Editing 1257: Monster
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | In | + | This comic is a parody on the opening scene of the science fiction monster movie Pacific Rim (2013). In the film, huge monsters called Kaiju entered the world through an inter-dimensional portal under the Pacific ocean and attacked coastal cities. The first Kaiju attacks the city of San Francisco, killing tens of thousands of people before its death five days later. In the comic, officials and police are evidently trying to describe the extraordinary qualities of a huge monster by comparing it with everyday objects instead of numbers, which is a recurring theme on xkcd ([[526: Converting to Metric]], [[1047: Approximations]]) and a [http://blog.xkcd.com/2013/05/15/dictionary-of-numbers/ blog article] where Randall says "I don't like large numbers without context." |
− | This comic pokes fun at how common it is in the media to compare things of extraordinary qualities to a certain narrow set of well-known objects. The comic features people discussing a fictional monster which - apparently - can be only described by these overused comparisons. | + | This comic pokes fun at how common it is in the media to compare things of extraordinary qualities to a certain narrow set of well-known objects. The comic features people discussing a fictional monster which - apparently - can be only described by these overused comparisons. The caption and the title text take this joke further by comparing the nuclear bomb to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of the second world war, an oft-used reference for explosive devices, and implying that it is the frequently-made-comparison quality of the bomb that destroyed the monster. |
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− | The caption | ||
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[ | + | :[4 figures are standing around a table-top crisis planning model. Cueball and Ponytail are wearing police-style hats; Megan holds a clipboard.] |
:Megan: It's as long as a football field. Runs as fast as a cheetah. | :Megan: It's as long as a football field. Runs as fast as a cheetah. | ||
:Cueball: Weighs as much as a blue whale. | :Cueball: Weighs as much as a blue whale. | ||
− | : | + | :Blonde: Can we negotiate with it? |
:Ponytail: No. It has the intelligence of a two-year-old child. | :Ponytail: No. It has the intelligence of a two-year-old child. | ||
− | + | :By the time the Frequently-Made Comparisons Monster was finally defeated, it had eaten enough people to fill a stadium and devastated an area the size of Rhode Island. | |
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− | :By the time the Frequently-Made Comparisons Monster was finally defeated, it had eaten enough people to fill a stadium and devastated an area the size of Rhode Island. | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | ||
[[Category:Language]] | [[Category:Language]] | ||
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