out otherwise this will be updated. If your stuck on having one, here are some alternatives that I can recommend, since it can’t be exact:

Challenge skiiing (wording not the same as above)
Challenge running (still different)
And if you want to make your own these look like stock photos that would work, The Climber 3, Leading, Freeclimbing , Climbing or Rockclimber. If you plan on buying a stock photo then read this for info on some free iStockphoto credits.

3. Opportunity – "You will always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take."

A cool little basketball motivational poster. It is to the left of the courage poster also larger in size. You can could find it, like the courage poster at allposters. However it is discontinued. Maybe they will bring it back soon until then try amazon: Opportunity Motivational Psoter

4. Teamwork – "The chain is only as strong as the weakest link"

Another homebrew poster. The stock photo can be found at iStockphoto (like the awesomeness poster stock photo) but the poster was probably made for the show and isn’t available online that I can find.

5. Perseverance – "Continuous effort is the key to unlocking your potential. sir Winston Churchill"

A few guys in a rowboat…seems a little too peaceful for Barney Stinson, but who am I to judge. This can be found at allposters also.

6. Perfection - "It is not good enough to win, everybody else should lose"

It either says everybody or everyone, but I’m pretty certain on the rest of it. For me, this is the coolest poster in the office. Put this one in the "not found" category too because it’s a no show online. The planes seem to be Boeing F/A – 18 Hornets from the Blue Angels. And from the literally thousands of photos of them, this photo called formation flying is the closest to the one in Barney’s office I could find. If you are into making your own I would use that, fighter jets, hornet shockwave or airplanes in formation. And now there is a version of the perfection poster available in the be awesome instead store! Want to use something else? I would love to see your version of the Perfection poster. Post it below or email me!

7. Lead with Vision -

….this is where things get fuzzy. Again, the photo has proven a better hide-and-go seek player than me.  Stock Photo found (thanks to stfan for the comment and work!) If I were going to make my own I would use Into the Sunset, but as for what it says I have no clue. The only "Lead with Vision" m.p. I could find used the catch phrase "Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.", but it looked so corny I refuse to post it here.

Now stay with me on this poster a second. This poster has a strange characteristic the we begin to see in some of the upcoming posters. Notice the white banding over the catch phrase? Not sure if this was HIMYM staff made or a characteristic of a sold poster brand but I couldn’t find them anywhere online. Keep that in mind would you, I would love to know if there is an answer. Either way a version will be in the shop soon!

8. Conformity – "It’s the one who is different that gets left out in the cold."

These little penguins are evasive. The conformity penguins poster has the only catch phrase read aloud on the show. Season 1’s "Life Among the Gorillas" is where we get this and the bulk of the poster views. Still can’t find the stock photo but people do seem to enjoy the fan version.

9. Strength - “What the mind can conceive, it can achieve” (thanks to NPHFan in the comments for the quote!)… I know it has columns (much like the Ted’s first Skyscraper), but I can’t exactly find them. Classical Columns and Pillars look close but if you are a stickler for detail you’ll notice it’s not exact. I’ll reserve my thought on made vs. bought but if you need a different quote for your own try: “Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” Otherwise, since Barney seems to have a thing for jet posters just try out this Strength poster.

10. "the mystery poster"...I say mystery but it actually appears to be a second Teamwork poster. Skydivers in a circle holding hands (how sweet) this posters says, "Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. Henry Ford." Since we already have 1 teamwork poster the title of this may be why it is hidden behind a wine rack. Feel free to compare the two and leave your thoughts:

Posters by the door:

11. Determination – … saying unknown… I do like "Climb as high as you can dream" like this determination poster. Which makes sense since it appears to to be a climber standing atop a cliff he just climbed. Here again we see that wonderful white bar over the catch phrase…making it that much harder to read from the views we have.

12. Focus – …still no bloody clue what it says… here we have a black and white photo of a cyclist riding … and it’s oddly enough out of focus. Other than the stock photo, I did find a focus poster, but it uses some inline skater instead of a cyclist…maybe that’s you but it didn’t seem too Barney. The quote does though.

Season 2

Very little is seen of Barney’s office in Season 2, from what I can see it looks the same as season 1 (see the beginning of "World’s Greatest Couple" if needed). So, Nothing much to see here, keep the line moving.

Season 3

In the "Wait for it" (ep. 1), you will notice the first visual of the Awesomeness Poster. It shows up behind Barney and between the "Challenge" and "Teamwork" Posters. Missing now is the "Perfection" poster that graced the wall so…err…perfectly? By the end of season 3 the "Teamwork" and "Awesomeness" Posters have switched places, but "Perfection" stays missing. There is good news though because now you can see a small wall by the windows with 2 new posters. This brings the total (through Season 3) to 15 posters total.

13. Awesomeness – "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be Awesome Instead. True Story. Barney Stinson"

This is the most famous and the one that everyone wants to own and know about. If you don’t know anything..or everything about it then take a few and read all you will ever want to know about the Awesomeness Poster.

14. Greatness – No picture is ever seen and the text is too blurry to read in everything I can find. I think the first word is "The" but don’t take that to the bank. The closest I could find was this Greatness poster, but the one Barney has is vertical not horizontal so no dice.

15. Discovery – Another white bar over the phrase, so no much clue what it say… probably something like "You can’t read this, ha, ha, ha." I was hoping the stock photo would be at iStockphoto like some of the others, but alas it was not. I’m so sick of looking at poster and stock photos. Either way, winning the "close but no cigar" award for these is Régate Ajaccio 2007.

I know this list is not quite complete and where to buy or make several posters remains unknown. If you run across anything that would make this list more complete please post a comment here or email me using the contact page. Did you end up making your own? I would love to see them. For now I’m off to find an Advil.

Thanks and Be Awesome.

On the Robin and Barney issue, I feel that I made a pretty compelling case, and after the way :Miracles” ended, I am more certain of it.

The mother. Despite what others are claiming and last moments of Season 3 that left me screaming “NOOOOOOOOOOO….this went on a while….OOOOO!!”, I still stand by my post about what we know about “the mother”. Despite how I love Sarah Chalke, I still feel confident that Stella is not the mother! (…pssst…the mom’s name is Tracy!)

It’s also always nice to see the awesomeness poster..even if it was only for a fleeting moment….

Well I suppose that is a small episode recap…coupled with bragging and link dropping. Until Later, Be Awesome Instead.