Editing 637: Scribblenauts

{{comic
| number    =637
| date      =September 16, 2009
| title     =Scribblenauts
| image     =scribblenauts.png
| titletext =Let me look away and type 'guy who's just jealous that I beat all his MarioKart times' and turn back, and... yup, there you are again!
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Scribblenauts}}'' is a game for the {{w|Nintendo DS}} in which the player controls a character named Maxwell, whose goal is to get a "Starite" in each level. The player has the ability to summon over 22,000 different objects into the game by typing them on the touchscreen using the DS's stylus device. Those items are then ostensibly used to help Maxwell collect the Starite (for example, typing "ladder" to help him reach a Starite that's inside a tree), but the player can decide to forgo the objective and just type in random things for fun.

The {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, and has excited the imagination of writers and journalists in popular culture, some of whom posit the theory that a catastrophic accident at the LHC could destroy the world. One of those ideas concerned the LHC creating a black hole that would proceed to suck in all the surrounding matter. However, in the game, the LHC, when tapped, creates a comically small black hole which only kills Maxwell.

Megan discovers that the LHC can be summoned in ''Scribblenauts,'' and has a fun time creating black holes with it. Cueball's snide comment is an unfortunately rather common reaction among adults towards entertainment geared for children, and the fact that ''Scribblenauts'' is a portable game just gives him another stick to beat it with.  Irritated, Megan types in the phrase "pretentious asshole", and then pretends that Cueball has suddenly appeared. It is unclear whether she is referring to Cueball spawning in-game, or his presence in the real world. Note that, in reality, ''Scribblenauts'' doesn't respond to profanity.

In the title text, she types "guy who's just jealous that I beat all his ''{{w|Mario Kart}}'' times" (this could be a reference to [[423: Finish Line]]) and once again, Cueball "appears" right in front of her. ''Mario Kart'' is another video-game series geared towards children, and there's a version of it for the DS, which implies that Cueball's just being snooty about ''Scribblenauts'' because Megan has so thoroughly dominated him in another "DS kids game".

==Transcript==
:[Megan is sitting on bed.]
:[In Scribblenauts word input format.]
:LARGE HADRON COLLIDER
:''Click''
:Megan: Wow, Scribblenauts even lets you summon the LHC.

:[Cueball is sitting at a computer. Megan talks from off-panel.]
:''Fwoosh''
:Megan: And it makes a black hole! This game rules.
:Cueball: I guess it's okay, for a DS kids game.

:[In Scribblenauts word input format.]
:PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLE
:''Click''
:[Megan looks up.]
:Megan: Oh, hi! It worked!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]