explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2251: Alignment Chart Alignment Chart

2026-05-14T02:49:38Z

IAmADroid: discussion reply: groups can be concave.

OK, hope someone will now explain it after I created this page. I'm lost on this one ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:49, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Arrgh, edit conflict! [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 11:55, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the Punnet Square is ''also'' a meme template...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.229|162.158.154.229]] 15:59, 7 January 2020 (UTC)

I vaguely remember Randall to refer to the clay-sand diagram (or whatever it is called) as his all time favorite diagram on what-if somewhere. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:35, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
:You vaguely remember "Starsand" from https://what-if.xkcd.com/83/ with the quote "Fortunately, there's a wonderful chart by the US Geologic Survey that answers all these questions and more. For some reason, I find this chart very satisfying—it's like the erosion geology edition of the electromagnetic spectrum chart." directly applicabe to this chart[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 17:57, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

I fear any attempt to "explain" the CIE chromaticity diagram will devolve into arguments about why Randall chose it. I have found that folks outside the world of optics or neurooptical studies have a hard time understanding why the raw colors available in single wavelengths comprise that short curvy line inside the full colorspace. The way our brain processes the relative signal strengths from the different types of retinal cones is quite amazing. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:57, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
:CGW I'm shocked! Surely you know that single-wavelengths are the curvy outer boundary while the inner curvy line shows the response to blackbody spectra. ;-) -Fred [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.61|173.245.52.61]] 19:55, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
::Thanks for that; I was about to question the statement myself. All in all, I feel the current explanation of the chromaticity diagram doesn't really explain much, and seems unnecessarily biased to boot. I know just enough about chromaticity to think it's wrong but not enough to correct it. [[User:LtPowers|LtPowers]] ([[User talk:LtPowers|talk]]) 19:58, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
:::I agree that explanation isn't great, if it's not improved when I have free time tonight I'll take a stab at it. Or maybe CelloCGW will, since he IS an optics guru (which is why I had to raz him).[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.61|173.245.52.61]] 20:13, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

@Fred - mea culpa. I should think before writing. Fortunately :-), the ratio of the colorspace to any 1-dimensional line's area is still infinite! [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 20:33, 6 January 2020 (UTC) .... now that someone did post some explanation of CIE, more comments. The current CIE spec may be paywalled, but it has changed little if at all over the last 40 or 50 years, so it's not all that hard to get the values. There are several sites (naturally I've lost the URLs) which provide algos to convert HSM to RGB to HSV and so on. See Wikipedia, https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/003/cie.15.2004.tables.xls , and similar repositories [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 20:44, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

:I redid the CIE explanation - focusing on describing the diagram, rather than one thing it might get used for (e.g. black body). I think the diagrams on the right are labeled chaotic because they are not some neat geometric shape over-all. I didn't really follow much of what was there, so feel free to revive some of it if it seems useful. (My background in color theory comes from computer science and graphics, rather than from physics or hardware design.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.201|162.158.107.201]] 00:57, 7 January 2020 (UTC)
::It's better! Though it might be nice to explain what the x and y coordinates on the CIE diagram represent. (I personally have no clue, even after perusing Wikipedia.) As for chaoticness and shape, really CN and CE are the one two that aren't simple geometric shapes; even CG is a trapezoid. [[User:LtPowers|LtPowers]] ([[User talk:LtPowers|talk]]) 15:04, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

I'm only familiar with 4th and 5th edition, but should the "Good/neutral/evil:" axis eplanation be changed to "selfless deeds or selfish deeds"? Good and evil are highly subjective ("One person's 'freedom fighter' is another person's 'terrorist'.") but at least in 5e the axis is explained as risking/sacrificing yourself for the benefit of others (Good) vs. sacrificing others for your own benefit (Evil). Also, the explanation of the CN character may benefit from dividing which parts of the explanation are "chatoic" vs "neutral". Finally the "lacking rhyme or reason" part of chaotic is highly debated within D&D circles. There are certainly people who play that way, but there are also others who feel that chaotic characters have just as much motivation and goals as a lawful or neutral character just that part of their motivation is to act contrarily to Tradition/Authority. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.54|162.158.186.54]] 14:37, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

: It seems from this page that even nerds tend to interpret the alignment system by the ‘common sense’ meaning of the names instead of the detailed explanation. I once simply went through the Wikipedia article, which cited the second edition IIRC: ‘lawful’ means sticking to ''some'' code of conduct, whereas ‘chaotic’ is a pure opportunist or behaves randomly. ‘Good’ and ‘evil’ indeed mean selfless vs selfish deeds, but afaik in one of the official explanations ‘evil’ meant exercising authority over others—so all managers would be ‘evil’ automatically. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 16:42, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

I am not sure the phase diagram is for Water - that has nine solid phases. Surely it is merely a simple example.
[[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 16:52, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

As an interesting note, this comic's alt-text also ends with a period inside of a quote. This was discussed at length in the previous comic. [[User:Agrasin|Agrasin]] ([[User talk:Agrasin|talk]]) 16:52, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

I'm just upset that both a soil diagram and the QAPF were included, but not the TAS. Where's the love for extrusive igneous rocks? [[User:Mergelong|Mergelong]] ([[User talk:Mergelong|talk]]) 18:22, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

BTW, I offer my condolences and wish luck to the person who's going to make a transcript of this comic. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 22:28, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

"lawful heterozygous silty liquid" Is this not him being Lawfull, having inherited different forms of a particular gene from each parent, and basically a bag full of salt water? [[User:Nappy|Nappy]] ([[User talk:Nappy|talk]]) 07:51, 7 January 2020 (UTC)

A phase diagram was also used in https://what-if.xkcd.com/138/ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.7|162.158.89.7]] 08:23, 7 January 2020 (UTC)

The phase diagrams for oxygen and radon look similar to the Lawful Neutral one here. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.166|172.68.34.166]] 23:06, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

Is it coincidence that the evil chaotic diagram looks a bit like a brain? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.9|162.158.158.9]] 10:52, 9 January 2020 (UTC)

Made a "real" one using actual picts from the internet based on this comic ... but ALSO using his comic. Meta, meta, meta, maybe? https://imgur.com/gallery/CagOh8s

I'm fairly certain that Randall is classifying himself using the Omnispace classifier, rather than referencing "the true neutral, neutral good, lawful good, and lawful neutral charts in the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart." as the current description suggests. If you look at the Omnispace classifier, Silt, Liquid, Heterozygous, and Lawful Good all share a common point on the chart. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.207|172.69.68.207]] 17:55, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

It is unclear to me why the explanation claims that the chart in the comic is missing the low central vowel ä. The official IPA chart does not include this vowel, and the use of a diaresis to indicate centralization, like all other diacritics for indicating relative articulation, are given in a separate section from the main chart. Granted, the vowel chart on Wikipedia does include ä, but there is no reason that we should expect XKCD to do the same. That said, the omission of ɐ is quite odd, and seems to be an error. {{unsigned|IcarusProblem|01:40, 12 December 2023}}
== Omnispace Classifier ==

I think the Omnispace Classifier is meant to be a horrific Frankenstein amalgamation of the other 8 kinds of chart. Theoretically it can "classify anything" since it can classify anything the other 8 can, but practically it would obviously be totally useless, or at least a lot less useful than just using the specific chart that works for the situation. [[User:Pureawes0me|Pureawes0me]] ([[User talk:Pureawes0me|talk]]) 12:09, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

In the description of the Omnispace Classifier, saying "the diagram created for this comic is considered to be chaotically evil." is wrong. The diagram created for this comic is ''not'' an Omnispace Classifier, it is an alignment chart. It's even in the title "Alignment Chart Alignment Chart". [[User:Pureawes0me|Pureawes0me]] ([[User talk:Pureawes0me|talk]]) 14:11, 8 January 2020 (UTC)
:I concur. [[User:LtPowers|LtPowers]] ([[User talk:LtPowers|talk]]) 15:04, 8 January 2020 (UTC)
I feel the "Omnispace Classifier" is actually chaotic evil due to its mishmash of axes, which change randomly in topic and direction depending where you look on the graph. --[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 17:43, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

== Chart Position Rationale ==

The page currently tries to explain each chart's position based on the content of the chart, e.g. the political compass chart is lawful because politics relates to laws. I think this is wrong: the charts are arranged based on their properties ''as charts''. It's not based on whatever it is they represent. This feels more in character with how Randall tends to do things. It also avoids making a bunch of value judgments about various topics. [[User:Khaim|Khaim]] ([[User talk:Khaim|talk]]) 23:05, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

Possible explanations for each chart:
* Soil chart: Information-dense, continuous, triangular
* Punnett square: Simple, square
* IPA vowel chart: Irregular shape
* Phase diagram: Square, continuous
* Alignment chart: "A is A"
* CIE chromaticity diagram: Irregular shape, ''curved'', nonlinear
* Political compass: Square (lawful), highly subjective, not very useful
* QAPF rock diagram: Diamond shape is misleading since it's actually two ternary charts stuck together, not very useful (unless you're a geologist?)
* Omnispace classifier: Totally made up, irregular, completely useless
[[User:Khaim|Khaim]] ([[User talk:Khaim|talk]]) 23:31, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

:I agree with this, and it's how I first interpreted the comic.--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 23:40, 8 January 2020 (UTC)
:Well, the point is to make any connection to both axis of the chart. Your explanations do not do that properly either. e.g. for IPA vowel chart "Irregular shape" does not explain why it would be considered "good", while it is one of maybe more possible reasons for being considered chaotic. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:39, 9 January 2020 (UTC)

== XKCD Alignment Chart ==

A while back, I was searching for an XKCD alignment chart, with no success, so I made one. It is not perfect, so I'm wondering what other opinions on the alignment of the characters are.

Lawful Good- Beret

Neutral Good- Ponytail

Chaotic Good- Mrs. Roberts

Lawful Neutral-Cueball

Neutral Neutral- Megan

Chaotic Neutral- White hat

Lawful Evil- Hairy

Neutral Evil- Danish

Chaotic Evil- Black Hat

--[[User:Fallencrow305|Fallencrow305]] ([[User talk:Fallencrow305|talk]]) 22:10, 28 July 2016 (UTC)

:What about Help I'm trapped in a drivers license factory Elaine Roberts? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:48, 29 September 2016 (UTC)
::Or Hairbun? Or Science Girl? Here are my predictions: Elaine - Chaotic Good, Hairbun - Lawful Good, Science Girl - Lawful Neutral --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:00, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

:What? How can Beret Guy be anything other than chaotic?— {{unsigned|}}

:You did:
:{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Lawful !! Neutral !! Chaotic
|-
! Good !! Beret || Ponytail || Mrs. Roberts
|-
! Neutral !! Cueball || Megan || White Hat
|-
! Evil !! Hairy || Danish ||Black Hat
|}
:'''[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|speak]] | [[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|museum]]) 18:10, 17 October 2022 (UTC)'''

...while I see the slight logic of moving the above section away from the Main Page "Talk", it is only associated with this Explanation by having a common subject. Perhaps should have been re-asserted under a suitable bit of the Community Portal, or the (Talk of the) umbrella page for all characters? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.147|172.70.86.147]] 15:54, 17 February 2023 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the Punnett square is neutral because the effect of a genetic combination can be good (resistance to HIV) or evil (Huntington disease). [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:36, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I object to the soil chart being lawful good. Two of the categories are concave. You can mix sandy loam with sandy loam and get loam, or silt loam with silt loam and get silt. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 07:15, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
:Well one of the sandy loams doesn't have enough clay. And the other sandy loam has far too much sand. But put them together and you get a decent loam! [[User_talk:Beanie#Could_you_create_some_category_pages_.28.22Superheroes.22_.26_.22Superman.22.29_for_me_so_I_can_edit_them.3F|Just_a_droid_who_wants_his_Superman_and_Superhero_category_pages]] 02:49, 14 May 2026 (UTC)

Popping by here only because of someone discovering a couple of redirect pages were not done, due to failure of the 'BOT of the day. (Was it really only four-and-a-half years ago that we were still pre-theusafBOT?) Good catch, that user! Of course, I still wonder what the Omnispace Classifier Classifier would rationalise as (as per the Omnispace Classifier, but with a subordinate Omnispace Classifier also added to the other eight... perhaps even a recursive OC-Clqssifier, in turn an OCC-Classifier). Idle thought, only, whilst I was noting the wikifixes just done! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.18|172.70.162.18]] 12:21, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

== Changed into Charts ==
* 2nd - Punnett square replaced as Keyboard Layout
* 5th - Alignment Chart replaced as Periodic Table
* 7th - Political compass replaced as [[Skew-T Log-P]]
* 8th - QAPF rock diagram replaced as [[Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond|NFPA Hazard Diamond]]
* 9th - Onmispace Classifier replaced as Multiplication Table--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.219.78|172.71.219.78]] 02:19, 19 April 2025 (UTC)
:What are you saying? Also, don't put your signature text in the header (moved). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.115|172.70.86.115]] 09:16, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

These sentences don't make sense:
<blockquote>It's important to note that this is called the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart. However, that may be [https://xkcd.com/745/ doing 'doing "doing it wrong" wrong' wrong].</blockquote>
My edit deleting them was reverted, so I won't start an edit war about it, but honestly I don't even know what more I need to explain here beyond "they make no sense"? I guess I'll try.
For one thing, the second sentence has no relevance except the fact that the previous sentence had a lot of repetition; it doesn't even actually describe that sentence accurately in any way.
The first sentence itself also doesn't really make sense. The comic is called "Alignment Chart Alignment Chart", not "Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart". I guess they're saying that the alignment chart in the middle should be called "the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart", because it's an alignment chart that is found on the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart? But the alignment chart isn't "called" the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart, that's just something you made up based on its being assigned an alignment on the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart. And there's no good reason to identify this alignment chart as ''the'' Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart. Sure, it is the type of alignment chart on which the charts aligned by the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart are being aligned. But the conceit of the "Alignment Chart Alignment Chart", as shown by its title, is that it's an alignment chart assigning alignments to alignment charts; thus, every chart assigned an alignment in the alignment chart is itself considered an alignment chart. So if you called the central alignment chart on the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart an Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart, then for consistency you'd have to label all the other aligned alignment charts as Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment charts. And that's just silly. [[User:Revolutionary girl euclid|Revolutionary girl euclid]] ([[User talk:Revolutionary girl euclid|talk]]) 20:11, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

:Again no response from the editor who reverted it, I removed it again. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:26, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

2251: Alignment Chart Alignment Chart

2026-05-14T02:42:22Z

IAmADroid: added to the transcript visualization. Still need to finish IPA.

{{comic
| number = 2251
| date = January 6, 2020
| title = Alignment Chart Alignment Chart
| image = alignment_chart_alignment_chart.png
| titletext = I would describe my personal alignment as "lawful heterozygous silty liquid."
}}

==Explanation==
"Alignment" and "alignment charts" come from tabletop roleplaying games, most prominently ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}''. Every character has an {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment}}, which very roughly identifies their tendencies. The most widely used alignment system was introduced in the ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set}}'' in 1977 and has been reused in many (but not all) subsequent editions of the game. This system uses two perpendicular axes, each divided into three levels (for a total of nine categories). The two axes are:
* Lawful/neutral/chaotic: this axis says whether a character is strongly devoted to, indifferent about, or categorically opposed to following established rules.
* Good/neutral/evil: this axis says whether a character is generally inclined to commit good deeds or evil deeds.

In this system, the "lawful" attribute is independent from the "good" attribute. Lawful alignment means that a character is committed to a set of rules, which can refer to actual established laws, or to something like a rigid personal code, a set of traditions, or a chain of command, while a chaotic alignment means that a character has no interest in those, and may actively oppose them. The good vs evil scale is generally based on a character's concern for the lives and well-being of others; a good character will actively seek to help others and prevent harm, while an evil character will have no such concern and may actively harm others. Being 'good' is assumed to be independent of being 'lawful'. For example, a character who actively breaks laws to help those who are unjustly imprisoned or oppressed would be considered to be "chaotic good". In both cases, a neutral alignment can indicate a character's indifference to a concept, or that their commitment is conditional, or that they consciously seek to balance both sides. A character with the "neutral neutral" alignment is called a true neutral.

An alignment chart is a grid that divides the alignments, usually for the purpose of putting descriptions or particular characters on it. Alignment charts are frequently used as a [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mcdonalds-alignment-chart meme template], where humorous or absurdist things are organized into different alignments. In addition to the "classic" Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart, there are a number of variant alignment charts in use as meme templates. Many keep the three-by-three grid structure but replace the lawful-neutral-chaotic and good-neutral-evil axes with descriptions.

This comic claims to be a meta-alignment chart, where nine "alignment charts" are themselves sorted into the nine Dungeons and Dragons alignments, following the use of alignment charts to humorously classify abstract concepts. However, these "alignment charts" are mostly diagrams used in academic classifications, which are being treated as if they were blank meme templates. There are two levels of absurdity here: first, the idea of using these diagrams to classify things they were never intended for, and second, the conflation of chaos as a physics concept and an assigned moral weight as it applies to each of these classification systems.

The title text describes Randall's alignment as "lawful heterozygous silty liquid" which references the true neutral, neutral good, lawful good, and lawful neutral charts in the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart. Lawful is the left side of an alignment chart, heterozygous is the top right or bottom left of a Punnett Square, silty is the bottom right of a soil chart, and liquid is the top right of a phase diagram. As such, the title text describes Randall's alignment as between Lawful Neutral and Neutral Good on this chart.

{| class="wikitable"
!Alignment
!Chart
!Explanation
|-
|Lawful Good
|{{w|Soil texture|Soil chart}}
|This chart shows the USDA classification of soil types by their relative proportions of sand, clay and silt. The chart is a ternary diagram (very common in geology), so soils with more clay plot towards the upper corner, soils with more sand to the bottom left, and soils with more silt to the bottom right. This chart has been used humorously as an alignment chart ([https://www.reddit.com/r/PrequelMemes/comments/8wakd4/anakin_soil_reference_chart/ for example]) and may have been the inspiration for Randall to use scientific diagrams as alignment charts. In addition to being Lawful Good, this grid cell is also the upper left cell of the chart and will be read first, making it a good place to put this chart as a "jumping off point". [https://what-if.xkcd.com/83/ What If 83 "Star Sand"] cites Randall as "...very satisfied with this chart, it's like the erosion geology edition of the electromagnetic spectrum chart..."
|-
|Neutral Good
|{{w|Punnett square}}
| Punnett squares are a visual method of determining what traits an organism might have based on the traits of the organism's parents. It relies on the principle that a trait is either dominant (indicated with capital letters) or recessive (indicated with lowercase letters). The exact combination of dominant or recessive genes that a child organism receives from their parents determines their traits. Heterozygous and homozygous refers to the pairs of alleles in an organism’s genotype, indicating mixed or same alleles, respectively. Randall later uses "heterozygous" in the title text. Note that it is possible for a phenotype to be expressed the same between some heterozygotes and homozygotes, e.g., persons with genotypes heterozygous "Aa" and homozygous "AA" will both express blood type A.
Therefore, the Punnett Square is a good chart because it is both a simple and true geometric predictor of inheritance, but it tends to be neutral because of complicating factors such as polygenic inheritance; these and other factors will cause genotypic frequency to deviate from expected 1:2:1 patterns.
|-
|Chaotic Good
|{{w|IPA vowel chart with audio|IPA vowel chart }}
|This chart shows the relationship between different vowels according to the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}. The position of the vowel on the chart serves roughly as an indicator of the position of the tongue in the mouth of the speaker. As different vowel sounds are created by changes in different parts of the mouth, including lip roundness which is expressed in the chart implicitly as an invisible third dimension, vowel identification is qualitative and often up to interpretation, and vowel expression can change dramatically from region to region or even person to person within the same language, the categories described by the chart might be considered chaotic. The chart is missing the near-open central vowel [ɐ] and the open central vowel [ä] (often written as /a/).
|-
|Lawful Neutral
|{{w|Phase diagram}}
|A phase diagram shows the equilibrium phases of matter present for a particular temperature, pressure, and composition. The diagram included is a unary phase diagram of a typical material that has a solid, liquid, and gas phase depending on the temperature and pressure for a fixed composition. Phase diagrams are useful for understanding how a material may change as its conditions change. For example, the air pressure of Mars is such that there is no temperature at which liquid water can exist in equilibrium on its surface. Water exists as ice until the temperature reaches a point where it sublimates directly into steam.

This phase diagram does not specify what material is depicted, but it is certainly ''not'' the phase diagram of water. On this diagram, compressing the liquid phase will transform the material into a solid, which is how most materials behave, but the solid/liquid phase line for water tilts the opposite direction. This is why water ice floats on liquid water, for example.

Phase diagrams follow the laws of thermodynamics and concern themselves with the order in which things ''should'' be, so they are inherently lawful.
|-
|True Neutral
|Alignment chart
|All alignment charts are neutral unless humans contaminate them. The chart in this cell has the same overall shape as the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart in the comic.
|-
|Chaotic Neutral
|CIE chromaticity diagram
|The {{w|chromaticity}} diagram is a chart of colors. Visible colors form a shape like a triangle with two bulging sides in the diagram. The curved line within the diagram shows the chromaticities of {{w|Black body|black bodies}} over a range of color temperatures. The chromaticity diagram shows colors independent of luminance.
The chart is not a simple geometric shape, so it is labeled as chaotic. Points on the diagram can be specified as combinations of three underlying illuminants (the colors of which may not all be visible). It can also be described in polar form with angle and radial distance from some central point, where the maximum radial distance depends on the angle.
The fact that the colors may not show properly on a screen, making the diagram incorrect, may also contribute to its chaotic aspect, as well as the fact that the official standard is behind a paywall.
|-
|Lawful Evil
|Political compass
|[https://www.politicalcompass.org/ Political Compass] separates ideas about governance into economic and social political thought. For example, Gandhi and Stalin supposedly both had similar economic perspectives (collectivist) but radically different social perspectives (libertarian vs authoritarian).

As politics is how laws are made, this is inherently lawful. Representing all politics in terms of two very general axes is not only a gross oversimplification, it is often used to put one's favored ideology as far away from Hitler or Stalin. This common use of a fallacy similar to the straw man makes this chart evil.

Like the USDA soil chart, the political compass has actually been [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/political-compass used as an alignment chart], largely to mock the original political compass chart.
|-
|Neutral Evil
|{{w|QAPF diagram|QAPF rock diagram}}
|This diagram is used to classify coarse-grained felsic (low magnesium and iron) igneous rocks by the relative volumes of the minerals quartz, alkali feldspars, plagioclase feldspars, and feldspathoids in the rock. It consists of two ternary diagrams - quartz and feldspathoid minerals cannot coexist (they will react to form feldspars) so only three of these components will be in any given rock. Rocks in the upper triangle of the diagram contain quartz, with rocks with more quartz plotting closer to the top, while rocks in the lower triangle contain feldspathoids, with rocks with more feldspathoids plotting lower. Rocks closer to the left corner of the diagram contain more alkali feldspar and rocks closer to the right corner contain more plagioclase feldspar. The field on the diagram for granite is labeled in the comic, but each area outlined on the diagram has its own rock name (monzonite, syenite, granodiorite, etc.). All the rocks that the QAPF diagram is used to classify look superficially like granite, but their chemistry, mineralogy, and origin differ.
The QAPF diagram and the names of the more obscure rock types on it can be somewhat arcane, which may be why it is considered evil here.
|-
|Chaotic Evil
|Omnispace classifier
|The other eight diagrams shown in this comic, squished together into one, with the shapes of the diagrams corresponding to those of the originals. The diagram is labeled chaotic, since it does not have a simple geometrical shape. Probably self-referential humor, in that the diagram created for this comic is considered to be chaotically evil.
|}

An alignment chart was also featured in [[2408: Egg Strategies]], which was published exactly one year later.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.|There's several Transcript-friendly chart descriptions still need putting in... And probably changes to the existing transcriptisation where it isn't in line with typical Transcript standards.}}

:[A 3×3 grid of squares. Each square contains a label at the top and a drawing of a chart, and each square has a caption below it. From left to right, and one row at a time:]

----

:Soil Chart

:[The diagram is a triangle split into several sections. The left side of the triangle is labeled "Clay" going up (indicating that the top corner of the triangle is pure clay), the right side is labeled "Silt" going down (indicating that the bottom right corner of the triangle is pure silt), and the bottom is labeled "Sand" going left (indicating that the bottom left corner of the triangle is pure sand). The sections are labeled as follows, going left to right, top to bottom:]

:* Clay
:* [unintelligible, probably "sandy"] Clay
:* Silty Clay
:* Clay Loam
:* Silty Clay Loam
:* Sandy Clay Loam
:* Loam
:* Silt Loam
:* [unintelligible, probably "Sand"]
:* [unintelligible, probably "Loamy Sand"]
:* Sandy Loam
:* Silt

:Lawful Good

----

:Punnett Square

:[A 2x2 grid with a capital or lowercase R at either the left or top of each row and column, and each square containing the two letters of its row and column.]

:Neutral Good

----

:IPA Vowel Chart

:[A trapezoid with 4 rows and 3 columns. The top and bottom edges are perfectly horizontal. the right edge is perfectly vertical. The left edge/column slopes downward, making the trapezoid wider on the top and narrower on the bottom. The center column also slopes down but more steeply (as it approaches verticality), and again the right column is perfectly straight. The vowels aligned on the 4x3 trapezoid grid are as follows, going left to right, top to bottom (3 entries per row):]
:* i•y
:* ɨ•ʉ
:* ɯ•u

:* e•ø
:* ɘ•ɵ
:* ɤ•o

:* ɛ•œ
:* ɜ•ɞ
:* ʌ•ɔ

:* a•ɶ
:* ä•(no rounded version)
:* ɑ•ɒ

:[there are also vowels in between the main vowels aligned with the trapezoid grid. TODO: ADD IN BETWEEN VOWELS.]

:Chaotic Good

----

:Phase Diagram

:[The diagram is a simple square chart labeled "Heat" along the x-axis and "Pressure" along the y-axis. One section, labeled "Solid," is a wavy triangle that encompasses the left side of the chart, tapering off toward the bottom until it comes to a point just above the bottom. Another section, labeled "Gas," shares a border with the "Solid" section but splits off about halfway up and continues to about 3/4 of the way up the right side. The final section, labeled "Liquid," occupies the rest of the space in the chart.]

:Lawful Neutral

----

:Alignment Chart

:[A 3×3 grid of nine empty squares, each with a squiggly line below it imitating an unreadable caption. Almost a recursion of this comic.]

:True Neutral

----

:CIE Chromaticity Diagram

:[A curved edge at the top of the chart like a parabola facing downwards leaning towards the right with the two ends of the parabola being connected by a straight line. The sections are labeled as follows, going left to right, top to bottom:]

:* Green
:* Yellow
:* Pink
:* Red
:* Purple
:* Blue

:Chaotic Neutral

----

:Political Compass

:[A square chart split into four quadrants, with the horizontal axis labeled "Left (left)/Right (right)" and the vertical axis labeled "Authoritarian (top)/Libertarian (bottom)." Each quadrant is divided into several irregular segments, either unlabeled or labeled with a single question mark.]

:Lawful Evil

----

:QAPF Rock Diagram

:[The diagram is a rhombus with each corner labeled: ‘Q’ at the top, ‘A’ at the left, ‘P’ at the right, and ‘F’ at the bottom. The diagram is divided into trapezoids and triangles, each with labels. The writing in most subdivisions are unreadable (squiggly lines). The readable subdivisions:]
:* Granite [around the top left]
:* Basalt [just below the right corner]
:* Foidolite [at the bottom]

:Neutral Evil

----

:Omnispace Classifier

:[This one is a recursion of the comic, but the charts that were in separate cells of the 3x3 grid have now been liquid resized and mushed together with no space in between. If all the charts were squares, then it would have looked like nothing changed in this recursion, but since we have some irregular shapes, then distortion is present. The triangular soil chart in the top left has been glued to it's neighbors, which have to warp to accommodate the triangle. The bottom of the triangle is glued to the top edge of the square phase diagram below it. The CIE Chromaticity diagram in the middle right, which originally an upside down parabola, now appears more triangular; with the left side of the triangle glued to the center chart, and the right side of the triangle glued to the IPA chart above. The IPA chart above (in the top right), which was an upside down trapezoid, now has been distorted into a parallelogram. The QAPF Rock Diagram, in the bottom middle, which originally was a diamond rhombus taller than it was wide, still somewhat maintains its aspect ratio, but it has been rotated clockwise 45 degrees, and the obtuse angle which was its left corner has been forced square by its square neighbors: the alignment chart above, the Political Compass to its left, and the phase diagram a diagonal away, all three working together to force the rhombus corner square. The Omnispace Classifier itself is not depicted in its recursion, so the recursion is not infinite. There are only 8 diagrams within the omnispace classifier, i.e. the other 8 diagrams in the alignment chart.]

:Chaotic Evil

{{comic discussion}}



[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]

User talk:Beanie

2026-05-13T11:39:03Z

IAmADroid: /* Could you create some category pages ("Superheroes" & "Superman") for me so I can edit them? */ new section

{{Welcome|Beanie}} — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 16:38, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

== Adding the title text to the transcript ==

Hi,
I am curious. What is your motivation for this monster project to add the title text to more than 2400 comics? It is always already found in the page. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:40, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
:The transcript includes the whole comic, so I believe it should include the title text. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 14:08, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
:Also, I don't have a whole lot else to do. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 14:30, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

Hi there Beanie, thanks for all your contributions to explain xkcd! Just wanted to mention a couple things before you continue your ambitious project of adding the title text to all the transcripts, in case this saves you a bit of effort.
* ''Currently'', I believe the site policy is to ''not'' include the title text in the transcript, as mentioned in the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#What is the format of the transcript section?|Editor FAQ]].
* There was recently a brief discussion about it in the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Add title text and heading to transcript section|community portal]]. As I understand it, the rationale for the ''transcript'' is to include a ''textual'' representation of the ''graphical'' text in the comic (so that it can be searched, for example); but the ''title text'' is already represented textually (below the comic image), so for this purpose it would be redundant in the transcript, and I believe that's the reasoning behind the current policy.
I, for one, certainly appreciate the title text that [[Randall]] adds to the comics; but FWIW, even according to Randall himself in his [https://youtu.be/z_zwyJ6IYR0?t=2231 talk at Dartmouth College], the joke in the title text should never be critical to the main joke in the comic – i.e. the comic should work on its own, even if the title text didn't exist. I'm not saying you ''can't'' add the title text to the transcript, nor that you ''shouldn't'' – for instance, as you mentioned, maybe the title text ''ought'' to be considered as part of the comic, and so maybe it ''should'' be included in the transcript. But just letting you know that the current policy is to omit it, so you might want to discuss it in the community portal and make sure everyone's on-board before putting in a bunch of effort on it, only to have someone else come along and undo all your hard work. Cheers, and thanks again for all your contributions to the site! – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 03:36, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
:Well, thanks for clearing it up :) [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 09:25, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

== Knit Cap ==

Hi Beanie

Nice with the [[Knit Cap]] page, however, during the time of the Lorenz comic it was agreed upon in this community that Knit Cap was a woman in that comic! So I disagree with the page you made calling her a he... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:17, 7 July 2021 (UTC)
:But the official transcripts said 'a guy in a knit cap' D: [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 13:21, 7 July 2021 (UTC)
::Well, in the other comics where Knit Cap has long hair, the transcripts always refer to them as 'A guy in a knit cap'. Lorenz's transcript is more about the structure. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 13:26, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

== It is actually a perfectly cromulent word... ==

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glintingly
...just sayin'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 23:26, 29 January 2022 (UTC)
:Fine then :p [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 23:27, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

== Mdashes ==

Keep going, if you want. I find it awkward on this device to put in mdashes (except by using "&mdash;", which is inefficient), so I'll hyphen it and accept someone converting it later. Not that you've changed any that I recognise as being mine, originally, yet. And you're preserving the spaces... as long as you don't convert legitimate "…this - and that…" to "…this—and that…", I'm happy. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 01:20, 25 February 2022 (UTC) (PS., I'm also the guy who wrote the above section. :-p I'd forgotten I'd told you that, but I see you continue to be of good humour!)

== "That sentence was redundant, as that's the entire reason why categories exist. I'll be doing this for the other comics now too." ==

Technically correct, and I have no intention of reversing this/others, but it's really more a "this is a further example of (category)" style comment which is exceedingly common and relevent in narrative explanations. Some things (being one of the Wednesday Comics) need have no mention, except when it's one of the unusual ones. That it features a given character is probably not special (save for in-text link to their character page).

At some point you get to "This is a further example of a Cursed Connector" usefulness in the Explanation, ''in addition to'' the respective category being found buried in the extensive footer list. And I (not that my opinion is authoritative!) thought the gist of the Interviews comment headed in that direction.

Having seen all the recent edits done (linknit to Category rather than the list of direct cross-article references), I wonder if the editor(s) who did that might feel a bit miffed at the excision of their own work. (From here on the sidines, I can sympathise with both your and their POVs, though obviously I tend to theirs a bit more.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.190|172.71.242.190]] 13:50, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
:You are correct about comments denoting a comic's inclusion in a category being common, but there are a ''lot'' of categories. It's not possible nor necessary to mention which categories each comic are in, so where is the line drawn?

:Your point about editors' work being removed is a little odd though. Isn't that the entire point of wikis? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 11:30, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

== Could you create some category pages ("Superheroes" & "Superman") for me so I can edit them? ==

The pages I want are: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Superheroes
and another one specifically for superman: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Superman

I'd make the superman category a subcategory of superheroes obviously,
and superheroes a subcategory of fiction.

There are also a few comics that have superman that I could aggregate in a superman category:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1792:_Bird/Plane/Superman
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1063:_Kill_Hitler (doesn't explicitly feature superman but references a superman movie)
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1384:_Krypton
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1394:_Superm*n (the lame Supermoon parody of Superman)
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1434:_Where_Do_Birds_Go
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1633:_Possible_Undiscovered_Planets
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1848:_Glacial_Erratic
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1970:_Name_Dominoes
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2230:_Versus_Bracket
https://what-if.xkcd.com/14/#:~:text=Superman

And some stuff to toss in the potential superheroes category:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1004:_Batman
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2367:_Masks

but I can't do that if the category pages don't exist.

An alternative to a "Superheroes" category was "Comics featuring Superheroes",
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1012:_Wrong_Superhero&action=edit&oldid=411893
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2367:_Masks&action=edit
(you can only see it in the "edit" page)

but I think that's kinda dumb and unnecessary to specify "Comics" because the superheroes category isn't big enough. Plus some people are already using "Superheroes" without it even existing, hence why it is the superior version of the category to create, since it is more intuitive.

Anyways, coming to you for help on creating these categories because I saw you created a category page in the past. And I don't have sufficient permission to create the superman and superheroes pages myself.

thanks, 
&sim;[[User:IAmADroid|IAmADroid]] ([[User talk:IAmADroid|talk]]) 11:38, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

1529: Bracket

2026-05-13T10:56:46Z

IAmADroid: Make it clear that Gene Hackman was the actor for Lex Luthor in the superman films, not the actor for Superman himself.

{{comic
| number = 1529
| date = May 25, 2015
| title = Bracket
| image = bracket.png
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of matchups in a tournament. In this comic [[Randall]] has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various Internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} was soon to be released at the time the comic was made where the two eponymous {{w|superheroes}}, {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Superman}}, fight against each other.

The individual starting pairings are generally based on common or similar given names or surnames. Some adjacent brackets are "segued" by someone like Jeff Daniels, who segues from a bracket of "Jeff"s into a bracket of "Daniels"es. The bracket itself is fairly arbitrary. Most initial matchups are pairs, although several are trios and there's a quadruplet in the Russels group, while a single entry, {{w|Beyoncé}}, is given a first- and second-round {{w|bye (sports)|bye}}. Most of the participants in the tournament are people, with a few exceptions. {{w|Shallots}} (small onions), {{w|scallops}} (bivalve mollusks), and {{w|scallions}} (green onions) are similar sounding foods, therefore may be confusing for some individuals (perhaps including [[Randall]]). The final grouping on the lower right of the bracket features several retail stores and a film.

The title text may be a reference to {{w|Dr. Dre}}'s 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}" or could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture personas that include the word "Doctor", such as {{w|Gregory House|Doctor House}}, {{w|Mehmet Oz|Dr. Oz}}, {{w|Doctor Eggman|Dr. Eggman}}, {{w|Phil McGraw|Dr. Phil}}, {{w|Dr. Watson}}, {{w|Emmett Brown|"Doc" Brown}}, {{w|Dr. Seuss}}, {{w|Dr Pepper}}, {{w|Doctor Doom}}, {{w|Zoidberg|Dr. Zoidberg}}, {{w|Dr. Horrible}}'s Sing-Along Blog and {{w|List of fictional doctors|many others}}. A simpler explanation is that it would cause the reader to question "Doctor Who?" answering their own question, although this answer would be incorrect because The Doctor is already present. It could also be a reference to the dual meaning of "The Doctor," either he meant to include Time Lord from Doctor Who and forgot about the EMH from Voyager, or he remembered the EMH and forgot the Time Lord.

The incentive for the comic may have been the {{w|2015 French Open|French Open 2015}}, which started on the day of the publication. The comic inspired several groups to play out versions of the bracket. One user-voting based match-up on twitter, [https://twitter.com/xkcdbracket XKCD Bracket], was featured by Randall on the xkcd home page, with a link at the top of the website, although he didn't create the account. (The link was part of a "news" flash, the other was regarding his book based on [[1133: Up Goer Five]]. See more on this news in that comics explanation.) In the final match on July 29, Neil Armstrong defeated Mister Spock (see the [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLKJUpFWIAAlDnW.png:orig complete bracket]). The link was removed sometime before Monday, 10 August 2015, within two weeks of the final result being revealed.

Later, Randall has made one smaller but similar bracket in [[1819: Sweet 16]], and then an interactive [[April Fools' Day comics|April Fools' Day comic]] in 2019, with an even larger bracket for determining the best emoji in [[2131: Emojidome]]. The bracket for this comic was shown with links from the comic during the matches. Shallots, scallops, and scallions were also mentioned together in [[2372: Dialect Quiz]]. Randall would later release another comic that juxtaposed similar-looking names, [[1970: Name Dominoes]].

===Table of the bracket===
The names and other entries in the bracket are given here below, sorted to explain why the individual entries have been grouped as they are. The first-round matchups are grouped by shading.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Grouping
!Subgrouping
!Person/Entry
!Known as
!Winning probability
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Armstrong
|{{w|Louis Armstrong}}
|Jazz-musician
| rowspan="4" |1/32
|-
|{{w|Neil Armstrong}}
|First human on the moon
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Lance Armstrong}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Cyclist
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Action figure
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Jeff *
|{{w|Jeff Gordon}}
|Retired race car driver
| rowspan="9" |1/64
|-
|{{w|Jeff Bridges}}
|Actor in ''King Kong'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''Iron Man'', ''Tron: Legacy''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jeff Daniels}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Dumb and Dumber''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J* Daniels
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Daniel's|Jack Daniels}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Alcoholic beverages
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>Well<nowiki>*</nowiki>
|{{w|Orson Welles}}
|Director of ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' and known for his {{w|The War of the Worlds (radio drama)|radio-play}} of {{w|H. G. Wells}}' ''{{w|The War of the Worlds}}''
|-
|{{w|H.G. Wells}}
|Author, known for ''The War of the Worlds'' and ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|George Orwell}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author of ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' and ''{{w|Animal Farm}}''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Wells Fargo}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bank and stage coach company
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Russell *
|{{w|Kurt Russell}}
|Actor in ''John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.'', ''The Thing'', ''Big Trouble in Little China'', ''Stargate'', ''Fast & Furious 7''
| rowspan="5" |1/128
|-
|{{w|Russell Brand}}
|Comedian
|-
|{{w|Russell Crowe}}
|Actor in ''Gladiator'', ''A Beautiful Mind'', ''Les Misérables'', ''Noah''
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Russell Simmons}}
|rowspan="2"|Rapper
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Simmons
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Richard Simmons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Host of exercise programs
| rowspan="3" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Simmons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Musician, known from ''KISS''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Gene <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Hackman}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in three of the {{w|Superman_in_film|Superman films}} as {{w|Lex_Luthor|Lex Luthor}}
|rowspan="5" |1/96
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ckman
|-
|{{w|Hugh Jackman}}
|Actor in the ''{{w|X-Men}}'' franchise as {{w|Wolverine (character)|Wolverine}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Alan Rickman}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Die Hard'', ''Harry Potter'' franchise, ''The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy''
|-
|rowspan="3"|Alan <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|rowspan="2"|Alan Par*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Parsons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Musician
|rowspan="7" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Partridge}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Fictional radio character
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> McCarthy
|{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}
|Anti-vaccination activist
|-
|{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}
|American Senator known for anti-communist policies.
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}
|rowspan="2"|Senator and Presidential candidate
|-
|rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>gene<nowiki>*</nowiki>
|rowspan="2"|Eugene <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}
|Labor leader
|-
|rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wilde*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Gene Wilder}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Young Frankenstein'', ''Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory''
| rowspan="4" |1/96
|-
|rowspan="2"|
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Olivia Wilde}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Tron: Legacy'', ''Her'', ''House M.D.''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar Wilde}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Writer
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar *
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}
|rowspan="2"|Fashion Designer
|rowspan="3"|1/32
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar De La *
|-
|{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}
|Boxer
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Jack Nic*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Golf player
| rowspan="9" |1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jack Nicholson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'', ''The Shining'', ''Batman'', ''Witches of Eastwick'', ''The Bucketlist''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ichol* / *ickel* / *ickle*
|-
|{{w|Phil Mickelson}}
|Golf player
|-
|{{w|Nicholas Nickleby}}
|Charles Dickens protagonist in the novel by the same name
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ryan Adams
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ryan Adams}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bryan Adams}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Singers with Stage Names Referencing Weight/Games
|{{w|Chubby Checker}}
|Singer famous for "The Twist"
|-
|{{w|Fats Domino}}
|Rock and Roll Singer
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Colin F*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Colin Firth}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Pride and Prejudice'', ''Love Actually''
| rowspan="5" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Colin Farrell}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Daredevil'', ''In Bruges'', ''Total Recall''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|F*rell*
|-
|{{w|Will Ferrell}}
|Comic actor, ''Anchorman'' and ''The Other Guys''
|-
|{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}
|Comedy film-makers
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J<nowiki>*</nowiki> * *evitt/*ewitt (three names)
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Third Rock from the Sun'', ''Dark Knight Rises''
| rowspan="2" |1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Garfield: The Movie'' 
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|D* Glover
|{{w|Danny Glover}}
|Actor, ''Lethal Weapon'' series
| rowspan="7" |1/64
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Donald Glover}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor, ''Community'', also a rapper, aka ''Childish Gambino''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Don*
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Singer, ''{{w|New Kids on the Block}}'', actor, ''Blue Bloods''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wahlberg
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''The Departed'', ''The Other Guys'', and former hip-hop singer for ''Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Mark *
|-
|{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}
|Actor, known for his role as {{w|Hulk (comics)|the Hulk}} in the film ''{{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers}}''
| rowspan="2" |1/32
|-
|{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}
|Entrepreneur, founder of {{w|Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu}}
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Pullman
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Philip Pullman}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author, ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ''
|rowspan="4"|1/48
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Pullman}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Spaceballs'', and ''Independence Day''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Bill *
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bill Paxton}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Apollo 13'', ''Aliens''
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Murray}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''Groundhog Day''
|rowspan="3"|1/32
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Ghostbusters/SNL alumni
|-
|{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}
|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''The Blues Brothers''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Rogers
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ginger Rogers}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress known for dancing with {{w|Fred Astaire}}
|rowspan="2"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Confusing reference to {{w|Fred Rogers}} (host of children's show, popularly known as "Mister Rogers") and to {{w|Fred Astaire}} (Dancer, actor, and singer)
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Spock
|{{w|Mister Spock}}
|Character on ''Star Trek'' portrayed by {{w|Leonard Nimoy}}
|rowspan="10"|1/96
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Doctor Spock}}
|rowspan="2"|Author of book on childcare
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="8"|Doctors
|-
|{{w|Doctor Octopus}}
|Villain in Spider-Man comic books
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Manhattan}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in Alan Moore's Watchmen
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in a movie about nuclear war by {{w|Stanley Kubrick}}
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strange}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Sorceror Supreme in Marvel Comics
|-
|{{w|Julius No|Dr. No}}
|Main villain in the {{w|Dr. No (film)|first James Bond movie}}
|-
|The Doctor
|Ambiguous reference to either the {{w|The Doctor (Doctor Who)|main protagonist}} of the science fiction series ''{{w|Doctor Who}}'' or the {{w|Doctor (Star Trek: Voyager)|emergency medical hologram}} in ''{{w|Star Trek: Voyager}}''.
|-
|[[Cory Doctorow]]
|Blogger and author. He has been in [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow|many xkcd comics]]
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|J* Lewis
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Rock and Roll singer
|rowspan="9"|1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lewis}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Comedian and former chairman of charitable organization
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Jenny Lewis}}
|rowspan="2"|Indie singer-songwriter
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Sounds like *"enny"
|-
|{{w|Xeni Jardin}}
|Digital commentator, Boing Boing co-editor
|-
|rowspan="4"|Chris *
|rowspan="2"|Chris * (Avengers actors)
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Captain America''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Thor''
|-
|rowspan="2"|Chris P*
|{{w|Chris Pine}}
|Actor, ''Star Trek'', ''Wonder Woman''
|-
|{{w|Chris Pratt}}
|Actor, ''Guardians of the Galaxy''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|S*all*o*s Foods
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Shallots}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Small onions (although the word 'shallot' can also refer to green onions in some dialects)
|rowspan="3"|1/96
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallops}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bivalve mollusks
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallions}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Green onions.
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Suz* (Similar phonetics)
|{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}
|Rock singer
|rowspan="2"|1/64
|-
|{{w|Suzanne Vega}}
|Folk rock singer-songwriter
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Arnold *
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Tom Arnold (actor)|Tom Arnold}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor; ex-husband of {{w|Roseanne Barr}}
|rowspan="4"|1/48
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Arnold Palmer}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Golf player
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|A* Palmer
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Amanda Palmer}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer/songwriter
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Wes *
|{{w|Wes Craven}}
|Film maker
|rowspan="10"|1/64
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Wes Anderson}}
|rowspan="2"|Movie Director
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|* Anderson
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Film maker
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|P*ul Anderson
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Poul Anderson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Science fiction author
|-
|rowspan="3"|Sirs
|rowspan="2"|Sir Walter *
|{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}
|Scottish poet and writer
|-
|{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}
|British explorer of Virginia
|-

|rowspan="2"|Fran* Drake
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|British explorer, 2nd to circumnavigate the Earth
|-
|
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Frank Drake}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Astrophysicist, SETI pioneer
|-
|rowspan="5"|"Van"
|rowspan="3"|Van *
|{{w|Van Halen}}
|Rock band
|rowspan="3"|1/96
|-
|{{w|Van Morrison}}
|Singer/songwriter
|-
|{{w|Van Wilder}}
|Comedy film
|-

|rowspan="2"|R* Van Winkle
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|AKA Vanilla Ice, rapper
|rowspan="3"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Fictional character
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Rip/Torn
|-
|{{w|Rip Torn}}
|Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, actor on ''Cross Creek'', ''Larry Sanders Show''
|rowspan="2"|1/32
|-
|{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}
|Singer of "Torn"
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Body" in their name
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|The Body Shop}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Shop
|rowspan="6"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bath and Body Works}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Shop
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Bath" in their name
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}
|rowspan="2"|Shop
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Beyon*
|-
|{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}
|Motion picture
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Beyoncé}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|1/16

|}

==Transcript==
:[A tournament bracket. With the names listed in groups on the left-hand side and right-hand side as shown below. Within individual groups the names are ordered in match-ups, two, three or even four in the first match. The last name on the right, Beyoncé, is not even matched for first round. The winners goes on to the next match, but there are many that skips some of the matches up until the quarterfinals, so some need to win 5 matches to reach the quarterfinals, others only need to win 4 of 3, and Beyoncé only 2. After the first level, the match-ups are always between two names. The two sides join up in a final in the middle, where the winner of the left side has a place for the name below and the winner of the right a place for the name above a central rectangular frame with place for the winners name. Below the pairing in the first round matches are mentioned above each of the clear groupings of the bracket.]
:{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|
 [These are paired two and two.]
 Louis Armstrong
 Neil Armstrong
 Lance Armstrong
 Stretch Armstrong

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Jeff Gordan
 Jeff Bridges
 Jeff Daniels
 Jack Daniels

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Orson Welles
 H.G. Wells
 George Orwell
 Wells Fargo

 [The first four, two, three and two are paired.]
 Kurt Russell
 Russell Brand
 Russell Crowe
 Russell Simmons
 Richard Simmons
 Gene Simmons
 Gene Hackman
 Hugh Jackman
 Alan Rickman
 Alan Parsons
 Alan Partridge

 [The first four, three and two are paired.]
 Jenny McCarthy
 Joseph McCarthy
 Eugene McCarthy
 Eugene V. Debs
 Gene Wilder
 Olivia Wilde
 Oscar Wilde
 Oscar De La Renta
 Oscar De La Hoya

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Jack Nicklaus
 Jack Nicholson
 Phil Mickelson
 Nicholas Nickelby

 [These are paired.]
 Ryan Adams
 Bryan Adams

 [These are paired.]
 Chubby Checker
 Fats Domino

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Colin Firth
 Colin Farrell
 Will Ferrell
 The Farrelly Brothers

 [These are paired.]
 Joseph Gordon-Levitt
 Jennifer Love Hewitt

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Danny Glover
 Donald Glover
 Donnie Wahlberg
 Mark Wahlberg
 Mark Ruffalo
 Mark Shuttleworth

| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|
 [The first three and two are paired.]
 Philip Pullman
 Bill Pullman
 Bill Paxton
 Bill Murray
 Dan Aykroyd

 [The first two, and then three times three are paired.]
 Ginger Rogers
 Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers
 Mister Spock
 Doctor Spock
 Doctor Octopus
 Doctor Manhattan
 Doctor Strangelove
 Doctor Strange
 Dr. No
 The Doctor
 Cory Doctorow

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Jerry Lee Lewis
 Jerry Lewis
 Jenny Lewis
 Xeni Jardin

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Chris Evans
 Chris Hemsworth
 Chris Pine
 Chris Pratt

 [These are paired.]
 Shallots
 Scallops
 Scallions

 [These are paired.]
 Siouxie Sioux
 Suzanne Vega

 [These are paired.]
 Tom Arnold
 Arnold Palmer
 Amanda Palmer

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Wes Craven
 Wes Anderson
 Paul Thomas Anderson
 Poul Anderson

 [These are paired two and two.]
 Sir Walter Scott
 Sir Walter Raleigh
 Sir Francis Drake
 Frank Drake

 [The first three, two and two are paired.]
 Van Halen
 Van Morrison
 Van Wilder
 Robert Van Winkle
 Rip Van Winkle
 Rip Torn
 Natalie Imbruglia

 [The first four are paired two and two the last is the only one not paired.]
 The Body Shop
 Bath and Body Works
 Bed Bath and Beyond
 Beyond Thunderdome
 Beyoncé
|}

==Trivia==
*In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/8/8d/20250307171024%21bracket.png original version of the comic], "Gord'''o'''n" was misspelled as "Gord'''a'''n". This was later fixed.
*The "Chris" group (Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt) would later be referenced in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGurtL83zhY Chris Pine's opening monologue for SNL], though without an explicit reference to this comic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Tournament bracket]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

1012: Wrong Superhero

2026-05-13T10:22:05Z

IAmADroid: Undo revision 411893 by 81.179.199.253 (talk) Who are you proposing the category to? god?

{{comic
| number = 1012
| date = February 3, 2012
| title = Wrong Superhero
| image = wrong_superhero.png
| titletext = Hi! Someone call for me? I'm a superhero who specializes in the study of God's creation of Man in the Book of Genesi-- HOLY SHIT A GIANT BUG!
}}
==Explanation==
This is following the comic [[1010: Etymology-Man]]. The superhero Etymology-Man returns and, just like in his first appearance, explains the origination of words instead of actually helping. {{w|Etymology}} is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

In this comic, a group of scientists is in a lab, fighting off a giant mantis and some smaller mantises (which are nonetheless much larger than a typical praying mantis. Compared to the size of the people in this comic, the smaller mantises appear to be 8-12 inches long). One [[Cueball]] is firing a gun and [[Ponytail]] is brandishing a baseball bat, while the giant mantis grabs one Cueball by the leg, dangling him upside down. Behind the table, another Cueball is listening to Etymology Man speak. The joke here is that the scientists called the wrong hero for help. They instead wanted Entomology-Man. {{w|Entomology}} is the study of insects. Instead of calling Entomology-Man, who could probably help with fighting off the mantises, they have accidentally called Etymology-Man, due to the similarities in their names. Etymology-Man can only explain the origin of words, making him useless in this current situation. He also has flight powers that could be used to evacuate the scientists, but as seen in [[1010: Etymology-Man]], etymology takes full priority for him.

In the title text, we find out the scientists accidentally call another superhero focused on the creation of {{w|Adam}} in the Biblical book of Genesis. This might be {{w|Etiology}}-Man (the study of causation and attribution), {{w|Ontology}}-Man (the study of being and existence), {{w|Ethnology}}-Man (the study of human character, with a focus on its formation and evolution). Or perhaps {{w|Anthropology}}-Man or {{w|Anthropogeny}}-Man. "Adam-ology-Man" would be a more direct pun to the first man, himself, but has less of a basis in an actual "-ology" and leaves the creation part of the 'hint' as superfluous. It is also possible that they asked for another hero fighting the mantis, but who came was "man-theology-man" (not manteology-man).

The title text could also be referring to "Ethnogenesology", the study of {{w|Ethnogenesis}}, since "ethnogenesis" has an "n" as required by Etymology-man. However, this Ethnogenesologist is a bit confused because Ethnogenesis does not specifically refer to the biblical book of genesis, but the beginning or "genesis" of any group of people. Perhaps Randall imbued "Ethnogenesology"-man with this misconception to hint that his title had the word "genesis" in it. (after all, Ethnogenesology-man is no etymologist, and surely Etymology-man would be happy to correct him.) Assuming Randall even knew about this word, he might of also known about it's rarity and lack of wikipedia page, as there is only [https://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/vsedov-slavs.html a single google result that uses the word "Ethnogenesology" before 2012, back when this comic was posted.].

==Transcript==
:[A giant praying mantis attacks a team of scientists, along with its legion of smaller-but-still-unusually-large mantises. Two of the scientists fight back, with a gun and a baseball bat respectively, while a third is in the mantis' clutches, held aloft by his foot, his goggles falling off his face. Bullets whiz by the giant mantis' head and a fourth scientist hides behind a desk, on which rests a microscope and an Erlenmeyer flask. A man in a cape approaches the hiding scientist.]
:Etymology-man: Ah, no—you wanted '''''ENTO'''''mology-Man, spelled with an "N". See, it's from the Greek ''entomon'', meaning "insect," which is itself the neuter form of ''entomos'', meaning "segmented" or...
:'''BLAM BLAM BLAM'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Etymology-Man]]
[[Category:Superheroes]]

1012: Wrong Superhero

2026-04-16T16:24:50Z

IAmADroid: added theory for why Ethnogenesology-man doesn't understand his own field.

1012: Wrong Superhero

2026-04-16T16:16:35Z

IAmADroid: Added "Ethnogenesology" theory for title text.

{{comic
| number = 1012
| date = February 3, 2012
| title = Wrong Superhero
| image = wrong_superhero.png
| titletext = Hi! Someone call for me? I'm a superhero who specializes in the study of God's creation of Man in the Book of Genesi-- HOLY SHIT A GIANT BUG!
}}
==Explanation==
This is following the comic [[1010: Etymology-Man]]. The superhero Etymology-Man returns and, just like in his first appearance, explains the origination of words instead of actually helping. {{w|Etymology}} is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

In this comic, a group of scientists is in a lab, fighting off a giant mantis and some smaller mantises (which are nonetheless much larger than a typical praying mantis. Compared to the size of the people in this comic, the smaller mantises appear to be 8-12 inches long). One [[Cueball]] is firing a gun and [[Ponytail]] is brandishing a baseball bat, while the giant mantis grabs one Cueball by the leg, dangling him upside down. Behind the table, another Cueball is listening to Etymology Man speak. The joke here is that the scientists called the wrong hero for help. They instead wanted Entomology-Man. {{w|Entomology}} is the study of insects. Instead of calling Entomology-Man, who could probably help with fighting off the mantises, they have accidentally called Etymology-Man, due to the similarities in their names. Etymology-Man can only explain the origin of words, making him useless in this current situation. He also has flight powers that could be used to evacuate the scientists, but as seen in [[1010: Etymology-Man]], etymology takes full priority for him.

In the title text, we find out the scientists accidentally call another superhero focused on the creation of {{w|Adam}} in the Biblical book of Genesis. This might be {{w|Etiology}}-Man (the study of causation and attribution), {{w|Ontology}}-Man (the study of being and existence), {{w|Ethnology}}-Man (the study of human character, with a focus on its formation and evolution). Or perhaps {{w|Anthropology}}-Man or {{w|Anthropogeny}}-Man. "Adam-ology-Man" would be a more direct pun to the first man, himself, but has less of a basis in an actual "-ology" and leaves the creation part of the 'hint' as superfluous. It is also possible that they asked for another hero fighting the mantis, but who came was "man-theology-man" (not manteology-man).

The title text could also be referring to "Ethnogenesology", the study of {{w|Ethnogenesis}}, since "ethnogenesis" has an "n" as required by Etymology-man. However, this Ethnogenesologist is a bit confused because Ethnogenesis does not specifically refer to the biblical book of genesis, but the beginning or "genesis" of any group of people (perhaps Randall imbued "Ethnogenesology"-man with this misconception to hint that his title had the word "genesis" in it. Assuming Randall even knew about this word, he might of also known about it's rarity and lack of wikipedia page, as there is only [https://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/vsedov-slavs.html a single google result that uses the word "Ethnogenesology" before 2012, back when this comic was posted.])

==Transcript==
:[A giant praying mantis attacks a team of scientists, along with its legion of smaller-but-still-unusually-large mantises. Two of the scientists fight back, with a gun and a baseball bat respectively, while a third is in the mantis' clutches, held aloft by his foot, his goggles falling off his face. Bullets whiz by the giant mantis' head and a fourth scientist hides behind a desk, on which rests a microscope and an Erlenmeyer flask. A man in a cape approaches the hiding scientist.]
:Etymology-man: Ah, no—you wanted '''''ENTO'''''mology-Man, spelled with an "N". See, it's from the Greek ''entomon'', meaning "insect," which is itself the neuter form of ''entomos'', meaning "segmented" or...
:'''BLAM BLAM BLAM'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Etymology-Man]]

Talk:3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-17T04:32:41Z

IAmADroid: add comment about stuff that cracks after a few days

Woah, just reloaded it and new comic! Sick... I should probably read it now. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 20:02, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Explain first; read later! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:18, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Paint bucket fill tool strikes again. --[[User:Lycheefoxpup|Lycheefoxpup]] ([[User talk:Lycheefoxpup|talk]]) 20:18, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

TABLES! TABLES! TABLES! WOOOOOO!!!!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 20:21, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Table created. However, I am a teenager and do not work in construction, so the explanations may need some work. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 20:56, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
::Every item in this table is real. Ask me how I know. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 21:34, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:::How does the placebo work? Does it just kinda mind control you?--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 21:42, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Robert'); DROP TABLE Epoxy;--
:Did it work? [[Special:Contributions/2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534|2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534]] 23:27, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
Thought for placebo adhesive: Water between two microscope slides. It'll stick real good, but it's not really glue, more... fancy pressure physics. [[Special:Contributions/142.165.161.48|142.165.161.48]] 22:28, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

"Duck" tape, not "duct". Come on Randall, you know better than that. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 00:08, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Both spellings are used. One is trademarked. [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 03:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Read this: https://archive.is/Fq5Js [[User:Viliml|Viliml]] ([[User talk:Viliml|talk]]) 09:36, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
::But "duct" ''screams'' folk etymology. "Duck" sounded unlikely so people though it must be "duct"...but it's a huge leap to think that a tape that some people tended to use for a/c ducts would actually be ''named'' "duct tape". Both the tape and the word "duct" are too general purpose for that. Is it known as that? Yes? Does it make sense though? Not for a second. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:38, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:::To be fair, it is more commonly used for taping ducts than it is used for taping ducks [[Special:Contributions/2A01:CB1C:12EF:7900:953B:FFB2:21E3:47EC|2A01:CB1C:12EF:7900:953B:FFB2:21E3:47EC]] 12:43, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Actually, it was originally named duck tape, as it was made using something called "duck fabric." This had etymology unrelated to the animal duck, from a Dutch word "doek." There were some similar tapes seeing some use with that name beforehand, but it became common as during WWII, a kind of it was adopted by the military for sealing ammunition crates, and it's availability led to soldiers widely using it for other purposes. After the war, it was then sold to civilian markets. Common use on air ducts led to it being made in the same gray color, and being labeled "duct tape." Many had forgotten the original name when in the 70's someone decided to call it that again while advertising it with a cartoon duck picture.--[[Special:Contributions/2600:100A:B10C:6B2E:EC47:CF99:9B14:1C81|2600:100A:B10C:6B2E:EC47:CF99:9B14:1C81]] 08:00, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:::To add on to that point, the most popular use for pipe cleaners (other than elementary school craft projects) is to clean pipes, so it's not ''that'' much of a stretch. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]'''''
:Ducks? Thanks. Oh sorry, wrong webcomic. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:F1E8:367:E9A3:2FC7|2A02:2455:1960:4000:F1E8:367:E9A3:2FC7]] 10:43, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

Now I'm wondering what the properties of a powdered bar magnet would even be, if each individual piece continued to be magnetic. [[Special:Contributions/2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE|2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE]] 00:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:A magnetic powder stops being diamagnetic. All the north poles clamp onto a south pole, so the magnetic fields essentially all cancel. You end up with "lump of magnetic powder", not "one big magnet" or "powder you can disperse in a liquid." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:: But all the little pieces of magnets are still full magnets with a north and a south pole. Magnetic monopoles have, so far, not been observed in practice. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

So, the 2-poly(etc) seems to me to suggest that instead of being "-vinyl-ethyl-vinyl-ethyly-" polimerisation, with the links between both 'ethyl-like' backbone subcomponents being from opposite ends of the respective subunit carbon-pairing, it'd more likely now be considered as a polymethyl-group with a methyl (or methylene) group as the now unused onward '1-'site, hanging free of the new polychain. I'd have to check the bond-geometries, though to see if it would even work. (Ignoring the obvious problem with the made up name.) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 01:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
: Ph.D. chemist and AI to the rescue - the 2 makes no sense here, and poly-2-vinyl neither, as substitution pattern 2=1 here. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:F1E8:367:E9A3:2FC7|2A02:2455:1960:4000:F1E8:367:E9A3:2FC7]] 10:47, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I feel like the Polyethylvinylesteracetate is a joke about how polymer names are often long and gibberish-sounding. [[User:Potatocakethrow|Potatocakethrow]] ([[User talk:Potatocakethrow|talk]])

Rosin is also used soldering, which might be relevant to adhesives. Soldering is used to join pipes, among other things. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

:>"Rosin is also used soldering, ...to join pipes" Plumbing (pipes) soldering more often uses "acid flux" (Zinc Chloride and similar), not rosin which is used in electronics and jewelry. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 05:48, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

While it's less common in glues than other animal products (such as skin, bones, or cheese), blood-based glues are (or historically were) a thing. Citation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue
Gorillas would not be a suitable source of this blood, though. {{unsigned ip|178.251.89.99|07:09, 15 January 2026}}

The traditional song "Rosin the Bow" may be less well known than "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", but rosin is in the title. [[Special:Contributions/87.75.47.93|87.75.47.93]] 10:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

The main page has been vandalized with pornography {{unsigned ip|65.35.147.191|15:13, 15 January 2026‎ (UTC)}}
:I've asked Kynde to block the vandal but I don't know how long it will take (or if its even possible) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 14:46, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
How would you even squeeze that thing [[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 18:09, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Really hard. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 08:16, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

sodium bicarbonate can be used on cyanoacrylate glues as an accelerant and hardener. Pergaps salt can play a similar role in some epoxy mixes? [[Special:Contributions/131.255.152.112|131.255.152.112]] 18:27, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Has anyone else noticed the coloring error on the stuff that cracks after a few days? Some of it is leaking out the back of the syringe in a way that doesn't look intentional. [[Special:Contributions/66.42.178.247|66.42.178.247]] 13:35, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:Woah, you're so right. That ought'a be put in a trivia section. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 17:35, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:It looks like it has some exposure to the surrounding air. If Randall is clever enough he might eventually change it to cracked white to better match the background [[User:IAmADroid|IAmADroid]] ([[User talk:IAmADroid|talk]]) 04:32, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:265: Choices: Part 2

2025-11-06T04:09:07Z

IAmADroid: add topic on "original research" mentioned in title text of comic

Created the "Choices: Part 3" page (its a bit of a fail), Please link it to here. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 02:11, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Couldn't Megan publish her research somewhere else and then cite herself in wikipedia to get around the "no original research" rule? [[User:IAmADroid|IAmADroid]] ([[User talk:IAmADroid|talk]]) 04:09, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

nakedpictures

2025-08-31T14:56:22Z

IAmADroid: Undo revision 385663 by IAmADroid (talk) im dumb you can just click "Go To Comic" to see it on the main website

{{comic
| title = nakedpictures
| image = comply.png
| lappend = nakedpictures/
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
{{misc page}}

While every other circle says "Comply", only one stands out by saying "No." This may represent one person rebelling against the masses. The meaning of the title is unclear, but {{tvtropes|NonIndicativeName|inaccurate}} and possibly was intended to evoke {{w|clickbait}}.

This is presumably an older comic judging by the older handwriting style, as well as the sierpinski-type nesting which is also present in early comics such as [[95: The Sierpinski Penis Game]] and [[543: Sierpinski Valentine]].

==Transcript==
:[Many circles drawn within an irregular curved shape. All circles contain "COMPLY." in red text within, except for a smaller circle that says "NO."]

{{comic discussion}}

nakedpictures

2025-08-31T14:49:54Z

IAmADroid: Incomplete, source unknown

{{comic
| title = nakedpictures
| image = comply.png
| lappend = nakedpictures/
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
{{misc page}}
{{incomplete|The source of this extra comic is not documented or explained.}}

While every other circle says "Comply", only one stands out by saying "No." This may represent one person rebelling against the masses. The meaning of the title is unclear, but {{tvtropes|NonIndicativeName|inaccurate}} and possibly was intended to evoke {{w|clickbait}}.

This is presumably an older comic judging by the older handwriting style, as well as the sierpinski-type nesting which is also present in early comics such as [[95: The Sierpinski Penis Game]] and [[543: Sierpinski Valentine]].

==Transcript==
:[Many circles drawn within an irregular curved shape. All circles contain "COMPLY." in red text within, except for a smaller circle that says "NO."]

{{comic discussion}}

User:42.book.addict

2024-10-20T05:51:16Z

IAmADroid: Undo revision 353328 by 162.158.39.165 (talk)

{{notice|I will be taking a break to focus on studies and personal health, please be advised that I will be mostly inactive until further notice.}}
Hi! If you see this, you have reached my user page! I’m 14, live in California, love reading, and started reading Randall’s works (What If?, Thing Explainer, XKCD) in 2018. I started editing on Feb. 1, 2024. I've done {{#cscore:42.book.addict|changes}} changes across {{#cscore:42.book.addict|pages}} pages, bringing to a total of {{#cscore:42.book.addict|score}} point contribution score. See my [[User:42.book.addict/userbox|userboxes]]!

==My Loves==
•Hatsune Miku 🥰 
•Classical music-Beethoven 
•Reading (seriously. I will read any book you give me. I will read the ingredients off the back of a mustard bottle for fun. I read an entire scientific encyclopaedia during the lockdown.) 
•ao3 
•Pokémon cards (I have a pretty solid portfolio/collection) 
•Bluey (yes, I enjoy watching a preschool show. sue me.) 
•Harry Potter (the book series) 
•Sciences 
•Maths

==To Do List==
•learn to use the goddamned preview button
:✓ '''{{{1|Done}}}''' 
•fix the grammatical placement of punctuation before using {{Citation needed}} 
:•a bot would be helpful
•get a life 
:X '''impossible'''
•create a bot that fixes grammatical mistakes through the Pywiki library 
•clean out the maintenance report pages

==Log==
•yayyyyy only 3 months on the wiki and already 43rd place in overall editing for the entire history of this wiki! also, first admin beat in edit count! more edits to come! (5/14/2024) 
•42nd place-the answer to life, the universe and everything else (5/16/2024) 
•what on earth did I do that made my contribution score jump 70 points (9/24/2024) 
•''must…figure…out…how…to…set…up…a…custom…sig (collapses after fighting with wikitext)'' (9/26/2024) 
•300 edits in a month! (10/1/2024, 2:13 PM PST) 
•broke my right wrist and yet I’m still editing this wiki at the hospital-what the hell am I doing with my life. (10/1/2024, 5:24 PM PST) 
•'''1000. EFFING. EDITS. YESSSSSSSSS.''' (I’m doing this edit with a damn cast 😭-I really need to take a break.) (10/1/2024, 6:20 PM PST) 
•wow, i did a 10 mile hike. i’m proud of myself. (10/13/2024) 
•organized user page, made a separate userbox page. (10/15/2024) 

==To Do List for Jeff==
•Update the MySQL and MediaWiki software 
•Promote another ‘craft 
•Promote some more active admins 
•Find out the root cause behind all of these errors (still happening as of October) 
•Give theusafBOT bot status

2288: Collector's Edition

2024-10-20T05:43:14Z

IAmADroid: Undo revision 353326 by 162.158.39.165 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2288
| date = April 3, 2020
| title = Collector's Edition
| image = collectors_edition.png
| titletext = I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives.
}}
{{TOC}}
*To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|2288|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Need to upload files of loot}}
This was the tenth [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous one was [[2131: Emojidome]] from Monday April 1, 2019. The next became [[2445: Checkbox]] released on Thursday April 1, 2021.

It is a large draggable image that acts as a shared virtual sandbox for users to interact. Chests are "Items" (small and often humorous images) which could be collected from other comics, and then placed in this image by viewers, but today they are no longer dropped. The collection then updated for all viewers in real-time. Multiples of the same item are often seen.

There is a "backpack" at the bottom, similar to backpacks in video games containing items collected by the player. As hinted by the title text, items could be found by visiting different xkcd comics/pages. Randomly, some pages would have a treasure chest which contained the sticker related to the page. The hint would refer to the page which currently had a chest.

The sticker images can be seen at <nowiki>h</nowiki>ttps://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot_'''XXX'''.png, where XXX is a number from 001 to 253. Additionally, some images can be found at custom URLs, for example the periodic elements can be found at <nowiki>h</nowiki>ttps://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/element-'''XX'''.png, where XX is the element, and text loot at <nowiki>h</nowiki>ttps://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot-words-'''X'''.png, where X is the sentence.

===Hints===
{| class="wikitable"
!Hint
!Comic
!Unlocked item
!Item image
!Notes
|-
|Doctors in a row||[[239: Blagofaire]]||Cory Doctorow || [[File:2288_loot_019.png|50px]] || These comics all have the same hint, but only one will have the chest
|-
|Get out the (US) vote||Chapter 5 of What If? (New York Style Time Machine)|| Statue of liberty ||[[File:2288_loot_246.png|75px]]||
|-
|Find a box of nice stuff on a picture with words like these||[[ 1375: Astronaut Vandalism ]]|| Signpost || [[File:2288_loot_126.png|75px]] ||
|-
|Plug in or find another power source||[[1373: Screenshot]]|| ||[[File:2288_loot_228.png|50px]] or [[File:miniloot-words-dispenser.png|75px]] (maybe incomplete)||
|-
|Sweet dreams, kitty||[[729: Laser Pointer]] (maybe incomplete)|| Cat licking laser point || [[File:2288_loot_090.png|75px]] ||
|-
|What is this hint pointing to? Hell if I know.||[[1052: Every Major's Terrible]]||2 + lightbulb = boat||[[File:2288_loot_185.png|75px]]||
|-
|Somebody set up us the bomb||[[286: All Your Base]]||Exploding rock||[[File:loot_197.png|75px]]||
|-
|Cowabunga||[[1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] (maybe incomplete)||Women Science Fiction Authors || [[File:loot_175.png|75px]] || [[197: Ninja Turtles]] also works
|-
|I want to believe||[[2156: Ufo]]||Ufo||[[File:loot_210.png|75px]]||
|-
|Bleeped||[[290]], [[398]], [[430]], [[447]], [[533]], [[549]], [[677]], [[724]] or [[1671]]|| *$@#! ||[[File:loot_044.png|75px]]||Comics that involve swearing
|-
|why waste time say few word when lot word do trick||[[7]], [[111]], [[139]], [[143]], [[179]], [[217]], [[445]], [[470]], [[822]], [[823]], [[1022]], [[1247]], [[1491]], [[1921]], [[1991]], [[2182]] or [[2231]]|| First Annual Award for Excellence in Being Very Smart ||[[File:loot_159.png|75px]]||
|-
|Cooler than electric scooters||[[139]], [[409]], [[577]], [[578]], [[579]], [[580]] or [[581]]||An electric skateboard||[[File:loot_006.png|75px]]||
|-
|Take it from the top||[[1: Barrel - Part 1]] (maybe incomplete)||I am a turtle from [[889: Turtles]] || [[File:loot_095.png|75px]] ||
|-
|I accept the yucca gnocchi, this meal is a success!||[[1713: 50 ccs]] (maybe incomplete)||Man carrying parentheses from [[297: Lisp Cycles]] || [[File:loot_031.png|75px]] ||
|-
|Catch up on the news||[[1699: Local News]] (maybe incomplete)|| || ||
|-
|Participation trophy||[[2288: Collector's Edition]] (maybe incomplete)|| Server rack || [[File:loot_096.png|75px]] ||
|-
|Find an opportunity for a sojourn||[[665]], [[681]], [[695]], [[1091]], [[1504]], [[1613]], [[1663]] or [[2111]]||Opportunity Mars rover from [[2111: Opportunity Rover]]||[[File:loot_161.png|75px]]||
|-
|Tastier than tau day||[[179: e to the pi times i]] (maybe incomplete)||First annual award for excellence in being very smart || [[File:loot_159.png|75px]] || Need to find out the difference between this, and the entry below!
|-
|Tastier than tau day||[[235]], [[396]], [[872]], [[1029]], [[1342]], [[1655]] or [[1967]]|| Pie sign ||[[File:loot_056.png|75px]]|| Published on Pi day
|-
|418 I'm a teapot||[[1866: Russell's Teapot]] (maybe incomplete)||S.S. NASA: Space is Hard || [[File:loot_216.png|75px]] ||
|-
|26th September, 1983||[[2052: Stanislav Petrov Day]]||White dove||[[File:loot_205.png|75px]]||Might also be written "September 26th, 1983". Locale dependent?
|-
|There are 4241 as of Apr 1, 2020||[[1071: Exoplanets]] (maybe incomplete)|| Little girl from [[2264: Satellite]] || [[File:loot_151.png|75px]] ||
|-
|asableiK||[[645: RPS]]|| A reverse Polish hotdog ||[[File:loot_079.png|75px]] || "Kielbasa" backwards, which is "sausage" in Polish
|-
|Critical mass elements||[[235: Kite]] or [[239: Blagofaire]]|| ||[[File:loot_203.png|75px]]||
|-
|Some Februarys are more equal than others||[[390: Nightmares]]? (maybe incomplete)|| Cueball wheelie from [[272: Linux User at Best Buy]] ||[[File:loot_036.png|150px]] || Comic-hint connection largely conjectural; 390 was the first comic published on a leap day.
|-
|Five spice||[[1511: Spice Girl]] or [[1554: Spice Girls]]|| Rock guitarist ||[[File:loot_022.png|150px]]||
|-
|Call the plumber||[[423: Finish Line]]|| Luigi in a green Kart ||[[File:loot_058.png|75px]]||
|-
|Was it a rat I saw?||[[968: Everything]]|| Cueball with a large sack, pulling a wagon || [[File:loot_103.png|150px]] || or [[1503: Squirrel Plan]] for Cueball holding a balloon caught in a ceiling fan.
|-
|Churchill's gonna have to seriously rehydrate||[[346: Diet Coke+Mentos]]|| Bottle of soda ||[[File:loot_045.png|150px]]||
|-
|Keep coming back|| || || ||
|-
|A new model released each year||Triggered by visiting all xkcd phone comics in order|| Phone screaming "Noooo" || [[File:loot_235.png|75px]] ||
|-
|Tea Time||Maybe [[581: The Race: Part 5]]? Need confirmation.||All our tea ||[[File:loot_232.png|75px]]||
|-
|Try pattern-matching! Look for comic 'bout alphabet?||[[1045: Constraints]]||Two Tetris blocks||[[File:loot_092.png|75px]]||
|-
|Where's Hilbert?||[[195: Map of the Internet]] (maybe incomplete)|| Hilbert Curve ||[[File:loot_021.png|75px]]||
|-
|Science fiction fetish||[[1585: Similarities]]|| ||[[File:loot_202.png|75px]]||
|-
|The first one was funnier||[[11: Barrel - Part 2]] (maybe incomplete)||Falling feather / Sign "The uncomfortable truths well" || loot_250.png / loot_067.png ||
|-
|It's up to over 260 million cycles!||[[1941: Dying Gift]]|| Megan on a tire swing ||[[File:loot_127.png|75px]]||
|-
|Sleeping Beauty is the same everywhere though||[[2233: Aurora Meaning]] (maybe incomplete)|| Sleeping Cat ||[[File:loot_163.png|75px]]||
|-
|On the internet, nobody knows you're an arachnid||[[1530: Keyboard Mash]] (maybe incomplete)|| Cobwebbed frame from [[1135: Arachnoneurology]]||[[File:loot_191.png|75px]]||
|-
|Did James Cameron pay for the rice cooker too?||[[1598: Salvage]] (maybe incomplete)||Rice bowl ||[[File:loot_152.png|75px]]||
|-
|Never going to give you up||[[351]], [[389]], [[396]], [[524]], [[573]], [[609]], [[802]], [[1212]], [[1757]] or [[1981]]|| Cueball in car listening to music ||[[File:loot_010.png|75px]]||
|-
|If red touches yellow, that's 24 ohms||[[1604: Snakes]], [[227: Color Codes]]? (maybe incomplete)|| Yoda with an mp3 player from What If ||[[File:loot_247.png|75px]]||
|-
|An enthusiastic but questionable business opportunity||[[1021]], [[1032]], [[1117]], [[1293]], [[1493]], [[1533]], [[1772]], [[1812]], [[1871]], [[1903]], [[1997]], [[2140]], [[2209]] or [[2277]]|| Beret guy with a goat on leash ||[[File:loot_115.png|75px]]||
|-
|Read the fine manual||[[293]], [[434]], [[456]], [[912]], [[1343]] or [[1692]]|| ||Multiple: loot_106.png, miniloot-words-hair.png, miniloot-words-ominous.png, miniloot-words-eruption.png, miniloot-words-flying.png or miniloot-words-ghost.png (maybe incomplete)||
|-
|That thing's undecimodal!||[[1347: t Distribution]] (maybe incomplete)|| Floating tentacled alien ||[[File:loot_209.png|75px]]||
|-
|Actually, it's Myanmar-Shave now||[[491: Twitter]] (maybe incomplete)||Expensive bottle ||[[File:loot_253.png|75px]]||
|-
|You don't have to find all 99||[[121: Balloon]] (maybe incomplete)||Balloon copter ||[[File:loot_002.png|75px]]|| Or [[51: Malaria]] ?
|-
|Going in circles||[[378: Real Programmers]] (maybe incomplete)|| Cueball spinning in desk chair ||[[File:loot_098.png|75px]]||
|-
|Couldn't you try knitting, or maybe stamp collecting?||[[37]], [[53]], [[60]], [[75]], [[79]], [[148]], [[168]], [[174]], [[236]], [[259]], [[287]], [[296]], [[326]], [[331]], [[389]], [[437]], [[451]], [[559]], [[590]], [[605]], [[687]], [[719]], [[733]], [[790]], [[845]], [[966]], [[1004]], [[1119]], [[1145]], [[1169]], [[1208]], [[1278]], [[1304]], [[1329]], [[1340]], [[1355]], [[1405]], [[1480]], [[1546]], [[1598]], [[1677]], [[1697]], [[1705]], [[1788]], [[1795]], [[1960]], [[1995]], [[2032]], [[2123]], [[2208]] or [[2252]]||Phishing License sign||[[File:loot_158.png|75px]]||Mostly comics that include "My hobby:"
|-
|It's the ciiiiircle of HONK||[[537: Ducklings]] or [[1729: Migrating Geese]]||DUCKLOOP'D?||[[File:loot_069.png|75px]]||
|-
|Fool me twice||Maybe [[880: Headache]]? Need confirmation.|| Raptor Attack ||[[File:loot_033.png|75px]]||The second April fools' comic
|-
|oOOOoooo||Maybe [[316: Loud Sex]]? Need confirmation.|| Sleeping cat || ||
|-
|Maybe we can ask for new wishes||[[879: Lamp]]||Genie and his bottle||[[File:loot_004.png|75px]]||If you place the genie last, you get another genie (indefinitely) - Needs verification, this may also just be a bug!
|-
|HACK THE PLANET||[[1337: Hack]] (maybe incomplete)|| Crash and Burn in the pool from the end of ''Hackers'' ||[[File:loot_130.png|75px]]||
|-
|Monetization haute couteur||[[20]], [[23]], [[55]], [[123]], [[149]], [[150]], [[162]], [[208]], [[231]], [[242]], [[256]], [[273]], [[285]], [[303]], [[327]], [[377]], [[386]], [[420]], [[435]], [[442]], [[482]], [[505]], [[552]], [[556]], [[585]], [[614]], [[627]], [[657]], [[681]], [[688]], [[705]], [[710]], [[802]], [[821]], [[980]], [[1033]], [[1040]], [[1079]], [[1127]], [[1133]], [[1196]], [[1298]] or [[1428]] (maybe false positives)||Two bags of money ||loot_162.png||
|-
|Maybe writing a script would help||[[1319: Automation]]|| ||miniloot-words-eater.png (maybe incomplete)||
|-
|Go big to go small||[[1365: Inflation]]|| ||loot_245.png||
|-
|Are you projecting||[[850]], [[977]], [[1500]], [[1784]], [[1799]], [[2242]] or [[2256]]||Squirrel on a gun||loot_237.png||
|-
|Do spiders really have six legs||[[8]], [[43]], [[126]], [[427]], [[442]] or [[1110]]|| ||loot_007.png||
|-
|Istanbul or Constantinople or St. Trimble's Island?||[[1688: Map Age Guide]]||Cephalopod||loot_071.png||
|-
|Another rulebook?||[[393: Ultimate Game]]|| Merlin in a chair from [[270: Merlin]] ||loot_037.png||
|-
|Moooooon||[[482]], [[681]], [[1276]], [[1291]], [[1300]], [[1389]], [[1458]], [[1515]], [[1633]], [[1738]], [[1878]] or [[2258]]|| MOOOOOON ||loot_192.png||
|-
|Take a flight from LOL to FFS||[[1937: IATA Airport Abbreviations]]|| ||loot_049.png||
|-
|Everyone deserves a second chnace||All comics searched, no matches|| || ||The misspelling is intentional. [[745: Dyslexics]] would have been a good fit
|-
|Community contribution||[[822]], [[823]], [[824]], [[825]], [[826]]|| [Citation Needed] protester from [[285: Wikipedian Protester]] || loot_035.png ||
|-
|On the other side of the wardrobe||[[665: Prudence]], [[969: Delta-P]] or [[2218: Wardrobe]] (maybe incomplete)||Authentic Reindeer pulling sled from [[1776: Reindeer]] || loot_154.png ||
|-
|Today's your lucky day||[[1053: Ten Thousand]] (maybe incomplete)|| Ms. Frizzle || loot_105.png ||
|-
|[This hint has been redacted due to a copyright claim]||[[1005: SOPA]]|| ||loot_038.png||
|-
|Try a different approach||[[55: Useless]] (maybe incomplete)|| Equals sign ||loot_times.png or loot_div.png (maybe incomplete)||
|-
|The cake is a lie!||[[606: Cutting Edge]]|| Cake ||loot_144.png||
|-
|Joanna, fire.||[[322: Pix Plz]]|| Joanna with EMP cannon ||loot_026.png||
|-
|Everything changes from time to time when the fire nation attacks|| [[965: Elements]] || Symposium || ||
|-
|90KG x 300M||[[382: Trebuchet]]|| Trebuchet ||loot_041.png||
|-
|Copyright Enforcement Brigade||[[344: 1337: Part 4]]|| ||loot_046.png||
|-
|Where Cape Town meets Chukotka||[[1500: Upside-Down Map]]|| Crater ||loot_128.png||
|-
|Take a ride in a barrel||View all five barrel comics in reverse order ([[31]], [[25]], [[22]], [[11]], [[1]])|| Cueball at the door to the playpen-ball-filled apartment from [[150: Grownups]] || loot_005.png ||
|-
|Compiling...||[[303: Compiling]]|| ||loot_030.png||
|-
| || [[2288: Collector's Edition]] || Sheeple eye || loot_109.png ||
|-
| || [[2288: Collector's Edition]] || Time machine from [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] || loot_167.png ||
|}

Click “Expand” to see the full image.
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
[[File:2288_full.png]]
</div>

==Trivia==
* This comic is the 2020 April Fools comic and was supposed to be released Wednesday, April 1st, but did not go live until Friday, April 3. (Friday's comic, [[2289: Scenario 4]], was published a day later for a [[2289: Scenario 4#Trivia|very rare Saturday release]].) However, the message below was displayed on the top of the page from Wednesday until the comic finally went live:
<blockquote>
Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
</blockquote>
* This is one of the few comics released four days after the previous one. The last time this occurred was [[2224: Software Updates]].
* Placement is limited to 10,000 horizontal units and 5,000 vertical units from the origin. Users received no messages if they try placing something outside the boundary, with a silent fail with the object not being placed.
* Coordinates are relative to the bottom left corner of the canvas. As the default coordinates are (-370,-277) and the origin is in the center, the displayed portion of the canvas can be found to be twice this in magnitude, 740 x 544 units.
* The comic contains 32993 separate images.
* The most common image is loot-30.png, which appears 2576 times.
* The [https://github.com/xkcd/maple source code] for the comic was released on GitHub.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball stands to the left of a vibrating box.]
:[The words "Collector's Edition" are written above him and boxed.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]

Talk:45: Schrodinger

2024-08-15T03:33:00Z

IAmADroid:

There were no comments until you scrolled down. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.246|108.162.219.246]] 20:21, 1 December 2014 (UTC)
:There were two comments before you scrolled down. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.130|173.245.56.130]] 12:02, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

...shit...--[[User:TheTimeBandit|TheTimeBandit]] ([[User talk:TheTimeBandit|talk]]) 21:20, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

I read it as: The comic is not funny, and thus the curse word is because it's not funny. Does anyone else agree? 01:22, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

This is the BEST for me, so my cat ended up being funny [[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.112|162.158.129.112]] 15:12, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I find this funny every time. Is this bad? Have I disproved Schrödinger? [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 19:58, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
: No you just happen to be from a universe where the comic is actually funny. But if we debate about the funniness of the comic then the interference pattern in these comments will collapse and we'll be forced into the funny or unfunny version of the comic. [[User:IAmADroid|IAmADroid]] ([[User talk:IAmADroid|talk]]) 03:33, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1146: Honest

2022-06-14T19:32:42Z

IAmADroid: Added debate for finding the "True Cueball"

Ya can't explain this one![[Special:Contributions/176.61.46.230|176.61.46.230]] 11:06, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
:No, other work is getting in the way. Someone else'll do it. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:15, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
:The honesty of this comic makes it pretty self-explanatory. I like it. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 12:21, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

That 1-line explanation by anon 69.143.0.147 is ''brilliant''.

Most people, despite looking generally competent, are just barely making it through the day.

Let's be honest, how can one tell which character is Cueball? Personally, I think this character is far too generic to bother anyways. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.60.241|46.142.60.241]] 20:28, 12 December 2012 (UTC) madd
:Cueball is the first "Cueball" to speak in a comic, everyone else is called something else.[[User:Pennpenn|Pennpenn]] ([[User talk:Pennpenn|talk]]) 03:30, 26 February 2014 (UTC)
:: In my mind, Cueball has a quirky or strange personality. In this comic, the second Cueball is the quirky and weird one, so for me, he is the True Cueball. It isn't just me: [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Multiple_Cueballs there's a category for comics which have multiple Cueballs] which at the time of writing says, "In most of these, one of the Cueballs is clearly the protagonist of the comic, and he will thus be called Cueball in the explanation out of convenience." To me this confirms that the second Cueball is the true Cueball. [[User:IAmADroid|IAmADroid]] ([[User talk:IAmADroid|talk]]) 19:32, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

can't be reference to #overlyhonestmethods since comic came out a month before.

:I made an edit to add a reference to the ADD strip earlier. It is not very good. If someone would clean it up, that would probably be a good thing. This one really does seem to be a reference to those kinds of difficulties. In my defense, I don't understand why anything happens and I'm confused and scared and trying really hard all the time. Also I've been reading xkcd for two days straight. [[User:Singlelinelabyrinth|Singlelinelabyrinth]] ([[User talk:Singlelinelabyrinth|talk]]) 04:40, 26 July 2020 (UTC)