explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:487: Numerical Sex Positions

2014-07-04T09:53:48Z

Para:

While I just did fix the Wiki link I don't think this "Fourth Wall" is relevant. The joke is just that Cueball is trying more different numbers by some mathematical calculations but Megan is visibly annoyed. At the title text Cueball is disappointed because they still have to work on more complicated numbers. I'm sure this joke is just mixing Sex and Math, not more.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:18, 4 June 2013 (UTC)
:There are a couple of reasons I believe there is a fourth wall violation here. In the transcript, you can see that the "Uh" is from Cueball, but the "Guys" and "Aww, c'mon" are not--they are from the narrator. Also, that it says "guys" suggests that it's someone outside talking to both of them.[[User:Matchups|Matchups]] ([[User talk:Matchups|talk]]) 01:12, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
Standard rules of comic chat-bubbles tend to apply to most of Randels comics. Words spoken by characted are referenced by a line extending from the head, thoughts are contained inside of bubbles, and narrator speech is contained "outside" of the panels inside it's own box.

I don't know if I was the only one anticipating the possibility of Imaginary sex. Actually, there's arguably plenty of that already, possibly complementing all the Real sex that actually happens. [[Special:Contributions/178.107.63.150|178.107.63.150]] 23:53, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

My take? The whole thing is being narrated. The numbers are the voice over, the characters hear the narrator, and have to act out the numbers. They have trouble with 34 (rule 34), the square root of 8 could be anal, and the last one? Read it out loud, in 2 pie. Lesbianism or threesome.{{unsigned|67.149.185.0}}
:Just a reminder it is "LN", not "IN". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.61|108.162.222.61]] 07:32, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

Talk:820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2

2014-06-16T01:28:29Z

Para:

I don't know. I think the buckets in the Bailout comic are full of money. That's what ''I'' saw anyway. I think it's a political reference to throwing money at problems, which is also colloquially referred to as a "Bailout."[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 15:26, 27 July 2013 (UTC)
:Not everything is a political jab. Also money wouldn't be represented (even in this stylised case) as circular globs of randoms sizes. So yeah, it's probably water or some other fluid.[[User:Pennpenn|Pennpenn]] ([[User talk:Pennpenn|talk]]) 04:53, 30 January 2014 (UTC)
The whole "Dirty Robes" could also be a play on a masturbation joke as semen and other fluids will become visible under a blacklight.

Talk:391: Anti-Mindvirus

2014-06-14T21:57:43Z

Para: Created page with " ---- "The Game" is not actually a game* and therefore can have no winners or losers*. *A game by definition is a form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played ..."

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"The Game" is not actually a game* and therefore can have no winners or losers*.

*A game by definition is a form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck.

* If one does view "The Game" as an actually game, then it consists of one simply saying the words "The Game" out loud or via text. "The Game" also requires one to think of the words The Game before speaking them, thus making them the first "Losers" to participate in the game, and once the opposing team has lost (In this case the person who first thought of "The Game") Then the opposing team then by default is the winner, and is not subject to loosing as once there is a decided winner and looser, the game is over. So this means that the originator of "The Game" (a non-game) is the only looser, and everyone else to have participated is forever the winner, as no one can set up matches for a "The Game" competition, as they would also have to be thinking about "the game" meaning the lose as soon as it starts.

You're all free. --[[User:Para|Para]] ([[User talk:Para|talk]]) 21:57, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

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Talk:393: Ultimate Game

2014-06-14T21:45:57Z

Para:

Why would Gygax choose to play such a luck-heavy game for his life? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:18, 23 February 2013 (UTC)
::You are kidding, right? Just in case not: Because it can be really long to finish it (therefore gains time by just playing it) and also because he created it. [[Special:Contributions/189.135.40.161|189.135.40.161]] 19:44, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

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'''"...Death's boss (satan?) would like."'''
I'd guess Death's boss, in this case, is Jesus - at least he is addressed like that in the last frame ;-)[[Special:Contributions/95.113.60.8|95.113.60.8]] 20:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
:I would think that the "boss" is not meant to be any specific or well-known figure, Satan or Jesus. Based on his depiction, he seems rather generic. I think "Jesus" in the last panel is just used as an exclamation. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 03:15, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

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Couldn't Gygax just get a terrible role that makes him fail initiative and keep missing, then get totally pwned by a critical hit from Death?
:Terrible rolls (or roles, if a bad character choice?) aside, with the alternative being eternal-''whatever'', it's probably worth a go to spin things out unless you're convinced that the eternity concerned is a better thing. (And ''actually'' a thing, not oblivion.) And if Gary's rotating new members into the party, as seen, then it could become a very long campaign indeed, lasting long after all the original group of characters have retired, become NPC flavour or individually succumbed to the many and various trials and tribulations thrown at them. Unless Death is the DM/GM/whatever (rather than a shared participant in some freeform collaborative game, which probably gives Gygax more than enough leeway to keep going) with enough experience to succesfully bring about a "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies" event or foresee and prevent useful tricks such as the casting of Air Wall in naval battles to slew odds in the Adventurers' favour (<-true story... and even when the caster had run out of power, he bluffed enemy ships into colliding with each other by just waving his arms as ''if'' he had created yet another invisible barrier in their paths!) I could see him as outclassed in D&D as Discworld's Death apparently could sometimes be by chess ("REMIND ME AGAIN," he said, "HOW THE LITTLE HORSE-SHAPED ONES MOVE.")  [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 14:54, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

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"Anyone want to play Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years?" [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.45|141.101.98.45]] 21:11, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

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Now if you could challenge Death to any game, would not "The Game" be the ultimate win against Death, as he would then always be the looser?

Talk:73: Zeppelin

2014-03-06T19:09:51Z

Para: Created page with "Remember, if the watch is made of lead, it's Time to Watch Lead Zeppelin ~~~"

Remember, if the watch is made of lead, it's Time to Watch Lead Zeppelin [[User:Para|Para]] ([[User talk:Para|talk]])

Talk:4: Landscape (sketch)

2014-03-05T20:32:14Z

Para:

Interesting... when I first saw this sketch years ago, I assumed that the body of water was frozen and the "river" was a crack in the ice. -- mwburden
[[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 22:41, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

More likely the dark areas are the watery areas. That would explain the original comment: people asking "why the river?" were only making it too clear to Randall how he missed to convey what he meant. The confusion largely comes from the land being completely flat.
[[Special:Contributions/78.192.177.101|78.192.177.101]] 18:27, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
:Since he's changed the title text to say that the river is running through the ocean, you seem to be incorrect. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 06:26, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Grahame

However, a river is made of ''fresh'' water and the sea is made of ''salt'' water. The Amazon river entering the ocean is an example.

Besides, some sea currents are called ''rivers''. --[[User:Chvsanchez|Chvsanchez]] ([[User talk:Chvsanchez|talk]]) 23:54, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

I would like to point at that if you look to the left of the sunset(sunrise?) you can notice the dark branching lines that much resemble the rivers on a globe or map. --[[User:Para|Para]] ([[User talk:Para|talk]]) 20:32, 5 March 2014 (UTC)