explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2254: JPEG2000

2020-01-14T22:26:42Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2254
| date = January 13, 2020
| title = JPEG2000
| image = jpeg2000.png
| titletext = I was actually a little relieved when I learned that JPEG2000 was used in the DCI digital cinema standard. I was feeling so bad for it!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BADLY COMPRESSED IMAGE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|JPEG 2000|JPEG2000}} is a standard for digital image storage created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group from 1997 to 2000 to improve on the original {{w|JPEG 2000|JPEG}} standard, published in 1992. The original JPEG standard is the most widely used image format in the world for both digital cameras and the World Wide Web, while the newer and improved JPEG2000 standard is relatively rare. As of 2020, it is supported by Photoshop, the Safari browser, and GIMP (a free and open source image editor), but it remains unsupported or poorly supported by other popular software, including Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.
As a result, the conventional file name extensions for files using the JPEG2000 standard, .jp2 and .jpx, remain unfamiliar to many users while the .jpg extension, denoting the original standard, is well known.
The JPEG2000 standard was seen an improvement by its creators, supporting many features not included in the original standard, such as multiple resolutions, progressive transmission, a lossless compression option, and alpha channel transparency. The complexity of fully implementing the standard, as well as patent concerns, may have slowed adoption.

[[Cueball]] and [[Hairbun]] seem to have some desire for or stake in JPEG2000 adoption. Cueball begins to worry after more than 20 years without much progress but Hairbun is confident that it will eventually prevail, and she cares more about its eventual use than rapid adoption.

The core concept of this comic is that engineers often expect that a superior technology or standard will catch on, though often other factors keep an "inferior" standard dominant. (See various comics referencing [[:Category:Dvorak|Dvorak]] keyboards, as well as the term "[https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/betamaxed betamaxed].")
The "we are in this for the long haul" statement might refer to the engineers believing that superior technology will eventually win despite the evidence to the contrary. Its humor comes from the fact that as of the comic publication in 2020, JPEG2000 shows no sign of becoming a widely-used standard.

The title text suggests that [[Randall]] feels bad that the standard hasn't been adopted, perhaps because he empathizes with the engineers who worked hard to develop it or anthropomorphizes the standard itself, which has been ignored by most of the computer-using world. Also he may actually believe it is the better standard that should have been more widely used. DCI, short for {{w|Digital Cinema Initiatives}}, is a collaboration of several major film studios to establish standards for the security and proper display of digital films.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairbun are sitting on office chairs opposite each other on a shared desktop with a small division wall between them. They are both working on their own respective computers.]

:[Cueball leans back and stops typing. Hairbun continues to type.]

:[Cueball makes a statement as he looks over at Hairbun who looks back at him when she replies. She has taken one hand of the keyboard down to her lap. Cueball's keyboard has disappeared!]
:Cueball: I'm starting to worry that JPEG 2000 isn't catching on as fast as we expected.
:Hairbun: Don't worry! We're in this for the long haul.

==Trivia==
* Cueball's keyboard seems to have inexplicably disappeared in the last panel.
* A JPEG2000 version of the image file is available here: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/jpeg2000.jp2 . It is only 20% smaller than the PNG version, and has visible compression artifacts.
* JPEG2000 is also supported as an image compression method in PDF.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Computers]]

665: Prudence

2020-01-03T19:13:01Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 665
| date = November 20, 2009
| title = Prudence
| image = prudence.png
| titletext = Moments later, the White Witch rolls up and, confused, tries to tempt the probe with a firmware upgrade.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references the fantasy novel series ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}'' by {{w|C. S. Lewis}}. In the second book, ''{{w|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe}}'', Lucy discovers the fictional world of Narnia which can be accessed through a wardrobe, and she walks into it without ever considering the risks. Her three older siblings do not believe her, so she travels back alone again. But this second time her brother Edmund follows her, and he is seduced by the White Witch in order for her to be able to kill him and his three siblings (see title text explanation below). Thus proving that it was a rather dangerous move to just walk into the wardrobe.

The comic mocks the imprudent behavior shown by the protagonist Lucy of the novel, who enters the world of Narnia without knowing anything about its dangers. In the comic, Lucy (drawn as a child version of [[Megan]], clearly not adult as she only just reaches the wardrobes handles with her head), discovers the magical wardrobe while playing {{w|hide-and-seek}}, like in the book. Unlike in the original book, Lucy does not precipitately set foot into Narnia. Instead, she fetches her technical equipment and sends a remote-controlled probe through the wardrobe door in order to sound the situation first.

The probe encounters {{w|Mr. Tumnus}} the faun with his umbrella at a lamppost in a snowy wood on the last panel. This picture is the first impression of Narnia in the novels and was apparently Lewis' original idea for the series.

The probe is clearly modeled after Mars rovers like Spirit and Opportunity, which [[Randall]] depicted for the first time only a few comics later in [[681: Gravity Wells]] and then in [[695: Spirit]]. The probe looks even more like the one in [[1504: Opportunity]]. This also explains the title of the comic, as it is the name of Lucy's probe. The naming scheme is similar to the two probes mentioned above that were already on Mars at the time of this comics release. And even more so like the upcoming {{w|Curiosity_(rover)|Curiosity rover}} which was first launched two years after this comic, but had {{w|Curiosity_(rover)#The_name:_Curiosity|been named}} earlier in the year this comic was released. Lucy was ''curious'' in the first Narnia book, but in this comic she is ''[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prudent prudent]''.

The {{w|White Witch}} mentioned in the title text is the main antagonist in the novel. She originally lures Edmund with a hot drink and magical {{w|Turkish delight}} after her sleigh passes right by him. In the scenario mentioned in the title text, she is confused when she rolls up to the rover and then tries to tempt the probe with a firmware update accordingly.

The procedure of sending a probe first through a portal has also been used in the early {{w|Stargate}} episodes. This draws a parallel between the wardrobe in Narnia and the Stargate, both connecting two distant worlds. The stargate probe can be seen [http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Mobile_Analytic_Laboratory_Probe here].

Megan (or Lucy) also takes a scientific approach to Narnia in one of the comics of [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]. In that comic she uses the different passage of time in Narnia to her advantage (it usually runs much faster than on Earth). That effect would have been a problem with controlling the rover in this comic.

==Transcript==
:[A small girl, with hair like Megan, is running towards a closed wardrobe.]
:Voice (off-panel): Everyone hide! 99... 98... 97...

:[The girl opens one of the two doors on the wardrobe.]
:Wardrobe: click

:[The girl is looking inside the wardrobe through the fully opened door.]
:Girl: !!!

:[The girl puts a hand to her chin.]

:[The girl walks away.]

:[The girl returns with an armful of electronics including lots of wires and a rover with wheels.]

:[The girl is kneeling, typing on a laptop, which has a cord extending into the wardrobe.]

:[In a forest with many tall leafless trees the Mars rover is approaching a lamppost with a lit candle. Behind it stands a faun with horns, goatee beard and hooves holding an umbrella.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]

2222: Terminator: Dark Fate

2020-01-03T19:05:36Z

172.68.47.234: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2222
| date = October 30, 2019
| title = Terminator: Dark Fate
| image = terminator_dark_fate.png
| titletext = I was sent here to stop the robot that was sent here to protect the human who was sent here to protect the human who was sent here to destroy the robot that was sent here to vacuum the floor.
}}
==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is on his way to see the new ''[[:Category:Terminator|Terminator]]'' movie; ''{{w|Terminator: Dark Fate}}'', when Cueball's future self comes back to stop him, trying to convince him that, as always, he will be disappointed by sequels. (This was, for instance, the main joke in the last part of [[566: Matrix Revisited]]).

Future Cueball (who we shall call Cueball-2) almost succeeds convincing present-day Cueball (who we shall call Cueball-1) not to go see the movie in spite of good reviews and the fact that the original star {{w|Linda Hamilton}} is back after several movies without her. Due to the nature of time travel, ''Terminator: Dark Fate'' actually negates any movie that came after the first two (''The Terminator'' and ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day''). However, they are interrupted by a second Future Cueball, Cueball-3, who states that in his timeline he hadn't seen it but wished he had, making present-day Cueball exclaim that they should all go see it together.

Cueballs 1, 2, and 3 are interrupted again by the appearance of two more Cueballs, presumably Cueball-1 and Cueball-2 who have seen the movie, regretted it, and travel back in time to stop themselves from seeing it. In the next panel another 5 Cueballs appear, however their reasons for coming back have degraded, with the last one stating that he came back simply because the theater sold out of tickets because all the time travelling Cueballs purchased all of them.

A common trope in science fiction is to [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong Set Right What Once Went Wrong], where characters travel in time in order to stop a particular event from happening so as to prevent an undesirable timeline. The {{w|Terminator (franchise)|''Terminator'' series}} film series is famous for this time travel trope. The initial 3 films feature a time traveling robot sent from the dystopian future to kill a particular human, with the future resistance in turn sending a protector to ensure the human's survival. However, the series has never been consistent on even the most broad rules of how time travel affects the timeline, with each movie exploring different possibilities. This is another point of spoof for the comic, featuring multiple recursive time loops until it becomes a jumbled mess.

The final pane also invokes the "killing Hitler" trope. {{w|Adolf Hitler}} was the leader of Nazi Germany during World War II, and it has been a common plot idea to "go back in time to kill Hitler" such as in [[1063: Kill Hitler]], by presuming that the world would be better if World War II never happened. Other works have postulated that the world would be ''worse'' if World War II never happened, as there were many inventions and societal progress that were directly or indirectly a result of the war. This is a similar scenario to the comic above, in which Cueballs decide whether they would be better off seeing or not seeing the movie. In any case, this Cueball is over 70 years too late to kill Hitler, as Hitler himself committed suicide in 1945, shortly before the end of WWII.

The title text is what is said by the next Cueball-11 (the 10th time-traveler), with each link in the chain relating to the Terminator movies. Except at the end where the initial "dangerous robot" turns out to being a robot sent to vacuum the floor. Robotic vacuums, such as the {{w|Roomba}}, are a [[:Category:Roomba|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

The title text split up:
#A robot was sent to clean the floor.
#A human was sent to destroy the robot (this happens in ''{{w|The Terminator}}'')
#A human was sent to protect the previous human (in ''The Terminator'' a human was sent back to protect another human, though the protectee was not a time traveler)
#A robot was sent to protect the previous human (this happens in ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day}}'')
#Cueball-11 was sent to stop the previous robot
Thus Cueball-11 tries to stop the person that needs to destroy the Roomba by stopping his protector's protector.

This was the second time travel comic in less than a week, as the one two comics before this one, [[2220: Imagine Going Back in Time]], also had Cueball travel back to visit his past self.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking to the right. Another Cueball, Cueball-2, appears behind him in a bubble of energy that appears with a loud sound. The bubble floats in the air behind the walking Cueball, with Cueball-2 inside holding his arms out to the side and having his legs bend.]
:''Zap!''

:[Cueball-2 from the sphere is standing to the left of Cueball, pointing at him. Cueball has stopped and is looking back over his shoulder]
:Cueball-2: I've traveled back in time to stop you from seeing ''Terminator: Dark Fate''!

:[Cueball-2 is looking at Cueball who has turned around and holds his arm a bit out to the sides.]
:Cueball: But it looks so good! Reviews are actually decent! Mackenzie Davis! '''''Linda Hamilton is back!'''''

:[Cueball-2 is holding both arms up, hands held down as Cueball stands normally.]
:Cueball-2: I know, but you always think this, and you're always disappointed.
:Cueball: I ''guess''...

:[Zoom out as another Cueball, Cueball-3, appears to the left in a similar bubble of energy and noise as in the first panel, his arms are out to the sides and his legs are bent. Cueball-2 is holding a hand in front of his mouth, while Cueball throws his arms out to the side.]
:''Zap!''
:Cueball-3: Hi, I'm from the future where you didn't watch it and I realize I still kind of want to see it.
:Cueball: Let's go together!

:[Another bubble appears from the right of the three Cueballs, the one in the middle (Cueball-2) holding his arms out. This new bubble contains two Cueballs. The first, Cueball-4, throws up his arms over his head, while Cueball-5 has one arm out in front of him. Both have their legs bent.]
:Cueball-4: No! We're both of you from the future! We're here to stop you!

:[In a large panel five more individual energy bubbles with five Cueballs appear. Two of the bubbles float over the now five Cueballs on the ground. The other three are a bit lower and in a line to the right. Cueball-6 to 10 are in different poses, all with their legs bent, all the way to sitting on the knees in one case and most of them throw their arms out to the side. All look down at the five regardless of their bubble's position. Their text is alternating between being up and down, so the text goes over or below the other text, making it hard to decide which comes first. This may be intentional. But here they are in the order of Cueballs as they come from left to right:]
:Cueball-6: I'm here to stop '''''you!'''''
:Cueball-7: I'm here to stop the robot sent to stop you!
:Cueball-8: I'm here to protect you from...you? I lost track.
:Cueball-9: I'm here to kill Hitler. Did I get the right year?
:Cueball-10: I'm here to get tickets because in like 20 minutes you people buy them all.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hitler]]
[[Category:Terminator]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Roomba]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

2245: Edible Arrangements

2020-01-03T18:51:54Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ good enough, don't think they are rhymes, just random combinations

{{comic
| number = 2245
| date = December 23, 2019
| title = Edible Arrangements
| image = edible_arrangements.png
| titletext = Any arrangement is an edible arrangement if you're hungry enough.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the first of two comics in a row about presents, and it is also the last comic released before {{w|Christmas Day}}. This is the first [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] of 2019, with [[2246: Christmas Presents]] being the second Christmas comic, released on Christmas Day.

{{w|Edible Arrangements}} is a company that sells fruit, and other edible items that have been cut and arranged to look like flower bouquets. They can be ordered and sent to a given recipient for a variety of purposes. Flower arrangements are typically not eaten, as showy flowers are so economically inefficient to mass produce that modern culture has forgotten they are edible.{{fact}}

In the first panel, [[Cueball]] seems to find the concept incongruous, and wonders how it came about. [[Megan]] points out the easy answer: picking out a gift for someone can be difficult, but a tasteful meal is always welcome so long as it's something the recipient can eat safely, and the visual appearance of an edible arrangement offers further appeal.

Shortly afterwards, Megan uses the same incongruity of eating a floral arrangement to make puns. '''Vore of the Roses''' is a play on the '''War of the Roses''', either the {{w|Wars of the Roses|English civil war}} or the 1989 [[imdb:tt0098621|movie]] of the same name. 'Vore' is a word part referring to eating, as in carnivore (meat eater), herbivore (plant eater), voracious (hungry or eating a lot), etc. The pun is particularly disturbing to Cueball because of the connection to {{w|Vorarephilia}}, which uses the term vore to refer to the sexual ingestion of another human, a notorious fetish in the {{w|furry fandom}}.

Cueball is disturbed by the thought (or perhaps disturbed that Megan would anthropomorphize her food so) and probably in pain because of the bad pun and says he will cancel the edible arrangement that he had bought for Megan. She tries to convince him otherwise by providing alternative names, which are evidently not any more to his liking, since he has left Megan before she finishing all her suggestions.

Mouth Blossoms, Juicy Bouquet, and Oral Floral are all combinations referencing the eating of a floral arrangement. In theory, these combinations could be good names for a band, [[1025: Tumblr|or possibly a tumblr blog.]] As with the first name, it is also possible to look at this as a sexual innuendo, as flower can be used about a woman's sex and anything with oral in it can be misunderstood if one wishes so. {{w|Sex}} is a [[:Category:Sex|recurring theme]] on xkcd, and some fetishes has been mentioned before, although Vorarephilia is a first.

The title text also makes reference to the fact that many flowers that are often found in floral arrangements, such as roses, violets, tulips, daisies, lavender and many more, are items that a human can eat. Such flowers are safe to consume but usually unappetizing; Randall makes the point that if a person is sufficiently hungry and thus doesn't care how appetizing their meal is, any floral arrangement can be eaten. Since he doesn't use flower in the title text, he actually says that if you are hungry enough anything can be eaten. The title text may also be an allusion to a Mitch Hedberg joke: "Any book is a children's book if the kid can read!"

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on opposite sides of a leafless tree. They are silhouetted.]
:Cueball: I don't get how Edible Arrangements is a thing.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball and Megan leaning against the tree]
:Megan: That's easy — picking out presents is hard and fruit is delicious.
:Cueball: Yeah, true.

:[Megan gestures with an open hand]
:Megan: But my question is, why did they call it "Edible Arrangements" and not "Vore of the Roses"?

:[Pan to just Megan. Megan turns to face Cueball]
:Cueball: Just for that, I'm going to cancel the one I got you.
:Megan: Nooo! I want my Mouth Blossoms!
:Megan: My Juicy Bouquet! My Oral Floral!
:Megan: Hey, come back!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Furries]]

2245: Edible Arrangements

2020-01-03T18:49:28Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ overly wordy

{{comic
| number = 2245
| date = December 23, 2019
| title = Edible Arrangements
| image = edible_arrangements.png
| titletext = Any arrangement is an edible arrangement if you're hungry enough.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs expansion, Requires an analysis of the rhyming used to come up with the alternatives to "Edible Arrangements"}}
This is the first of two comics in a row about presents, and it is also the last comic released before {{w|Christmas Day}}. This is the first [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] of 2019, with [[2246: Christmas Presents]] being the second Christmas comic, released on Christmas Day.

{{w|Edible Arrangements}} is a company that sells fruit, and other edible items that have been cut and arranged to look like flower bouquets. They can be ordered and sent to a given recipient for a variety of purposes. Flower arrangements are typically not eaten, as showy flowers are so economically inefficient to mass produce that modern culture has forgotten they are edible.{{fact}}

In the first panel, [[Cueball]] seems to find the concept incongruous, and wonders how it came about. [[Megan]] points out the easy answer: picking out a gift for someone can be difficult, but a tasteful meal is always welcome so long as it's something the recipient can eat safely, and the visual appearance of an edible arrangement offers further appeal.

Shortly afterwards, Megan uses the same incongruity of eating a floral arrangement to make puns. '''Vore of the Roses''' is a play on the '''War of the Roses''', either the {{w|Wars of the Roses|English civil war}} or the 1989 [[imdb:tt0098621|movie]] of the same name. 'Vore' is a word part referring to eating, as in carnivore (meat eater), herbivore (plant eater), voracious (hungry or eating a lot), etc. The pun is particularly disturbing to Cueball because of the connection to {{w|Vorarephilia}}, which uses the term vore to refer to the sexual ingestion of another human, a notorious fetish in the {{w|furry fandom}}.

Cueball is disturbed by the thought (or perhaps disturbed that Megan would anthropomorphize her food so) and probably in pain because of the bad pun and says he will cancel the edible arrangement that he had bought for Megan. She tries to convince him otherwise by providing alternative names, which are evidently not any more to his liking, since he has left Megan before she finishing all her suggestions.

Mouth Blossoms, Juicy Bouquet, and Oral Floral are all combinations referencing the eating of a floral arrangement. In theory, these combinations could be good names for a band, [[1025: Tumblr|or possibly a tumblr blog.]] As with the first name, it is also possible to look at this as a sexual innuendo, as flower can be used about a woman's sex and anything with oral in it can be misunderstood if one wishes so. {{w|Sex}} is a [[:Category:Sex|recurring theme]] on xkcd, and some fetishes has been mentioned before, although Vorarephilia is a first.

The title text also makes reference to the fact that many flowers that are often found in floral arrangements, such as roses, violets, tulips, daisies, lavender and many more, are items that a human can eat. Such flowers are safe to consume but usually unappetizing; Randall makes the point that if a person is sufficiently hungry and thus doesn't care how appetizing their meal is, any floral arrangement can be eaten. Since he doesn't use flower in the title text, he actually says that if you are hungry enough anything can be eaten. The title text may also be an allusion to a Mitch Hedberg joke: "Any book is a children's book if the kid can read!"

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on opposite sides of a leafless tree. They are silhouetted.]
:Cueball: I don't get how Edible Arrangements is a thing.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball and Megan leaning against the tree]
:Megan: That's easy — picking out presents is hard and fruit is delicious.
:Cueball: Yeah, true.

:[Megan gestures with an open hand]
:Megan: But my question is, why did they call it "Edible Arrangements" and not "Vore of the Roses"?

:[Pan to just Megan. Megan turns to face Cueball]
:Cueball: Just for that, I'm going to cancel the one I got you.
:Megan: Nooo! I want my Mouth Blossoms!
:Megan: My Juicy Bouquet! My Oral Floral!
:Megan: Hey, come back!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Furries]]

2246: Christmas Presents

2020-01-03T18:48:11Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2246
| date = December 25, 2019
| title = Christmas Presents
| image = christmas_presents.png
| titletext = "The parasitism might be mediated by a fungus!" exclaimed the biologist who was trying to ruin Christmas again.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the second comic in a row about presents, this one in particular calls them {{w|Christmas gift|Christmas presents}}, and it was also released on {{w|Christmas}} Day. This is the second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] in a row after [[2245: Edible Arrangements]].

A {{w|Christmas tree}} cut down from the woods will typically be placed in a living-room soon after being cut down, and left standing there through the holiday season. On {{w|Christmas Eve}} or {{w|Christmas Day}}, or even earlier, presents are typically put beneath the tree under the lower branches. Once the tree is cut down, it will eventually start turning brown and/or losing its needles as it no longer receives any nutrients from its roots.

Based on this observation (on Christmas Day) some biologist (or [[Randall]]) concludes that the presents are a type of {{w|parasitic plant}}—that is, a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirement from another living plant. Since such a plant can use the sugars produced by the parasitised tree it does not necessarily have to perform photosynthesis by itself (although some parasitic plants such as mistletoe are photosynthetically active). If the parasitic plant is not doing photosynthesis it can live in the shade beneath a tree that it parasitizes as it has no need for light, and since it does not need chlorophyll either, it may not be green (e.g. {{w|Orobanche}}).

With presents often being wrapped in bright white and red colored paper, Randall concludes that this indicates a lack of chlorophyll, thus fitting with the idea of a parasitic plant. With the presents being in the shade of the tree and the tree's health suffering, the evidence can only lead to the conclusion that Christmas presents are parasitic plants.

In the title text a biologist says that "The parasitism might be mediated by a fungus!" While many parasitic plants attach themselves directly to the plant they are parasitising (e.g. {{w|mistletoe}}, a parasitic plant which is often used to symbolize romance at Christmas) this is obviously not the case with the Christmas presents which are not growing out of the Christmas tree - which appears to rule out a parasitic relationship. However, the biologist has an answer for that: Some parasitic plants (such as {{w|sarcodes|snow flowers}}) do not attack the tree directly but instead form a connection to mycorhizal {{w|Fungus|fungi}}. These fungi are receiving sugars from the trees and in turn provide it with mineral nutrients. By parasitising these fungi the snow flower can steal the sugars of the tree indirectly, one says that the fungi is mediating the parasitism.

Randall dismisses these words as coming from a biologist who is "trying to ruin Christmas again", which could have several meanings. It could be that the biologist really is just trying to ruin Christmas, and is trying to be more successful than in previous years by tying Christmas presents to fungus in people's minds. One might say that the biologist is not a "fun guy" for doing this. {{Citation needed}}

It could instead be the case that the biologist is quite earnest in his belief that Christmas presents are harmful plant parasites and is attempting to spray the presents with a {{w|fungicide}}, which would probably be toxic and potentially contaminate not only the wrapping paper but also the presents inside their boxes.

Finally, it could be that the biologist is right, and Christmas presents are hosts to or otherwise associated with a parasitic fungus (and Randall's dismissal is a sign of his infection). There are some parasitic fungi that hijack the brains of host animals and alter their behavior. The most famous of these is probably ''{{w|Ophiocordyceps unilateralis}}'', the so-called "zombie ant fungus", which causes its hosts to perch on a high plant to maximize the distance traveled by the fungus's spores. Ants have in turn developed strategies for detecting and removing infected members from the colony's territory. None of these fungi are known to infect humans, but they did inspire the zombie fungus in ''{{w|The Last of Us}}''.

==Transcript==
:[A Christmas tree decorated with 16 balls and a star at the top with a high trunk with space for several presents beneath. About 13 presents with different patterns of paper and some with strings around. Three arrows with text at the blunt end points towards different areas. To the left one points to a present, beneath this one points to the area beneath the tree (the bottom of one present) and to the right one points to the tree.]
:Bright white and red colors indicate a lack of Chlorophyll
:Flourishing in the shade
:Tree health suffering

:[Caption beneath the panel:]
:The evidence is clear: Christmas presents are parasitic plants.

{{comic discussion}}



[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Biology]]

User talk:DgbrtBOT

2019-12-27T19:27:05Z

172.68.47.234: /* Bot down */ r

==BOT status==
Is the bot still active? Many recent comic page creates were done manually.--{{User:17jiangz1/signature|14:16, 26 May 2015}}
:Since you "Beautified the template page" (LATESTCOMIC) even a simple picture upload didn't work any more. My bot is also beautified now so the picture upload should work again tomorrow. Further problems are still under investigations. I can't create a new page with my bot - error code is: 0. That's really helpful... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:07, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
::It seems 17jiangz1 did beautify the template. I mixed something up. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:12, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

All Problems are solved so far. The page and all the other necessary updates will be done by this BOT again — only some dynamic comics will fail. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:48, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

==Some edits shouldn't be minor==
IMHO:
*Creation of a new comic description page
*Update of [[List of all comics]]
*Update of {{tl|LATESTCOMIC}}

shouldn't be minor.

They will still (or should) be "bot edits".

(This is terser than I intended -- and previously typed in -- because the server failed again.)

[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 14:35, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

:You're right, I will check the API on this until Monday. But "bot edits" are always hidden by default at the "recent changes" page. Maybe this default could be changed at the Wiki configuration. I will check this, too.
:More important: This server did fail again today? That would be bad.
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:02, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
::Uh, I broke the server for a few minutes while wrongly attempting to implement something. You should be seeing the fruits of my labour soon. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:02, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
:::What are that "fruits of your labour"?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:44, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
::::Examine the URL. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:55, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Hopefully the bot will remove that minor tag in the future, but unless I do not remove the bot tag it will still not be shown by default at the "Recent changes" page. Maybe I should remove that tag, too. The user name DgbrtBOT would still show the origin. Any thoughts? The script I'm using is still here available for everybody: [https://github.com/dgbrt/explainXKCD_update]--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:44, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
:For my purposes, I don't mind bot edits being elided from Recent Changes because including them is only a click away. I noticed these "minor" edits in the revision history, and am pleased with the current changes :-) [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 06:05, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

== Failure today (12/23/2013) ==

The BOT lost the internet connection, so a backup will be available for Wednesday. It was just a Christmas Holiday Incident. I don't like BOT's without control by humans, and my control failed. The BOT will run reliable again, also at my holidays, as it did many weeks before. And in detail: The BOT did behave like planned, if it's too late no uploads or updates are done. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:11, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

== A Ping on ME ==

Ohh....
my BOT still does a great job here,
I'm still alive, but no time for me.

And nevertheless my BOT works fine - better than me ;)

And I am hoping for more time soon, stay tuned...

== Failure on comic 1969 ==

The bot failed today (3/19/2018, comic #1969). I had to create the comic page manually. Could it be because the comic is titled "Not Available"? [[User:RamenChef|RamenChef]] ([[User talk:RamenChef|talk]]) 17:52, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
:Thanks for your work [[User:RamenChef|RamenChef]] and following the instructions to not omit essential changes. Only the image was the large (2x) version you typically get in your browser. The BOT would have worked properly but the internet was not available to it at the right time. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:51, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

== 2x size comics ==

I discussed this a bit in [[Talk:2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics#Better quality images?|the latest comic]], xkcd.com offers 2x comic resolution for high-DPI displays and the wiki skips those. This can be fixed by making the bot a bit more fancy:

1. Upload the 2x images to the wiki, e.g. [[:File:motivated reasoning olympics 2x.png]].

2. When creating a new comic page, use the <nowiki>{{{imagesize}}}</nowiki> parameter of [[Template:comic]] (which already exists) to specify the width of ''the original'' comic, e.g. <nowiki>{{comic|<typical args>|imagesize=302px}}</nowiki>. It's impossible to make the template detect this automatically, which is why the bot would have to "hard-code" the image width.

The comic in question would look like this:

{{comic
| number = 2167
| date = June 24, 2019
| title = Motivated Reasoning Olympics
| image = motivated_reasoning_olympics_2x.png
| titletext = [later] I can't believe how bad corruption has become, especially given that our league split off from the statewide one a month ago SPECIFICALLY to protest this kind of flagrantly biased judging.
| imagesize = 302px
}}

Which, on a high-DPI screen, is visibly improved.
--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 14:09, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

== Bot Failed Today? ==

[[2196: Nice To E-Meet You]] was up on xkcd for almost an hour and a half hours but the bot didn't upload it. I've manually created the page, but there are a few things:
# I uploaded the file, and it appeared in the page, but the link in the List of all comics page is still red. I think I messed up the upload, so could you delete the current file (the one I uploaded) for 2196 and reupload it?
# I created an incorrect redirect page [[Nice To E-Meet you]] (The name is incorrect, I forgot to capitalize the You). Could you please delete that page? Thanks!
[[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:06, 31 August 2019 (UTC)
:also failed on [[2198]] probably because it is interactive though? Tried to create that. Not sure I did it right as it is not on the front page? Hope it is just because it take some time? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:01, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::Herobrine found that it was [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Template:LATESTCOMIC this page] that needed pdate and seems like the bot fixed this... So it works on the front page now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:42, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Bot down ==

Is the bot down? The last few comics explanations here were created manually? [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 21:58, 20 December 2019 (UTC)
: From User:Kynde's research, it seems like the bot has not been working since Dec 13. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.234|172.68.47.234]] 19:27, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

2246: Christmas Presents

2019-12-27T19:24:46Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ ce

Talk:Syndication

2019-12-27T09:50:16Z

172.68.47.234:

Where is this coming from? was this actually online in 2007? Between comics 242 and 243? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:08, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Can we discuss the jokes in this comic, like Belgium jokingly being considered a swear word?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.196|108.162.216.196]] 20:12, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
:I think we should. :) You are free to start a list of the items, to explain them, or a discussion here in the discussion page.

Alright, nobody has touched this for quite a while now, so I might as well. I kinda expected this page to be finished, but it is amazingly not so. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.234|172.68.47.234]] 09:50, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

2247: Weird Hill

2019-12-27T09:31:23Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explained title text */

{{comic
| number = 2247
| date = 27 December, 2019
| title = {{{1|Weird Hill}}}
| image = {{{2|weird hill.png}}}
| titletext = {{{3|I'm compromising by picking a weird hill to lie on.}}}
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|New page}}
This comic is a joke about the expression [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hill_to_die_on "A weird hill to die on"] which is an opinion on an issue that you'll fight for despite it being pointless or a waste of time. Beret Guy interrupts Cueball arguing over something online, and, pulling him away from the argument, asks why he should pick a weird hill to die on (fight over an opinion online) when he could pick a soft hill to lie on, going out into nature and relaxing.

A hill to die on is an issue you are willing to fight someone to the death over.
Many of these issues are minor and would be considered weird.
Instead you should go outside and sit on a hill.

The title text is an absurd juxtaposition: that Cueball will pick a weird hill to lie on. In this case, he may be referring to a physical hill, in which case the meaning of "weird" is unclear due to lack of context.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball sitting on a chair in front of a computer and Beret Guy pulling the chair back]
:Beret Guy: Why pick a weird hill to die on...

:[Cueball and Beret Guy leaving the room]

:[Cueball and Beret Guy climbing a hill]

:[Cueball and Beret Guy lying down at the top of a hill]
:Beret Guy: ... when you could pick a soft hill to lie on?
:Cueball: This ''is'' nice.

{{comic discussion}}

949: File Transfer

2019-12-20T01:21:46Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 949
| date = September 9, 2011
| title = File Transfer
| image = file_transfer.png
| titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is trying to help two people, his friend and his friend's cousin, exchange a 25 MB file. Most people know how to use email to send files through the internet, but (as of 2011 when this comic was published) 25 MB exceeds the attachment size limit of most email services. The reason there is a limit is because every email has to be transferred between several mail transfer agents, and each one has to temporarily store a copy of the email. Space constraints on those mail servers means that they must impose size limits, and an email with such a large attachment will therefore not be delivered.

The next option is to upload the file to an FTP server (FTP stands for {{w|File Transfer Protocol}}, as opposed to HTTP, {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol}}), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users don't have access to one of their own.

Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cueball's friend's cousin had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as putting a copy of it in an accessible directory and sending the link to the desired recipient.

{{w|Megaupload}} was one of many sites on the Internet that recognizes most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for his friend's cousin to handle.

{{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} Direct Connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger, which was already suffering severe drops in popularity by the year 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here: anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end.

{{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} is a program with a web-based GUI that automates file sharing between two computers on the internet. But this solution also has its issues, as it requires that at least the sending party has a Dropbox account. Installing Dropbox software is not actually required, since Dropbox also provides a web interface for uploading and downloading files. At the time of the comic's publication, Dropbox was still relatively new and unknown, thus why it is not Cueball's first suggestion.

While Cueball is still explaining Dropbox, the friend's cousin has copied the file to a USB drive and physically transported it to the friend's house, circumventing the Internet entirely. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes traditional methods are the most efficient ways to get something done.

When used to transfer files between computers in the same room or building, this same approach is referred to as {{w|sneakernet}}. This comic is also an illustration of what {{w|Andy Tanenbaum}} said in 1989: ''Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.'' Sneakernet was examined in this [https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ What If] article.

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} is considered to be the inventor of the World Wide Web. In the title text, [[Randall]] implies that he would be disturbed by the need today to use two separate protocols (smtp for sending the file as an email attachment and http for retrieving the file from the mail server web interface) to perform a third, unrelated, obvious function such as file transfer.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands near a computer, talking on the phone to another person.]

:Cueball: You want your cousin to send you a file? easy. He can email it to- ...Oh, it's 25 MB? Hmm...
:Cueball: Do either of you have an FTP server? No, right.
:Cueball: If you had web hosting, you could upload it...
:Cueball: Hm. We could try one of those MegaShareUpload sites, but they're flaky and full of delays and porn popups.
:Cueball: How about AIM Direct Connect? Anyone still use that?
:Cueball: Oh, wait, Dropbox! It's this recent startup from a few years back that syncs folders between computers. You just need to make an account, install the-
:Cueball: Oh, he just drove over to your house with a USB drive?
:Cueball: Uh, cool, that works too.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do.

==Trivia==
This comic has a resemblance to both, [[1810: Chat Systems]], and [[2194: How to Send a File]]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator

2019-12-19T02:02:04Z

172.68.47.234: /* Table */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2243
| date = December 18, 2019
| title = Star Wars Spoiler Generator
| image = star wars spoiler generator.png
| titletext = The heroes seem to be gaining the upper hand until Darth Juul manages to flip the switch on the car wash control panel from 'REGULAR' to 'PREMIUM.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by DARTH KYLE}}
On December 20, 2019 (2 days after the publication of this comic), the final movie of the "Skywalker saga" of ''Star Wars'' films, ''{{w|Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker}}'', will be released. It received a world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, so there are lots of spoilers online, and also lots of people who want to avoid spoilers. Randall has created a flowchart that generates "spoilers" to the film, but as Randall probably has not seen the film (or, if he has, he doesn't actually want to spoil us), all of the so-called spoilers are nonsensical.

The formula for each spoiler is as follows: "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain '''[villain name]''' with help from their new friend '''[friend name]'''. Rey builds a new lightsaber with a '''[color]''' blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the '''[superweapon name]''', a space station capable of '''[evil plan]'''. They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy '''[character]''' and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring '''[strange event]'''. P.S. Rey's parents are '''[character]''' and '''[character]'''".

The {{w|First Order (Star Wars)|First Order}} is the main antagonist group in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy series. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'', they use a superweapon in their base, Starkiller Base, to destroy the planetary system housing the headquarters of the New Republic, the democratic government which was formed after the Empire's defeat in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.

"Building a {{w|lightsaber}}" is one of the rites of passage for becoming a Jedi Knight. In the prequel trilogy, new Jedi build lightsabers as an official part of the journey towards Knighthood, and in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker builds a lightsaber between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'' as part of his training with Yoda. Rey has used the lightsaber that Anakin Skywalker made and used (which Luke also used when he was a new Jedi) for the first two movies of the sequel trilogy, and so it would be thematically appropriate for her to build her own prior to the trilogy's final entry. Most Jedi's lightsabers are either blue or green, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber signifies his incredible combat prowess). Kyber crystals are aligned with the Light Side of the Force, so Sith must overpower and "bleed" their crystals before they will function for them, which causes their distinctive red color. Having a lightsaber of a color other than blue, green, or red is often seen in the ''Star Wars'' fandom as a sign of being a "Mary Sue", which is an accusation which has been made of Rey.

Another common plot point in ''Star Wars'' media is the construction, use, and destruction of a superweapon. These are inspired by stories and media of World War II, in which militaries sought to find, attack, and destroy critical elements of their enemies' resources and infrastructure, and meanwhile would construct elaborate defenses for themselves. The attack on the Death Star in particular is inspired by {{w|Operation Chastise}}, the "bouncing bomb" attack on Germany's hydroelectric power plants; Operation Chastise was dramatised in the 1951 book and 1955 film ''The Dam Busters'', which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M very thoroughly homaged] by ''A New Hope''. The original trilogy of movies only had two Death Stars, but superweapons quickly became a staple of the Expanded Universe fiction, to the point that one book had Han Solo make fun of the Empire's tendency towards building superweapons, proposing such ridiculous names as "Galaxy Destructor" and "Nostril of Palpatine".

Redemption and making allies of old enemies is also a common plot point in ''Star Wars''. Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, but eventually returned to the Light Side to protect his son, and Han Solo was initially a morally ambiguous character who was eventually convinced to join the Rebellion.

{{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}}, one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy series is an orphan, who was left behind on the planet Jakku as a child. As Rey is Force-sensitive and adept at using a lightsaber, there is much speculation among Star Wars fans as to the identity of her parents. Many major characters in ''Star Wars'' have unexpected heritages of great portent, most famously Luke, who was very distressed to learn that Darth Vader did not ''kill'' his father, as Obi-Wan had told him, but ''is'' his father. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Last Jedi}}'', villain Kylo Ren tells her that she is the child of "filthy junk traders", but many fans speculate that he was lying to her.

The title text refers to the bottom option of the [strange event in battle] section. Apparently Lord Juul (or Darth Juul) is fighting the heroes in the Sith car wash. It is unclear what "flipping the switch" from Regular to Premium would do, but it seems to be beneficial to Darth Juul. A "premium" car wash usually has more features than a regular car wash, e.g. more cleaning brushes, waxing the car, cleaning the tires, etc.

This is the second false fact generating comic, after [[1930: Calendar Facts]].

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! Explanation
|-
! colspan="2" | New villain
|-
| Kyle Ren
|Kyle Ren is one letter away from {{w|Kylo Ren|''Kylo'' Ren}}, the adopted "Sith name" of Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Kylo is one of the antagonists of the first two movies in the sequel trilogy, and presumably will be so in the third, but there's nobody in the films named "Kyle". (There are a handful of ''Legends'' characters named Kyle, most famously Kyle Katarn, protagonist of the ''Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' video game series.)
|-
| {{w|Malloc}}
| Malloc is a function used in the C programming language to allocate more memory in the running of a program. Malloc may sound similar to {{w|Darth Maul|Maul}}, one of the villains in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}'' and in other Star Wars series.
|-
|Darth Sebelius
| {{w|Sebelius}} is the last name of several US people. {{w|Kathleen Sebelius}} is a former state representative and governor of Kansas who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. Randall may have chosen this surname as it sounds similar to {{w|Darth Sidious}}, the overarching villain in the first 6 Star Wars films, who is rumored to return in the upcoming film.
|-
|{{w|Theranos}}
|Theranos was a medical technology company founded by {{w|Elizabeth Holmes}} which claimed to have developed revolutionary blood tests that could produce more data from limited volumes of blood than ever before. They were eventually found to have engaged in fraudulent activity, having tricked investors into thinking their technology was performing better than it actually was or ever could, which resulted in fines for Holmes and Theranos president {{w|Ramesh Balwani}} and the bankruptcy of Theranos. Theranos also sounds similar to {{w|Thanos}}, the main villain of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
|Lord Juul
|{{w|Juul}} is a brand of e-cigarettes. In addition to the broader controversy surrounding electronic cigarettes, Juul has been investigated for its sale of flavored additives for their cigarettes, which are alleged to be particularly attractive to minors.
|-
! colspan="2" | New friend
|-
| Kim Spacemeasurer
| May be a parody of the name {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, one of the main characters in the original trilogy of films. Other "Nounverber" names in ''Star Wars'' include Starkiller, Luke's original last name which was later applied to Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'', and Biggs Darklighter, Luke's childhood friend and fellow Rebel pilot who died in the attack on the original Death Star.
|-
|Teen Yoda
|{{w|The Child (Star Wars character)|The Child}}, commonly called "Baby Yoda" by fans and the media, is a breakout character from the Disney+ series ''{{w|The Mandalorian}}''. Randall envisions a "teenage" version of this character teaming up with the main characters.
|-
|Dab Tweetdeck
| A {{w|Dab (dance)|dab}} is a dance move which is many decades old but was made popular by that name in the late 2010's. {{w|TweetDeck}} is an application for managing Twitter accounts. Taken together, "Dab Tweetdeck" could be a character name proposed by clueless Disney executives to attract "the kids" to see ''The Rise of Skywalker'', although one would think that this name would be heavily promoted and thus not a spoiler in that case.
|-
| Yaz Progestin
| Yaz sounds like the first name of {{w|Maz Kanata}}, a supporting protagonist in the sequel trilogy. {{w|Progestin}} is a type of medication which imitates the effects of {{w|progesterone}}, a female sex hormone. They are used for various purposes, including birth control, fertility, and appetite stimulation.
|-
| TI-83
| Droids in the Star Wars universe typically have names with letters and numbers, such as R2D2, C-3PO, BB-8, etc. Randall has created a new character called "TI-83". In real life, the {{w|TI-83}} is a common model of graphing calculator manufactured by Texas Instruments. This mirrors the origin of the name "R2-D2", which was inspired when Lucas was working on ''{{w|American Graffiti}}'' and was asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, which was abbreviated "R-2-D-2". He remarked that it would be a "great name" and included it in his then-in-development script for ''Star Wars''.
|-
! colspan="2" | Lightsaber colors
|-
| [beige/ochre/mauve/aquamarine/taupe]
| These are different colors, none of which is a "traditional" color for a lightsaber. {{w|Beige}} is a pale-grayish yellow. {{w|Ochre}} is a clay earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown. {{w|Mauve}} is a pale purple color. A purple color has been used for a lightsaber in the prequel trilogy series, by Jedi Master {{w|Mace Windu}}. {{w|Aquamarine (color)|Aquamarine}} is a blueish green color. {{w|Taupe}} is a dark brown color between brown and gray.
|-
! colspan="2" | Superweapon names
|-
|Sun Obliterator
| There was an Expanded Universe superweapon called the "Sun Crusher", which would infiltrate a star system and shoot a special torpedo into the star to make it go supernova.
|-
|Moonsquisher
| There were no ''Star Wars'' superweapons with the word "Moon" in their title (or "squisher"), but in the no-longer-canon ''New Jedi Order'' series, Chewbacca was squished ''by'' a moon that was intentionally de-orbited by invading Yuuzhan Vong.
|-
|World Eater
| Possibly a reference to {{w|Alduin}}, the main villain of the popular game {{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}. In the Expanded Universe, the Empire used World Devastators, massive machines that would strip-mine planets with tractor beams and make weapons and spacecraft from the extracted resources.
|-
|Planet Zester
| A {{w|zester}} is a cooking tool for zesting citrus fruit, that is, scraping off the outer layer of a citrus fruit to obtain the flavorful outer layer of its skin. Zesting a planet would be devastating to anything built or living on its surface.
|-
|Superconducting supercollider
| A {{w|supercollider}}, or particle accelerator, is a machine used to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, for testing in particle physics. The {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}} was a proposed accelerator which was to be constructed in Texas, but was cancelled partway through construction.
|-
! colspan="2" | Station capabilities
|-
|blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
|This is how the {{w|Death Star}} was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''. Many beams converged together to form one energy beam. The superweapon was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, as an intimidation tactic against Princess Leia.
|-
|blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
|This is how the superweapon on Starkiller Base was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''. A single energy beam split into several beams, allowing it to attack many planets. The superweapon was used to destroy the planets in the Hosnian system, the headquarters of the New Republic.
|-
|cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
|Jango Fett's "seismic charge" weapon, which he used in a dogfight against Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Attack of the Clones'', produced a plane wave that cut asteroids in half; presumably a larger weapon of this kind could do the same to a planet.
|-
|increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
|This seems to have occurred on the planet {{w|Venus}}. Venus is 97% carbon dioxide, and is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, due to a greenhouse effect, preventing the planet from cooling.
|-
|triggering the end credits before the movie is done
|The {{w|closing credits}} or end credits of a film is the list of cast and crew who were involved in the making of the film. It would be quite strange to show the end credits of the film before it has concluded. This entry is considerably less damaging to a planet{{Citation needed}} than the other 4 entries in this section, but if early audiences are left unsatisfied by the movie, they might tell everyone else not to see it, which would put the ''Star Wars'' franchise in a perilous financial situation. This would negatively impact the villains as well as the heroes, but they might consider this a worthwhile trade if it is their best option at harming the heroes.
|-
! colspan="2" | Old enemy/new friend
|-
|{{w|Boba Fett}}
| Boba Fett is a famous bounty hunter introduced in the ''{{w|Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' and made popular by ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}''. On the Empire's orders, he helped capture Han Solo as part of a plot to capture Luke Skywalker. He later tried to prevent Luke from rescuing Han, but was knocked into a sarlacc pit, where he was presumed eaten. In the Expanded Universe, he survived and did eventually join the protagonists against extragalactic invaders; his survival has not been confirmed by Disney's new canon, but he would be a plausible character to bring back in ''The Rise of Skywalker''.
|-
|{{w|Salacious Crumb}}
| Salacious B. Crumb is a Kowakian monkey-lizard who was Jabba the Hutt's jester. He wasn't exactly a major adversary, but he did pull one of C-3PO's eyes out. He was last seen on Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, which was made to explode after Han, Luke, and the rest of the heroes escaped from it, and is presumed dead.
|-
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Exogorth The Space Slug]
| In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon into a giant cave to evade pursuit and get time to effect repairs. He is interrupted when the cave turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug, which the Falcon barely escapes. A giant space slug might be a powerful ally in a battle against a giant space station.
|-
|The bottom half of {{w|Darth Maul}}
| Darth Maul was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of ''The Phantom Menace''. His "upper half", attached to mechanical legs, has returned as a villain in the ''Clone Wars'' TV series and ''{{w|Solo: A Star Wars Story|Solo}}''. Given that Maul was a Sith and Kenobi a Jedi, who trained Luke, who trained Rey, it would be extremely unexpected for his "bottom half" to join forces with the heroes, although presumably his bottom half would have to be attached to something, which might be better disposed towards Jedi.
|-
|YouTube commenters
| The sequel trilogy has received more mixed reviews from watchers than Disney might like, and many vocal non-fans have taken to commenting on YouTube (via videos and comments) on what they don't like about the new movies and new characters. If ''The Rise of Skywalker'' fully wins the crowd, an alliance between the heroes and their former critics would be extremely powerful.
|-
! colspan="2" | Battle feature
|-
|a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
|May be a reference to the [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bowcaster bowcaster], a laser crossbow weapon used by the Wookie {{w|Chewbacca}}. It is unclear if the lightsaber-headed arrows are actually lightsabers in itself, as that would seem difficult to produce.
|-
|X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
| The {{w|Star Wars opening crawl|"opening crawl"}} is a signature motif used in all the main Star Wars films, to explain the backstory and context of each film. {{w|X-Wing}}s and {{w|TIE fighter}}s are fighter-type spaceships used by the Rebels (and Resistance later on) and the Empire (and First Order), respectively. A dogfight scene during the opening crawl would involve {{w|Fourth wall|breaking the fourth wall}}, as the opening crawl is not presumed to be part of the universe of the films.
|-
|a Sith educational display that uses Force lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Force_lightning Force lightning] is a power that Force users can use to generate electric energy from the user's hands. It was first used in ''Return of the Jedi'' by Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) when Luke Skywalker refuses to give in to the dark side of the Force. Palpatine attempts to kill Luke with Force lightning, but Darth Vader saves Luke by throwing Palpatine down a reactor chute.
|-
|Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
|Kylo Ren is famous for wearing his helmet in ''The Force Awakens'', which he styled after Darth Vader's helmet.
|-
|a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #1
|-
|[Luke/Leia/Han]
|{{w|Luke Skywalker}}, {{w|Princess Leia}} and {{w|Han Solo}} are the main characters of the original Star Wars films. It is unlikely that any of them are Rey's parents as they did not seem to recognize Rey in any of the sequel trilogy films. Leia and Han do have one child who features prominently in the sequel trilogy, Ben Solo, AKA Kylo Ren.
|-
|{{w|Obi-Wan Kenobi|Obi-Wan}}
|Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the main characters in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He, along with Qui-Gon Jinn, discovered Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader. Kenobi dies at the end of ''Star Wars: A New Hope'', sacrificing himself to allow Luke, Leia, and Han to escape the Death Star.
|-
|a random junk trader
|This is who Kylo Ren claims that Rey is descended from: worthless, random junk traders.
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #2
|-
|{{w|Poe Dameron|Poe}}
|Poe Dameron is one of the main characters of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He is a pilot in the Resistance.
|-
|{{w|BB-8}}
|BB-8 is an astromech droid owned by Poe Dameron. It is unlikely that Rey is descended from a (non-living) droid.
|-
|[ {{w|Amilyn Holdo}} /Laura Dern]
|Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, portrayed by Laura Dern, was a leader in the Resistance. She dies at the end of ''The Last Jedi'', sacrificing herself by jumping to light speed straight into the First Order's pursuing starship.
|-
|a random junk trader
| (see above)
|-
|that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''
|This is [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/GNK_power_droid a droid] from ''Star Wars: A New Hope'' that says "Gonk". As in the BB-8 entry, it is unlikely that Rey is descended from a droid.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<big>Star Wars Spoiler Generator</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flowchart of sorts that begins at the phrase "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...", then flows through various paths to build up a story.]

:In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...
::Kyle Ren
::Malloc
::Darth Sebelius
::Theranos
::Lord Juul

:...with help from their new friend...
::Kim Spacemeasurer
::Teen Yoda
::Dab Tweetdeck
::Yaz Progestin
::TI-83

:Rey builds a new lightsaber with a...
::beige
::ochre
::mauve
::aquamarine
::taupe

:...blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the...
::Sun Obliterator
::Moonsquisher
::World Eater
::Planet Zester
::Superconducting Supercollider

:...a space station capable of...
::blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
::blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
::cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
::increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
::triggering the end credits before the movie is done

:They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy...
::Boba Fett
::Salacious Crumb
::The Space Slug
::the bottom half of Darth Maul
::Youtube commenters

:...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring
::a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
::X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
::a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
::Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
::a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers

:P.S. Rey's parents are...
::Luke
::Leia
::Han
::Obi-Wan
::a random junk trader

:...and...
::Poe
::BB-8
::Amilyn Holdo
::Laura Dern
::a random junk trader
::that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Programming]]

2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator

2019-12-19T02:01:30Z

172.68.47.234: /* Table */ more

{{comic
| number = 2243
| date = December 18, 2019
| title = Star Wars Spoiler Generator
| image = star wars spoiler generator.png
| titletext = The heroes seem to be gaining the upper hand until Darth Juul manages to flip the switch on the car wash control panel from 'REGULAR' to 'PREMIUM.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by DARTH KYLE}}
On December 20, 2019 (2 days after the publication of this comic), the final movie of the "Skywalker saga" of ''Star Wars'' films, ''{{w|Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker}}'', will be released. It received a world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, so there are lots of spoilers online, and also lots of people who want to avoid spoilers. Randall has created a flowchart that generates "spoilers" to the film, but as Randall probably has not seen the film (or, if he has, he doesn't actually want to spoil us), all of the so-called spoilers are nonsensical.

The formula for each spoiler is as follows: "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain '''[villain name]''' with help from their new friend '''[friend name]'''. Rey builds a new lightsaber with a '''[color]''' blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the '''[superweapon name]''', a space station capable of '''[evil plan]'''. They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy '''[character]''' and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring '''[strange event]'''. P.S. Rey's parents are '''[character]''' and '''[character]'''".

The {{w|First Order (Star Wars)|First Order}} is the main antagonist group in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy series. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'', they use a superweapon in their base, Starkiller Base, to destroy the planetary system housing the headquarters of the New Republic, the democratic government which was formed after the Empire's defeat in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.

"Building a {{w|lightsaber}}" is one of the rites of passage for becoming a Jedi Knight. In the prequel trilogy, new Jedi build lightsabers as an official part of the journey towards Knighthood, and in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker builds a lightsaber between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'' as part of his training with Yoda. Rey has used the lightsaber that Anakin Skywalker made and used (which Luke also used when he was a new Jedi) for the first two movies of the sequel trilogy, and so it would be thematically appropriate for her to build her own prior to the trilogy's final entry. Most Jedi's lightsabers are either blue or green, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber signifies his incredible combat prowess). Kyber crystals are aligned with the Light Side of the Force, so Sith must overpower and "bleed" their crystals before they will function for them, which causes their distinctive red color. Having a lightsaber of a color other than blue, green, or red is often seen in the ''Star Wars'' fandom as a sign of being a "Mary Sue", which is an accusation which has been made of Rey.

Another common plot point in ''Star Wars'' media is the construction, use, and destruction of a superweapon. These are inspired by stories and media of World War II, in which militaries sought to find, attack, and destroy critical elements of their enemies' resources and infrastructure, and meanwhile would construct elaborate defenses for themselves. The attack on the Death Star in particular is inspired by {{w|Operation Chastise}}, the "bouncing bomb" attack on Germany's hydroelectric power plants; Operation Chastise was dramatised in the 1951 book and 1955 film ''The Dam Busters'', which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M very thoroughly homaged] by ''A New Hope''. The original trilogy of movies only had two Death Stars, but superweapons quickly became a staple of the Expanded Universe fiction, to the point that one book had Han Solo make fun of the Empire's tendency towards building superweapons, proposing such ridiculous names as "Galaxy Destructor" and "Nostril of Palpatine".

Redemption and making allies of old enemies is also a common plot point in ''Star Wars''. Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, but eventually returned to the Light Side to protect his son, and Han Solo was initially a morally ambiguous character who was eventually convinced to join the Rebellion.

{{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}}, one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy series is an orphan, who was left behind on the planet Jakku as a child. As Rey is Force-sensitive and adept at using a lightsaber, there is much speculation among Star Wars fans as to the identity of her parents. Many major characters in ''Star Wars'' have unexpected heritages of great portent, most famously Luke, who was very distressed to learn that Darth Vader did not ''kill'' his father, as Obi-Wan had told him, but ''is'' his father. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Last Jedi}}'', villain Kylo Ren tells her that she is the child of "filthy junk traders", but many fans speculate that he was lying to her.

The title text refers to the bottom option of the [strange event in battle] section. Apparently Lord Juul (or Darth Juul) is fighting the heroes in the Sith car wash. It is unclear what "flipping the switch" from Regular to Premium would do, but it seems to be beneficial to Darth Juul. A "premium" car wash usually has more features than a regular car wash, e.g. more cleaning brushes, waxing the car, cleaning the tires, etc.

This is the second false fact generating comic, after [[1930: Calendar Facts]].

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! Explanation
|-
! colspan="2" | New villain
|-
| Kyle Ren
|Kyle Ren is one letter away from {{w|Kylo Ren|''Kylo'' Ren}}, the adopted "Sith name" of Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Kylo is one of the antagonists of the first two movies in the sequel trilogy, and presumably will be so in the third, but there's nobody in the films named "Kyle". (There are a handful of ''Legends'' characters named Kyle, most famously Kyle Katarn, protagonist of the ''Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' video game series.)
|-
| {{w|Malloc}}
| Malloc is a function used in the C programming language to allocate more memory in the running of a program. Malloc may sound similar to {{w|Darth Maul|Maul}}, one of the villains in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}'' and in other Star Wars series.
|-
|Darth Sebelius
| {{w|Sebelius}} is the last name of several US people. {{w|Kathleen Sebelius}} is a former state representative and governor of Kansas who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. Randall may have chosen this surname as it sounds similar to {{w|Darth Sidious}}, the overarching villain in the first 6 Star Wars films, who is rumored to return in the upcoming film.
|-
|{{w|Theranos}}
|Theranos was a medical technology company founded by {{w|Elizabeth Holmes}} which claimed to have developed revolutionary blood tests that could produce more data from limited volumes of blood than ever before. They were eventually found to have engaged in fraudulent activity, having tricked investors into thinking their technology was performing better than it actually was or ever could, which resulted in fines for Holmes and Theranos president {{w|Ramesh Balwani}} and the bankruptcy of Theranos. Theranos also sounds similar to {{w|Thanos}}, the main villain of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
|Lord Juul
|{{w|Juul}} is a brand of e-cigarettes. In addition to the broader controversy surrounding electronic cigarettes, Juul has been investigated for its sale of flavored additives for their cigarettes, which are alleged to be particularly attractive to minors.
|-
! colspan="2" | New friend
|-
| Kim Spacemeasurer
| May be a parody of the name {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, one of the main characters in the original trilogy of films. Other "Nounverber" names in ''Star Wars'' include Starkiller, Luke's original last name which was later applied to Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'', and Biggs Darklighter, Luke's childhood friend and fellow Rebel pilot who died in the attack on the original Death Star.
|-
|Teen Yoda
|{{w|The Child (Star Wars character)|The Child}}, commonly called "Baby Yoda" by fans and the media, is a breakout character from the Disney+ series ''{{w|The Mandalorian}}''. Randall envisions a "teenage" version of this character teaming up with the main characters.
|-
|Dab Tweetdeck
| A {{w|Dab (dance)|dab}} is a dance move which is many decades old but was made popular by that name in the late 2010's. {{w|TweetDeck}} is an application for managing Twitter accounts. Taken together, "Dab Tweetdeck" could be a character name proposed by clueless Disney executives to attract "the kids" to see ''The Rise of Skywalker'', although one would think that this name would be heavily promoted and thus not a spoiler in that case.
|-
| Yaz Progestin
| Yaz sounds like the first name of {{w|Maz Kanata}}, a supporting protagonist in the sequel trilogy. {{w|Progestin}} is a type of medication which imitates the effects of {{w|progesterone}}, a female sex hormone. They are used for various purposes, including birth control, fertility, and appetite stimulation.
|-
| TI-83
| Droids in the Star Wars universe typically have names with letters and numbers, such as R2D2, C-3PO, BB-8, etc. Randall has created a new character called "TI-83". In real life, the {{w|TI-83}} is a common model of graphing calculator manufactured by Texas Instruments. This mirrors the origin of the name "R2-D2", which was inspired when Lucas was working on ''{{w|American Graffiti}}'' and was asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, which was abbreviated "R-2-D-2". He remarked that it would be a "great name" and included it in his then-in-development script for ''Star Wars''.
|-
! colspan="2" | Lightsaber colors
|-
| [beige/ochre/mauve/aquamarine/taupe]
| These are different colors, none of which is a "traditional" color for a lightsaber. {{w|Beige}} is a pale-grayish yellow. {{w|Ochre}} is a clay earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown. {{w|Mauve}} is a pale purple color. A purple color has been used for a lightsaber in the prequel trilogy series, by Jedi Master {{w|Mace Windu}}. {{w|Aquamarine (color)|Aquamarine}} is a blueish green color. {{w|Taupe}} is a dark brown color between brown and gray.
|-
! colspan="2" | Superweapon names
|-
|Sun Obliterator
| There was an Expanded Universe superweapon called the "Sun Crusher", which would infiltrate a star system and shoot a special torpedo into the star to make it go supernova.
|-
|Moonsquisher
| There were no ''Star Wars'' superweapons with the word "Moon" in their title (or "squisher"), but in the no-longer-canon ''New Jedi Order'' series, Chewbacca was squished ''by'' a moon that was intentionally de-orbited by invading Yuuzhan Vong.
|-
|World Eater
| Possibly a reference to {{w|Alduin}}, the main villain of the popular game {{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}. In the Expanded Universe, the Empire used World Devastators, massive machines that would strip-mine planets with tractor beams and make weapons and spacecraft from the extracted resources.
|-
|Planet Zester
| A {{w|zester}} is a cooking tool for zesting citrus fruit, that is, scraping off the outer layer of a citrus fruit to obtain the flavorful outer layer of its skin. Zesting a planet would be devastating to anything built or living on its surface.
|-
|Superconducting supercollider
| A {{w|supercollider}}, or particle accelerator, is a machine used to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, for testing in particle physics. The {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}} was a proposed accelerator which was to be constructed in Texas, but was cancelled partway through construction.
|-
! colspan="2" | Station capabilities
|-
|blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
|This is how the {{w|Death Star}} was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''. Many beams converged together to form one energy beam. The superweapon was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, as an intimidation tactic against Princess Leia.
|-
|blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
|This is how the superweapon on Starkiller Base was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''. A single energy beam split into several beams, allowing it to attack many planets. The superweapon was used to destroy the planets in the Hosnian system, the headquarters of the New Republic.
|-
|cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
|Jango Fett's "seismic charge" weapon, which he used in a dogfight against Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Attack of the Clones'', produced a plane wave that cut asteroids in half; presumably a larger weapon of this kind could do the same to a planet.
|-
|increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
|This seems to have occurred on the planet {{w|Venus}}. Venus is 97% carbon dioxide, and is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, due to a greenhouse effect, preventing the planet from cooling.
|-
|triggering the end credits before the movie is done
|The {{w|closing credits}} or end credits of a film is the list of cast and crew who were involved in the making of the film. It would be quite strange to show the end credits of the film before it has concluded. This entry is considerably less damaging to a planet{{Citation needed}} than the other 4 entries in this section, but if early audiences are left unsatisfied by the movie, they might tell everyone else not to see it, which would put the ''Star Wars'' franchise in a perilous financial situation. This would negatively impact the villains as well as the heroes, but they might consider this a worthwhile trade if it is their best option at harming the heroes.
|-
! colspan="2" | Old enemy/new friend
|-
|{{w|Boba Fett}}
| Boba Fett is a famous bounty hunter introduced in the ''{{w|Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' and made popular by ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}''. On the Empire's orders, he helped capture Han Solo as part of a plot to capture Luke Skywalker. He later tried to prevent Luke from rescuing Han, but was knocked into a sarlacc pit, where he was presumed eaten. In the Expanded Universe, he survived and did eventually join the protagonists against extragalactic invaders; his survival has not been confirmed by Disney's new canon, but he would be a plausible character to bring back in ''The Rise of Skywalker''.
|-
|{{w|Salacious Crumb}}
| Salacious B. Crumb is a Kowakian monkey-lizard who was Jabba the Hutt's jester. He wasn't exactly a major adversary, but he did pull one of C-3PO's eyes out. He was last seen on Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, which was made to explode after Han, Luke, and the rest of the heroes escaped from it, and is presumed dead.
|-
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Exogorth The Space Slug]
| In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon into a giant cave to evade pursuit and get time to effect repairs. He is interrupted when the cave turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug, which the Falcon barely escapes. A giant space slug might be a powerful ally in a battle against a giant space station.
|-
|The bottom half of {{w|Darth Maul}}
| Darth Maul was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of ''The Phantom Menace''. His "upper half", attached to mechanical legs, has returned as a villain in the ''Clone Wars'' TV series and ''{{w|Solo: A Star Wars Story|Solo}}''. Given that Maul was a Sith and Kenobi a Jedi, who trained Luke, who trained Rey, it would be extremely unexpected for his "bottom half" to join forces with the heroes, although presumably his bottom half would have to be attached to something, which might be better disposed towards Jedi.
|-
|YouTube commenters
| The sequel trilogy has received more mixed reviews from watchers than Disney might like, and many vocal non-fans have taken to commenting on YouTube (via videos and comments) on what they don't like about the new movies and new characters. If ''The Rise of Skywalker'' fully wins the crowd, an alliance between the heroes and their former critics would be extremely powerful.
|-
! colspan="2" | Battle feature
|-
|a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
|May be a reference to the [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bowcaster bowcaster], a laser crossbow weapon used by the Wookie {{w|Chewbacca}}. It is unclear if the lightsaber-headed arrows are actually lightsabers in itself, as that would seem difficult to produce.
|-
|X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
| The {{w|Star Wars opening crawl|"opening crawl"}} is a signature motif used in all the main Star Wars films, to explain the backstory and context of each film. {{w|X-Wing}}s and {{w|TIE fighter}}s are fighter-type spaceships used by the Rebels (and Resistance later on) and the Empire (and First Order), respectively. A dogfight scene during the opening crawl would involve {{w|Fourth wall|breaking the fourth wall}}, as the opening crawl is not presumed to be part of the universe of the films.
|-
|a Sith educational display that uses Force lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Force_lightning Force lightning] is a power that Force users can use to generate electric energy from the user's hands. It was first used in ''Return of the Jedi'' by Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) when Luke Skywalker refuses to give in to the dark side of the Force. Palpatine attempts to kill Luke with Force lightning, but Darth Vader saves Luke by throwing Palpatine down a reactor chute.
|-
|Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
|Kylo Ren is famous for wearing his helmet in ''The Force Awakens'', which he styled after Darth Vader's helmet.
|-
|a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #1
|-
|[Luke/Leia/Han]
|{{w|Luke Skywalker}}, {{w|Princess Leia}} and {{w|Han Solo}} are the main characters of the original Star Wars films. It is unlikely that any of them are Rey's parents as they did not seem to recognize Rey in any of the sequel trilogy films. Leia and Han do have one child who features prominently in the sequel trilogy, Ben Solo, AKA Kylo Ren.
|-
|{{w|Obi-Wan Kenobi|Obi-Wan}}
|Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the main characters in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He, along with Qui-Gon Jinn, discovered Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader. Kenobi dies at the end of ''Star Wars: A New Hope'', sacrificing himself to allow Luke, Leia, and Han to escape the Death Star.
|-
|a random junk trader
|This is who Kylo Ren claims that Rey is descended from: worthless, random junk traders.
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #2
|-
|{{w|Poe Dameron|Poe}}
|Poe Dameron is one of the main characters of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He is a pilot in the Resistance.
|-
|{{w|BB-8}}
|BB-8 is an astromech droid owned by Poe Dameron. It is unlikely that Rey is descended from a (non-living) droid.
|-
|[{{w|Amilyn Holdo}} /Laura Dern]
|Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, portrayed by Laura Dern, was a leader in the Resistance. She dies at the end of ''The Last Jedi'', sacrificing herself by jumping to light speed straight into the First Order's pursuing starship.
|-
|a random junk trader
| (see above)
|-
|that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''
|This is [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/GNK_power_droid a droid] from ''Star Wars: A New Hope'' that says "Gonk". As in the BB-8 entry, it is unlikely that Rey is descended from a droid.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<big>Star Wars Spoiler Generator</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flowchart of sorts that begins at the phrase "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...", then flows through various paths to build up a story.]

:In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...
::Kyle Ren
::Malloc
::Darth Sebelius
::Theranos
::Lord Juul

:...with help from their new friend...
::Kim Spacemeasurer
::Teen Yoda
::Dab Tweetdeck
::Yaz Progestin
::TI-83

:Rey builds a new lightsaber with a...
::beige
::ochre
::mauve
::aquamarine
::taupe

:...blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the...
::Sun Obliterator
::Moonsquisher
::World Eater
::Planet Zester
::Superconducting Supercollider

:...a space station capable of...
::blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
::blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
::cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
::increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
::triggering the end credits before the movie is done

:They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy...
::Boba Fett
::Salacious Crumb
::The Space Slug
::the bottom half of Darth Maul
::Youtube commenters

:...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring
::a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
::X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
::a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
::Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
::a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers

:P.S. Rey's parents are...
::Luke
::Leia
::Han
::Obi-Wan
::a random junk trader

:...and...
::Poe
::BB-8
::Amilyn Holdo
::Laura Dern
::a random junk trader
::that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Programming]]

2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator

2019-12-19T01:50:42Z

172.68.47.234: /* Table */ more

{{comic
| number = 2243
| date = December 18, 2019
| title = Star Wars Spoiler Generator
| image = star wars spoiler generator.png
| titletext = The heroes seem to be gaining the upper hand until Darth Juul manages to flip the switch on the car wash control panel from 'REGULAR' to 'PREMIUM.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by DARTH KYLE}}
On December 20, 2019 (2 days after the publication of this comic), the final movie of the "Skywalker saga" of ''Star Wars'' films, ''{{w|Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker}}'', will be released. It received a world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, so there are lots of spoilers online, and also lots of people who want to avoid spoilers. Randall has created a flowchart that generates "spoilers" to the film, but as Randall probably has not seen the film (or, if he has, he doesn't actually want to spoil us), all of the so-called spoilers are nonsensical.

The formula for each spoiler is as follows: "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain '''[villain name]''' with help from their new friend '''[friend name]'''. Rey builds a new lightsaber with a '''[color]''' blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the '''[superweapon name]''', a space station capable of '''[evil plan]'''. They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy '''[character]''' and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring '''[strange event]'''. P.S. Rey's parents are '''[character]''' and '''[character]'''".

The {{w|First Order (Star Wars)|First Order}} is the main antagonist group in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy series. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'', they use a superweapon in their base, Starkiller Base, to destroy the planetary system housing the headquarters of the New Republic, the democratic government which was formed after the Empire's defeat in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.

"Building a {{w|lightsaber}}" is one of the rites of passage for becoming a Jedi Knight. In the prequel trilogy, new Jedi build lightsabers as an official part of the journey towards Knighthood, and in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker builds a lightsaber between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'' as part of his training with Yoda. Rey has used the lightsaber that Anakin Skywalker made and used (which Luke also used when he was a new Jedi) for the first two movies of the sequel trilogy, and so it would be thematically appropriate for her to build her own prior to the trilogy's final entry. Most Jedi's lightsabers are either blue or green, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber signifies his incredible combat prowess). Kyber crystals are aligned with the Light Side of the Force, so Sith must overpower and "bleed" their crystals before they will function for them, which causes their distinctive red color. Having a lightsaber of a color other than blue, green, or red is often seen in the ''Star Wars'' fandom as a sign of being a "Mary Sue", which is an accusation which has been made of Rey.

Another common plot point in ''Star Wars'' media is the construction, use, and destruction of a superweapon. These are inspired by stories and media of World War II, in which militaries sought to find, attack, and destroy critical elements of their enemies' resources and infrastructure, and meanwhile would construct elaborate defenses for themselves. The attack on the Death Star in particular is inspired by {{w|Operation Chastise}}, the "bouncing bomb" attack on Germany's hydroelectric power plants; Operation Chastise was dramatised in the 1951 book and 1955 film ''The Dam Busters'', which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M very thoroughly homaged] by ''A New Hope''. The original trilogy of movies only had two Death Stars, but superweapons quickly became a staple of the Expanded Universe fiction, to the point that one book had Han Solo make fun of the Empire's tendency towards building superweapons, proposing such ridiculous names as "Galaxy Destructor" and "Nostril of Palpatine".

Redemption and making allies of old enemies is also a common plot point in ''Star Wars''. Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, but eventually returned to the Light Side to protect his son, and Han Solo was initially a morally ambiguous character who was eventually convinced to join the Rebellion.

{{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}}, one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy series is an orphan, who was left behind on the planet Jakku as a child. As Rey is Force-sensitive and adept at using a lightsaber, there is much speculation among Star Wars fans as to the identity of her parents. Many major characters in ''Star Wars'' have unexpected heritages of great portent, most famously Luke, who was very distressed to learn that Darth Vader did not ''kill'' his father, as Obi-Wan had told him, but ''is'' his father. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Last Jedi}}'', villain Kylo Ren tells her that she is the child of "filthy junk traders", but many fans speculate that he was lying to her.

The title text refers to the bottom option of the [strange event in battle] section. Apparently Lord Juul (or Darth Juul) is fighting the heroes in the Sith car wash. It is unclear what "flipping the switch" from Regular to Premium would do, but it seems to be beneficial to Darth Juul. A "premium" car wash usually has more features than a regular car wash, e.g. more cleaning brushes, waxing the car, cleaning the tires, etc.

This is the second false fact generating comic, after [[1930: Calendar Facts]].

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! Explanation
|-
! colspan="2" | New villain
|-
| Kyle Ren
|Kyle Ren is one letter away from {{w|Kylo Ren|''Kylo'' Ren}}, the adopted "Sith name" of Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Kylo is one of the antagonists of the first two movies in the sequel trilogy, and presumably will be so in the third, but there's nobody in the films named "Kyle". (There are a handful of ''Legends'' characters named Kyle, most famously Kyle Katarn, protagonist of the ''Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' video game series.)
|-
| {{w|Malloc}}
| Malloc is a function used in the C programming language to allocate more memory in the running of a program. Malloc may sound similar to {{w|Darth Maul|Maul}}, one of the villains in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}'' and in other Star Wars series.
|-
|Darth Sebelius
| {{w|Sebelius}} is the last name of several US people. {{w|Kathleen Sebelius}} is a former state representative and governor of Kansas who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. Randall may have chosen this surname as it sounds similar to {{w|Darth Sidious}}, the overarching villain in the first 6 Star Wars films, who is rumored to return in the upcoming film.
|-
|{{w|Theranos}}
|Theranos was a medical technology company founded by {{w|Elizabeth Holmes}} which claimed to have developed revolutionary blood tests that could produce more data from limited volumes of blood than ever before. They were eventually found to have engaged in fraudulent activity, having tricked investors into thinking their technology was performing better than it actually was or ever could, which resulted in fines for Holmes and Theranos president {{w|Ramesh Balwani}} and the bankruptcy of Theranos. Theranos also sounds similar to {{w|Thanos}}, the main villain of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
|Lord Juul
|{{w|Juul}} is a brand of e-cigarettes. In addition to the broader controversy surrounding electronic cigarettes, Juul has been investigated for its sale of flavored additives for their cigarettes, which are alleged to be particularly attractive to minors.
|-
! colspan="2" | New friend
|-
| Kim Spacemeasurer
| May be a parody of the name {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, one of the main characters in the original trilogy of films. Other "Nounverber" names in ''Star Wars'' include Starkiller, Luke's original last name which was later applied to Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'', and Biggs Darklighter, Luke's childhood friend and fellow Rebel pilot who died in the attack on the original Death Star.
|-
|Teen Yoda
|{{w|The Child (Star Wars character)|The Child}}, commonly called "Baby Yoda" by fans and the media, is a breakout character from the Disney+ series ''{{w|The Mandalorian}}''. Randall envisions a "teenage" version of this character teaming up with the main characters.
|-
|Dab Tweetdeck
| A {{w|Dab (dance)|dab}} is a dance move which is many decades old but was made popular by that name in the late 2010's. {{w|TweetDeck}} is an application for managing Twitter accounts. Taken together, "Dab Tweetdeck" could be a character name proposed by clueless Disney executives to attract "the kids" to see ''The Rise of Skywalker'', although one would think that this name would be heavily promoted and thus not a spoiler in that case.
|-
| Yaz Progestin
| Yaz sounds like the first name of {{w|Maz Kanata}}, a supporting protagonist in the sequel trilogy. {{w|Progestin}} is a type of medication which imitates the effects of {{w|progesterone}}, a female sex hormone. They are used for various purposes, including birth control, fertility, and appetite stimulation.
|-
| TI-83
| Droids in the Star Wars universe typically have names with letters and numbers, such as R2D2, C-3PO, BB-8, etc. Randall has created a new character called "TI-83". In real life, the {{w|TI-83}} is a common model of graphing calculator manufactured by Texas Instruments. This mirrors the origin of the name "R2-D2", which was inspired when Lucas was working on ''{{w|American Graffiti}}'' and was asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, which was abbreviated "R-2-D-2". He remarked that it would be a "great name" and included it in his then-in-development script for ''Star Wars''.
|-
! colspan="2" | Lightsaber colors
|-
| [beige/ochre/mauve/aquamarine/taupe]
| These are different colors, none of which is a "traditional" color for a lightsaber. {{w|Beige}} is a pale-grayish yellow. {{w|Ochre}} is a clay earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown. {{w|Mauve}} is a pale purple color. A purple color has been used for a lightsaber in the prequel trilogy series, by Jedi Master {{w|Mace Windu}}. {{w|Aquamarine (color)|Aquamarine}} is a blueish green color. {{w|Taupe}} is a dark brown color between brown and gray.
|-
! colspan="2" | Superweapon names
|-
|Sun Obliterator
| There was an Expanded Universe superweapon called the "Sun Crusher", which would infiltrate a star system and shoot a special torpedo into the star to make it go supernova.
|-
|Moonsquisher
| There were no ''Star Wars'' superweapons with the word "Moon" in their title (or "squisher"), but in the no-longer-canon ''New Jedi Order'' series, Chewbacca was squished ''by'' a moon that was intentionally de-orbited by invading Yuuzhan Vong.
|-
|World Eater
| Possibly a reference to {{w|Alduin}}, the main villain of the popular game {{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}. In the Expanded Universe, the Empire used World Devastators, massive machines that would strip-mine planets with tractor beams and make weapons and spacecraft from the extracted resources.
|-
|Planet Zester
| A {{w|zester}} is a cooking tool for zesting citrus fruit, that is, scraping off the outer layer of a citrus fruit to obtain the flavorful outer layer of its skin. Zesting a planet would be devastating to anything built or living on its surface.
|-
|Superconducting supercollider
| A {{w|supercollider}}, or particle accelerator, is a machine used to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, for testing in particle physics. The {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}} was a proposed accelerator which was to be constructed in Texas, but was cancelled partway through construction.
|-
! colspan="2" | Station capabilities
|-
|blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
|This is how the {{w|Death Star}} was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''. Many beams converged together to form one energy beam. The superweapon was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, as an intimidation tactic against Princess Leia.
|-
|blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
|This is how the superweapon on Starkiller Base was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''. A single energy beam split into several beams, allowing it to attack many planets. The superweapon was used to destroy the planets in the Hosnian system, the headquarters of the New Republic.
|-
|cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
|Jango Fett's "seismic charge" weapon, which he used in a dogfight against Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Attack of the Clones'', produced a plane wave that cut asteroids in half; presumably a larger weapon of this kind could do the same to a planet.
|-
|increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
|This seems to have occurred on the planet {{w|Venus}}. Venus is 97% carbon dioxide, and is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, due to a greenhouse effect, preventing the planet from cooling.
|-
|triggering the end credits before the movie is done
|The {{w|closing credits}} or end credits of a film is the list of cast and crew who were involved in the making of the film. It would be quite strange to show the end credits of the film before it has concluded. This entry is considerably less damaging to a planet{{Citation needed}} than the other 4 entries in this section, but if early audiences are left unsatisfied by the movie, they might tell everyone else not to see it, which would put the ''Star Wars'' franchise in a perilous financial situation. This would negatively impact the villains as well as the heroes, but they might consider this a worthwhile trade if it is their best option at harming the heroes.
|-
! colspan="2" | Old enemy/new friend
|-
|{{w|Boba Fett}}
| Boba Fett is a famous bounty hunter introduced in the ''{{w|Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' and made popular by ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}''. On the Empire's orders, he helped capture Han Solo as part of a plot to capture Luke Skywalker. He later tried to prevent Luke from rescuing Han, but was knocked into a sarlacc pit, where he was presumed eaten. In the Expanded Universe, he survived and did eventually join the protagonists against extragalactic invaders; his survival has not been confirmed by Disney's new canon, but he would be a plausible character to bring back in ''The Rise of Skywalker''.
|-
|{{w|Salacious Crumb}}
| Salacious B. Crumb is a Kowakian monkey-lizard who was Jabba the Hutt's jester. He wasn't exactly a major adversary, but he did pull one of C-3PO's eyes out. He was last seen on Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, which was made to explode after Han, Luke, and the rest of the heroes escaped from it, and is presumed dead.
|-
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Exogorth The Space Slug]
| In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon into a giant cave to evade pursuit and get time to effect repairs. He is interrupted when the cave turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug, which the Falcon barely escapes. A giant space slug might be a powerful ally in a battle against a giant space station.
|-
|The bottom half of {{w|Darth Maul}}
| Darth Maul was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of ''The Phantom Menace''. His "upper half", attached to mechanical legs, has returned as a villain in the ''Clone Wars'' TV series and ''{{w|Solo: A Star Wars Story|Solo}}''. Given that Maul was a Sith and Kenobi a Jedi, who trained Luke, who trained Rey, it would be extremely unexpected for his "bottom half" to join forces with the heroes, although presumably his bottom half would have to be attached to something, which might be better disposed towards Jedi.
|-
|YouTube commenters
| The sequel trilogy has received more mixed reviews from watchers than Disney might like, and many vocal non-fans have taken to commenting on YouTube (via videos and comments) on what they don't like about the new movies and new characters. If ''The Rise of Skywalker'' fully wins the crowd, an alliance between the heroes and their former critics would be extremely powerful.
|-
! colspan="2" | Battle feature
|-
|a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
|May be a reference to the [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bowcaster bowcaster], a laser crossbow weapon used by the Wookie {{w|Chewbacca}}. It is unclear if the lightsaber-headed arrows are actually lightsabers in itself, as that would seem difficult to produce.
|-
|X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
| The {{w|Star Wars opening crawl|"opening crawl"}} is a signature motif used in all the main Star Wars films, to explain the backstory and context of each film. {{w|X-Wing}}s and {{w|TIE fighter}}s are fighter-type spaceships used by the Rebels (and Resistance later on) and the Empire (and First Order), respectively. A dogfight scene during the opening crawl would involve {{w|Fourth wall|breaking the fourth wall}}, as the opening crawl is not presumed to be part of the universe of the films.
|-
|a Sith educational display that uses Force lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Force_lightning Force lightning] is a power that Force users can use to generate electric energy from the user's hands. It was first used in ''Return of the Jedi'' by Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) when Luke Skywalker refuses to give in to the dark side of the Force. Palpatine attempts to kill Luke with Force lightning, but Darth Vader saves Luke by throwing Palpatine down a reactor chute.
|-
|Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
|Kylo Ren is famous for wearing his helmet in ''The Force Awakens'', which he styled after Darth Vader's helmet.
|-
|a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers
|
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<big>Star Wars Spoiler Generator</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flowchart of sorts that begins at the phrase "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...", then flows through various paths to build up a story.]

:In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...
::Kyle Ren
::Malloc
::Darth Sebelius
::Theranos
::Lord Juul

:...with help from their new friend...
::Kim Spacemeasurer
::Teen Yoda
::Dab Tweetdeck
::Yaz Progestin
::TI-83

:Rey builds a new lightsaber with a...
::beige
::ochre
::mauve
::aquamarine
::taupe

:...blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the...
::Sun Obliterator
::Moonsquisher
::World Eater
::Planet Zester
::Superconducting Supercollider

:...a space station capable of...
::blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
::blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
::cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
::increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
::triggering the end credits before the movie is done

:They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy...
::Boba Fett
::Salacious Crumb
::The Space Slug
::the bottom half of Darth Maul
::Youtube commenters

:...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring
::a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
::X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
::a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
::Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
::a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers

:P.S. Rey's parents are...
::Luke
::Leia
::Han
::Obi-Wan
::a random junk trader

:...and...
::Poe
::BB-8
::Amilyn Holdo
::Laura Dern
::a random junk trader
::that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Programming]]

2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator

2019-12-19T01:45:31Z

172.68.47.234: /* Table */ more

{{comic
| number = 2243
| date = December 18, 2019
| title = Star Wars Spoiler Generator
| image = star wars spoiler generator.png
| titletext = The heroes seem to be gaining the upper hand until Darth Juul manages to flip the switch on the car wash control panel from 'REGULAR' to 'PREMIUM.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by DARTH KYLE}}
On December 20, 2019 (2 days after the publication of this comic), the final movie of the "Skywalker saga" of ''Star Wars'' films, ''{{w|Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker}}'', will be released. It received a world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, so there are lots of spoilers online, and also lots of people who want to avoid spoilers. Randall has created a flowchart that generates "spoilers" to the film, but as Randall probably has not seen the film (or, if he has, he doesn't actually want to spoil us), all of the so-called spoilers are nonsensical.

The formula for each spoiler is as follows: "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain '''[villain name]''' with help from their new friend '''[friend name]'''. Rey builds a new lightsaber with a '''[color]''' blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the '''[superweapon name]''', a space station capable of '''[evil plan]'''. They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy '''[character]''' and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring '''[strange event]'''. P.S. Rey's parents are '''[character]''' and '''[character]'''".

The {{w|First Order (Star Wars)|First Order}} is the main antagonist group in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy series. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'', they use a superweapon in their base, Starkiller Base, to destroy the planetary system housing the headquarters of the New Republic, the democratic government which was formed after the Empire's defeat in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.

"Building a {{w|lightsaber}}" is one of the rites of passage for becoming a Jedi Knight. In the prequel trilogy, new Jedi build lightsabers as an official part of the journey towards Knighthood, and in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker builds a lightsaber between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'' as part of his training with Yoda. Rey has used the lightsaber that Anakin Skywalker made and used (which Luke also used when he was a new Jedi) for the first two movies of the sequel trilogy, and so it would be thematically appropriate for her to build her own prior to the trilogy's final entry. Most Jedi's lightsabers are either blue or green, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber signifies his incredible combat prowess). Kyber crystals are aligned with the Light Side of the Force, so Sith must overpower and "bleed" their crystals before they will function for them, which causes their distinctive red color. Having a lightsaber of a color other than blue, green, or red is often seen in the ''Star Wars'' fandom as a sign of being a "Mary Sue", which is an accusation which has been made of Rey.

Another common plot point in ''Star Wars'' media is the construction, use, and destruction of a superweapon. These are inspired by stories and media of World War II, in which militaries sought to find, attack, and destroy critical elements of their enemies' resources and infrastructure, and meanwhile would construct elaborate defenses for themselves. The attack on the Death Star in particular is inspired by {{w|Operation Chastise}}, the "bouncing bomb" attack on Germany's hydroelectric power plants; Operation Chastise was dramatised in the 1951 book and 1955 film ''The Dam Busters'', which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M very thoroughly homaged] by ''A New Hope''. The original trilogy of movies only had two Death Stars, but superweapons quickly became a staple of the Expanded Universe fiction, to the point that one book had Han Solo make fun of the Empire's tendency towards building superweapons, proposing such ridiculous names as "Galaxy Destructor" and "Nostril of Palpatine".

Redemption and making allies of old enemies is also a common plot point in ''Star Wars''. Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, but eventually returned to the Light Side to protect his son, and Han Solo was initially a morally ambiguous character who was eventually convinced to join the Rebellion.

{{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}}, one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy series is an orphan, who was left behind on the planet Jakku as a child. As Rey is Force-sensitive and adept at using a lightsaber, there is much speculation among Star Wars fans as to the identity of her parents. Many major characters in ''Star Wars'' have unexpected heritages of great portent, most famously Luke, who was very distressed to learn that Darth Vader did not ''kill'' his father, as Obi-Wan had told him, but ''is'' his father. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Last Jedi}}'', villain Kylo Ren tells her that she is the child of "filthy junk traders", but many fans speculate that he was lying to her.

The title text refers to the bottom option of the [strange event in battle] section. Apparently Lord Juul (or Darth Juul) is fighting the heroes in the Sith car wash. It is unclear what "flipping the switch" from Regular to Premium would do, but it seems to be beneficial to Darth Juul. A "premium" car wash usually has more features than a regular car wash, e.g. more cleaning brushes, waxing the car, cleaning the tires, etc.

This is the second false fact generating comic, after [[1930: Calendar Facts]].

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! Explanation
|-
! colspan="2" | New villain
|-
| Kyle Ren
|Kyle Ren is one letter away from {{w|Kylo Ren|''Kylo'' Ren}}, the adopted "Sith name" of Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Kylo is one of the antagonists of the first two movies in the sequel trilogy, and presumably will be so in the third, but there's nobody in the films named "Kyle". (There are a handful of ''Legends'' characters named Kyle, most famously Kyle Katarn, protagonist of the ''Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' video game series.)
|-
| {{w|Malloc}}
| Malloc is a function used in the C programming language to allocate more memory in the running of a program. Malloc may sound similar to {{w|Darth Maul|Maul}}, one of the villains in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}'' and in other Star Wars series.
|-
|Darth Sebelius
| {{w|Sebelius}} is the last name of several US people. {{w|Kathleen Sebelius}} is a former state representative and governor of Kansas who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. Randall may have chosen this surname as it sounds similar to {{w|Darth Sidious}}, the overarching villain in the first 6 Star Wars films, who is rumored to return in the upcoming film.
|-
|{{w|Theranos}}
|Theranos was a medical technology company founded by {{w|Elizabeth Holmes}} which claimed to have developed revolutionary blood tests that could produce more data from limited volumes of blood than ever before. They were eventually found to have engaged in fraudulent activity, having tricked investors into thinking their technology was performing better than it actually was or ever could, which resulted in fines for Holmes and Theranos president {{w|Ramesh Balwani}} and the bankruptcy of Theranos. Theranos also sounds similar to {{w|Thanos}}, the main villain of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
|Lord Juul
|{{w|Juul}} is a brand of e-cigarettes. In addition to the broader controversy surrounding electronic cigarettes, Juul has been investigated for its sale of flavored additives for their cigarettes, which are alleged to be particularly attractive to minors.
|-
! colspan="2" | New friend
|-
| Kim Spacemeasurer
| May be a parody of the name {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, one of the main characters in the original trilogy of films. Other "Nounverber" names in ''Star Wars'' include Starkiller, Luke's original last name which was later applied to Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'', and Biggs Darklighter, Luke's childhood friend and fellow Rebel pilot who died in the attack on the original Death Star.
|-
|Teen Yoda
|{{w|The Child (Star Wars character)|The Child}}, commonly called "Baby Yoda" by fans and the media, is a breakout character from the Disney+ series ''{{w|The Mandalorian}}''. Randall envisions a "teenage" version of this character teaming up with the main characters.
|-
|Dab Tweetdeck
| A {{w|Dab (dance)|dab}} is a dance move which is many decades old but was made popular by that name in the late 2010's. {{w|TweetDeck}} is an application for managing Twitter accounts. Taken together, "Dab Tweetdeck" could be a character name proposed by clueless Disney executives to attract "the kids" to see ''The Rise of Skywalker'', although one would think that this name would be heavily promoted and thus not a spoiler in that case.
|-
| Yaz Progestin
| Yaz sounds like the first name of {{w|Maz Kanata}}, a supporting protagonist in the sequel trilogy. {{w|Progestin}} is a type of medication which imitates the effects of {{w|progesterone}}, a female sex hormone. They are used for various purposes, including birth control, fertility, and appetite stimulation.
|-
| TI-83
| Droids in the Star Wars universe typically have names with letters and numbers, such as R2D2, C-3PO, BB-8, etc. Randall has created a new character called "TI-83". In real life, the {{w|TI-83}} is a common model of graphing calculator manufactured by Texas Instruments. This mirrors the origin of the name "R2-D2", which was inspired when Lucas was working on ''{{w|American Graffiti}}'' and was asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, which was abbreviated "R-2-D-2". He remarked that it would be a "great name" and included it in his then-in-development script for ''Star Wars''.
|-
! colspan="2" | Lightsaber colors
|-
| [beige/ochre/mauve/aquamarine/taupe]
| These are different colors, none of which is a "traditional" color for a lightsaber. {{w|Beige}} is a pale-grayish yellow. {{w|Ochre}} is a clay earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown. {{w|Mauve}} is a pale purple color. A purple color has been used for a lightsaber in the prequel trilogy series, by Jedi Master {{w|Mace Windu}}. {{w|Aquamarine (color)|Aquamarine}} is a blueish green color. {{w|Taupe}} is a dark brown color between brown and gray.
|-
! colspan="2" | Superweapon names
|-
|Sun Obliterator
| There was an Expanded Universe superweapon called the "Sun Crusher", which would infiltrate a star system and shoot a special torpedo into the star to make it go supernova.
|-
|Moonsquisher
| There were no ''Star Wars'' superweapons with the word "Moon" in their title (or "squisher"), but in the no-longer-canon ''New Jedi Order'' series, Chewbacca was squished ''by'' a moon that was intentionally de-orbited by invading Yuuzhan Vong.
|-
|World Eater
| Possibly a reference to {{w|Alduin}}, the main villain of the popular game {{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}. In the Expanded Universe, the Empire used World Devastators, massive machines that would strip-mine planets with tractor beams and make weapons and spacecraft from the extracted resources.
|-
|Planet Zester
| A {{w|zester}} is a cooking tool for zesting citrus fruit, that is, scraping off the outer layer of a citrus fruit to obtain the flavorful outer layer of its skin. Zesting a planet would be devastating to anything built or living on its surface.
|-
|Superconducting supercollider
| A {{w|supercollider}}, or particle accelerator, is a machine used to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, for testing in particle physics. The {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}} was a proposed accelerator which was to be constructed in Texas, but was cancelled partway through construction.
|-
! colspan="2" | Station capabilities
|-
|blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
|This is how the {{w|Death Star}} was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''. Many beams converged together to form one energy beam. The superweapon was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, as an intimidation tactic against Princess Leia.
|-
|blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
|This is how the superweapon on Starkiller Base was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''. A single energy beam split into several beams, allowing it to attack many planets. The superweapon was used to destroy the planets in the Hosnian system, the headquarters of the New Republic.
|-
|cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
|Jango Fett's "seismic charge" weapon, which he used in a dogfight against Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Attack of the Clones'', produced a plane wave that cut asteroids in half; presumably a larger weapon of this kind could do the same to a planet.
|-
|increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
|This seems to have occurred on the planet {{w|Venus}}. Venus is 97% carbon dioxide, and is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, due to a greenhouse effect, preventing the planet from cooling.
|-
|triggering the end credits before the movie is done
|The {{w|closing credits}} or end credits of a film is the list of cast and crew who were involved in the making of the film. It would be quite strange to show the end credits of the film before it has concluded. This entry is considerably less damaging to a planet{{Citation needed}} than the other 4 entries in this section, but if early audiences are left unsatisfied by the movie, they might tell everyone else not to see it, which would put the ''Star Wars'' franchise in a perilous financial situation. This would negatively impact the villains as well as the heroes, but they might consider this a worthwhile trade if it is their best option at harming the heroes.
|-
! colspan="2" | Old enemy/new friend
|-
|{{w|Boba Fett}}
| Boba Fett is a famous bounty hunter introduced in the ''{{w|Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' and made popular by ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}''. On the Empire's orders, he helped capture Han Solo as part of a plot to capture Luke Skywalker. He later tried to prevent Luke from rescuing Han, but was knocked into a sarlacc pit, where he was presumed eaten. In the Expanded Universe, he survived and did eventually join the protagonists against extragalactic invaders; his survival has not been confirmed by Disney's new canon, but he would be a plausible character to bring back in ''The Rise of Skywalker''.
|-
|{{w|Salacious Crumb}}
| Salacious B. Crumb is a Kowakian monkey-lizard who was Jabba the Hutt's jester. He wasn't exactly a major adversary, but he did pull one of C-3PO's eyes out. He was last seen on Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, which was made to explode after Han, Luke, and the rest of the heroes escaped from it, and is presumed dead.
|-
|[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Exogorth The Space Slug]
| In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon into a giant cave to evade pursuit and get time to effect repairs. He is interrupted when the cave turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug, which the Falcon barely escapes. A giant space slug might be a powerful ally in a battle against a giant space station.
|-
|The bottom half of {{w|Darth Maul}}
| Darth Maul was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of ''The Phantom Menace''. His "upper half", attached to mechanical legs, has returned as a villain in the ''Clone Wars'' TV series and ''{{w|Solo: A Star Wars Story|Solo}}''. Given that Maul was a Sith and Kenobi a Jedi, who trained Luke, who trained Rey, it would be extremely unexpected for his "bottom half" to join forces with the heroes, although presumably his bottom half would have to be attached to something, which might be better disposed towards Jedi.
|-
|YouTube commenters
| The sequel trilogy has received more mixed reviews from watchers than Disney might like, and many vocal non-fans have taken to commenting on YouTube (via videos and comments) on what they don't like about the new movies and new characters. If ''The Rise of Skywalker'' fully wins the crowd, an alliance between the heroes and their former critics would be extremely powerful.
|-
! colspan="2" | Battle feature
|-
|a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
|May be a reference to the [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bowcaster bowcaster], a laser crossbow weapon used by the Wookie {{w|Chewbacca}}. It is unclear if the lightsaber-headed arrows are actually lightsabers in itself, as that would seem difficult to produce.
|-
|X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
| The {{w|Star Wars opening crawl|"opening crawl"}} is a signature motif used in all the main Star Wars films, to explain the backstory and context of each film. {{w|X-Wing}}s and {{w|TIE fighter}}s are fighter-type spaceships used by the Rebels (and Resistance later on) and the Empire (and First Order), respectively. A dogfight scene during the opening crawl would involve {{w|Fourth wall|breaking the fourth wall}}, as the opening crawl is not presumed to be part of the universe of the films.
|-
|a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
|
|-
|Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
|Kylo Ren is famous for wearing his helmet in ''The Force Awakens'', which he styled after Darth Vader's helmet.
|-
|a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers
|
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<big>Star Wars Spoiler Generator</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flowchart of sorts that begins at the phrase "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...", then flows through various paths to build up a story.]

:In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...
::Kyle Ren
::Malloc
::Darth Sebelius
::Theranos
::Lord Juul

:...with help from their new friend...
::Kim Spacemeasurer
::Teen Yoda
::Dab Tweetdeck
::Yaz Progestin
::TI-83

:Rey builds a new lightsaber with a...
::beige
::ochre
::mauve
::aquamarine
::taupe

:...blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the...
::Sun Obliterator
::Moonsquisher
::World Eater
::Planet Zester
::Superconducting Supercollider

:...a space station capable of...
::blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
::blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
::cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
::increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
::triggering the end credits before the movie is done

:They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy...
::Boba Fett
::Salacious Crumb
::The Space Slug
::the bottom half of Darth Maul
::Youtube commenters

:...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring
::a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
::X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
::a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
::Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
::a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers

:P.S. Rey's parents are...
::Luke
::Leia
::Han
::Obi-Wan
::a random junk trader

:...and...
::Poe
::BB-8
::Amilyn Holdo
::Laura Dern
::a random junk trader
::that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-03T01:39:02Z

172.68.47.234: I challenge the identity of a passing comment creator

according Wayback Machine, the site [https://web.archive.org/web/20181225014549/https://isitchristmas.com/ still] [https://web.archive.org/web/20171225032723/https://isitchristmas.com/ says] [https://web.archive.org/web/20161209052757/https://isitchristmas.com/ NO] [https://web.archive.org/web/20151225060146/https://isitchristmas.com/ even] on Christmas. --[[User:Valepert|valepert]] ([[User talk:Valepert|talk]]) 21:56, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:Hmmm, maybe it will be fixed this year. I imagine everybody spammed the guy on twitter when it didnt work last year. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:06, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:; It checks your system time
:It uses the <code>new Date()</code> constructor to check whether it is Christmas, which uses your system time. Thus, the Wayback won't get anything, but changing your system time will. Kay? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:14, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Okay so looking at isitchristmas.com, there's a comment at the top of the page saying to look at the console, but I don't see anything in there, anyone know what that might be about? Also at the bottom of the html file, the bottommost <script> tag looks like it might contain code for a chat client? I don't know JS so I'm unsure, but I tried changing all the related "false" values to "true" that looked relevant and nothing happened, so idk. Maybe someone else can figure it out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:03, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:(I'm the dev.) Check back again closer to Christmas, on 12/23 or 12/24. [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 00:55, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

::I mean, I kind of find that suspect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.234|172.68.47.234]] 01:39, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Well, one way to put it is that the overall probability of a false negative is 0.27%, which doesn't seem too bad, but the conditional probability of a false negative given that it's Christmas is 100%, which is horrid. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 22:37, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Of course it depends on your definition of "It's Christmas". The figure is right if you just mean Christmas Day and ignore the Julian vs Gregorian issue, but not you subscribe to "the 12 days of Christmas" = Christmas ... Just saying ;-) [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 23:53, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:Every year, people ask me about including multiple definitions of Christmas, but I think for my own sanity it's going to keep looking just at 12/25. ;) [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 00:57, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

2235: Group Chat Rules

2019-11-29T23:20:16Z

172.68.47.234:

{{comic
| number = 2235
| date = November 29, 2019
| title = Group Chat Rules
| image = group_chat_rules.png
| titletext = There's no group chat member more enigmatic than the cool person who you all assume has the chat on mute, but who then instantly chimes in with no delay the moment something relevant to them is mentioned.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Item 4 is kind of a head-scratcher on this one, possibly related to an obscure group chat in which Randall participates. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic Randall is outlining the rules of a group chat, such as {{w|Internet Relay Chat}} (IRC), {{w|Slack (software)|Slack}}, {{w|Discord (software)|Discord}}, {{w|WeChat}}, {{w|Discourse (software)|Discourse}}, and the like.

1. '''Once you've sent a typing notification, you have to say ''something,'' c'mon.'''

Typing notifications, often called "typing awareness indicators," is a feature of some instant messaging systems, showing a message such as "Typing..." with the typer's name to the other participants, causing them in many cases to wait to receive the message before typing something of their own. When the typer stops without sending anything, this can seem anticlimactic and potentially disruptive if it recurs. Randall's rule is that you must say something once you've started typing, to avoid the awkwardness of awaiting a person's reply. See also [[1886: Typing Notifications]].

2. '''Show you care by trimming the tracking junk off links you paste.'''

Some URL links may have tracking information attached to the end of them, to show the origin of the URL and other information. {{w|UTM parameters}} are an example of URL parameters (the part of a URL starting with a question mark) which are used to track utilization of the URL from one user to another. Many news and marketing-related websites include such tracking codes with any visit to one of their web pages in an attempt to see the source of the URL for subsequent visits. Many people consider this a violation of privacy as well as a source of clutter, and make an effort to remove the parameters from URLs when they are not necessary for obtaining the requested content. For example, [https://www.dyson.com/sticks/dyson-v8-absolute-nickel-iron.html?ranMID=36310&ranEAID=lw9MynSeamY&ranSiteID=lw9MynSeamY-w42lWd1QYp3RrUefCg_osA&siteID=lw9MynSeamY-w42lWd1QYp3RrUefCg_osA&utm_source=Slickdeals+LLC&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=us_en__na__na__na__purchase&utm_term=&utm_content=rakuten_1&dclid=CjkKEQiAt_PuBRC2vOSG5pnYqN0BEiQATx34W-U3rsbKLg-BO9ep4IJKz6JxmZrHTqS7JKmZqSrWmKLw_wcB&ranMID=36310&ranEAID=lw9MynSeamY&ranSiteID=lw9MynSeamY-z5miuzSsmyWevVXB._R14g&siteID=lw9MynSeamY-z5miuzSsmyWevVXB._R14g&utm_source=Slickdeals+LLC&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=us_en__na__na__na__purchase&utm_term=&utm_content=rakuten_1 this url] has a lot of tracking information to show that this URL was originally accessed from Slickdeals, which can be removed to produce [https://www.dyson.com/sticks/dyson-v8-absolute-nickel-iron.html a much shorter URL] for the same web page. Randall asks the users of group chat to politely remove the tracking codes.

3. '''Do not talk about ''Fight Club'' (1999).'''

This is a reference to the 1999 film ''{{w|Fight Club}}'', where the main character forms an eponymous "Fight Club," an underground club for men to fight recreationally. In [http://www.diggingforfire.net/FightClub/ the rules for Fight Club] the first "rule" is "You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.", which Randall parodies in this comic, by making a rule to not talk about the film ''Fight Club''. The second rule of Fight Club is the same as the first. Which makes it likely this is why it is placed as rule number 3 in this comic. See also [[922: Fight Club]] and [[109: Spoiler Alert]].

4. '''There are two types of chats: those with a relevant group name, and those where the name is random nonsense that changes regularly. Only the second kind are good.'''

As mentioned in the text, some group chats frequently change the title of the chat, perhaps corresponding to upcoming events or inside jokes. Randall mentions that this type of chat is the 'only good' type. This is perhaps in comparison to a chat that has only one title and therefore a singular focus, which might be more dull than a dynamic, active chat that often changes its title.

5. '''Where mentioning it elsewhere, always just refer to it as "the group chat" to create an aura of exclusive mystery.'''

Many people have to deal with several kinds of group chat in the same organization, so referring to "the group chat" within such an organization may be confusingly ambiguous. Calling a chat "the group chat" could also be used for exclusivity.

6. '''Robert's Rules of Order are optional but encouraged.'''

''{{w|Robert's Rules of Order}}'' are one of the authoritative codifications of {{w|parliamentary procedure}} used to formalize decision-making in organizations required to document their activities such as governments and sometimes civic organizations and corporations. While people required to use ''Robert's Rules'' might use group chat to plan their {{w|Agenda (meeting)|agenda}} — even going so far as to prepare a {{w|pro forma}} script for a meeting in accordance with parliamentary procedure which represents their positions and deliberations in advance — and to compose, revise, and approve their {{w|minutes}}, it is unlikely that group chat participants would follow ''Robert's Rules'' prior to their formal meeting.

6. '''Periodically part of the group will split off to form a new chat with everyone minus one person. This is how group chats reproduce; don't draw attention to it.'''

Some people who use group chat too frequently or for unimportant messages or both will cause their colleagues to attempt to achieve greater productivity by excluding them from an alternate chat, from which notifications, for example, are less annoying and more useful.
Alternatively, a person could be excluded from a chat to hide things from them, for example, to plan a surprise for them.

8. '''Since there's no algorithmic feed, the responsibility for injecting lots of garbage no one asked for falls on you.'''

Tools such as {{w|IFTTT}} and {{w|IRC bot}}s (or "bots" in this context) are used to provide group chat channels with information automatically taken from external sources of various sorts, such as emails to a support address or commits to source code control systems. Randall suggests that when such algorithmic information is not available, it is incumbent upon chat participants to provide sufficiently verbose replacements. The "algorithmic feed" may also refer to the newsfeed type of systems that Facebook or other social networking sites use, to order posts for a user to view.

9. '''The enumeration, in these rules, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.'''

This is a reference to the {{w|Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution}}, which entitles people to rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. Per Wikipedia, this right was included because "future generations might argue that, because a certain right was not listed in the Bill of Rights, it did not exist." The Ninth Amendment was also referenced in [[1998: GDPR]], in a similar context of being inserted into a list of rules where it didn't really apply.

10. '''Sorry about all the notifications.'''

Here, Randall apologizes for all the notifications for the messages sent in group chat. Group chat features often result in more notifications than designers of notification systems anticipated or intended. If each of these ten rules were sent as a separate message in group chat, they might likely end with such an apology.

The title text expresses appreciation of group chat participants who remain silent except for promptly replying on topics pertinent to them.

==Transcript==
:[Title at the top of the comic]:
: Rules for this group chat

:[A numbered list of 10 rules]:

# Once you've sent a typing notification, you have to say ''something,'' c'mon.
# Show you care by trimming the tracking junk off links you paste.
# Do not talk about ''Fight Club'' (1999).
# There are two types of chats: those with a relevant group name, and those where the name is random nonsense that changes regularly. Only the second kind are good.
# Where mentioning it elsewhere, always just refer to it as "the group chat" to create an aura of exclusive mystery.
# Robert's Rules of Order are optional but encouraged.
# Periodically part of the group will split off to form a new chat with everyone minus one person. This is how group chats reproduce; don't draw attention to it.
# Since there's no algorithmic feed, the responsibility for injecting lots of garbage no one asked for falls on you.
# The enumeration, in these rules, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
# Sorry about all the notifications.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Social interactions]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2124: Space Mission Hearing

2019-11-27T23:31:13Z

172.68.47.234: /* Transcript */ bold + italics

{{comic
| number = 2124
| date = March 15, 2019
| title = Space Mission Hearing
| image = space_mission_hearing.png
| titletext = Our grant application contains one of those little greeting card speakers that plays spaceship noises when you open it.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are organizers of a space mission going over their upcoming presentation to a hearing that will approve the mission's funding. Megan recites the grown-up, professional, scientific justification for the mission, but soon her enthusiastic and nerdy attitude toward space breaks through, and she exclaims "space" and "pew pew pew" (An internet meme for the sound of lasers, inspired as a typical sound that media space weapons make, and now an onomatopoeia often used in gaming speak for ray weapons and spells as a joke) with childish abandon. Ponytail wants her to rein in her enthusiasm during the actual hearing as the funding is unlikely to come if they are behaving childishly instead of being professional.

The joke is that most of the motivation people working in space agencies have for spending billions of dollars and other resources on interplanetary exploration is not really for all the stuffy reasons listed, but simply because they believe space is cool. Funnily, due to the vacuum in space, you would actually not hear sounds and so some part of the enthusiasm is entirely childish.

The title text refers to a repurposable piece of electronics contained within specific {{w|greeting card}}s, which plays a prerecorded song when the card is opened. Usually, these cards play a song, like "Happy Birthday", when they are opened. Apparently, their grant application has incorporated speakers which play "spaceship noises", in order to stimulate excitement about the coolness of space in the receiver which is in contrast to the business-like atmosphere that a mission hearing would normally have. An additional joke is that the card will likely hurt their chances to get the funding instead of stimulating excitement in the receiver.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking.]
:Ponytail: All ready for the hearing? Let's go over things one more time.
:Ponytail: *ahem*
:Ponytail: What is the main reason to fund this mission?

:[Close-up of Megan.]
:Megan: It will significantly advance out long-term goal of better understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar System, while fulfulling our mandate to develop a new generation of interplanetary spacecraft.
:Ponytail (off-panel): Great.

:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking. Megan's arms are raised.]
:Megan: And because it's '''''space!'''''
:Megan: Spaaaaaace.
:Megan: Pew pew pew!
:Megan: '''''Space!'''''
:Ponytail: Dial it back.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]

2124: Space Mission Hearing

2019-11-27T23:30:28Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2124
| date = March 15, 2019
| title = Space Mission Hearing
| image = space_mission_hearing.png
| titletext = Our grant application contains one of those little greeting card speakers that plays spaceship noises when you open it.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are organizers of a space mission going over their upcoming presentation to a hearing that will approve the mission's funding. Megan recites the grown-up, professional, scientific justification for the mission, but soon her enthusiastic and nerdy attitude toward space breaks through, and she exclaims "space" and "pew pew pew" (An internet meme for the sound of lasers, inspired as a typical sound that media space weapons make, and now an onomatopoeia often used in gaming speak for ray weapons and spells as a joke) with childish abandon. Ponytail wants her to rein in her enthusiasm during the actual hearing as the funding is unlikely to come if they are behaving childishly instead of being professional.

The joke is that most of the motivation people working in space agencies have for spending billions of dollars and other resources on interplanetary exploration is not really for all the stuffy reasons listed, but simply because they believe space is cool. Funnily, due to the vacuum in space, you would actually not hear sounds and so some part of the enthusiasm is entirely childish.

The title text refers to a repurposable piece of electronics contained within specific {{w|greeting card}}s, which plays a prerecorded song when the card is opened. Usually, these cards play a song, like "Happy Birthday", when they are opened. Apparently, their grant application has incorporated speakers which play "spaceship noises", in order to stimulate excitement about the coolness of space in the receiver which is in contrast to the business-like atmosphere that a mission hearing would normally have. An additional joke is that the card will likely hurt their chances to get the funding instead of stimulating excitement in the receiver.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking.]
:Ponytail: All ready for the hearing? Let's go over things one more time.
:Ponytail: *ahem*
:Ponytail: What is the main reason to fund this mission?

:[Close-up of Megan.]
:Megan: It will significantly advance out long-term goal of better understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar System, while fulfulling our mandate to develop a new generation of interplanetary spacecraft.
:Ponytail (off-panel): Great.

:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking. Megan's arms are raised.]
:Megan: And because it's ''space!''
:Megan: Spaaaaaace.
:Megan: Pew pew pew!
:Megan: ''Space!''
:Ponytail: Dial it back.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]

2124: Space Mission Hearing

2019-11-27T23:29:39Z

172.68.47.234: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2124
| date = March 15, 2019
| title = Space Mission Hearing
| image = space_mission_hearing.png
| titletext = Our grant application contains one of those little greeting card speakers that plays spaceship noises when you open it.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are organizers of a space mission going over their upcoming presentation to a hearing that will approve the mission's funding. Megan recites the grown-up, professional, scientific justification for the mission, but soon her enthusiastic and nerdy attitude toward space breaks through, and she exclaims "space" and "pew pew pew" (An internet meme for the sound of lasers, inspired as a typical sound that media space weapons make, and now an onomatopoeia often used in gaming speak for ray weapons and spells as a joke) with childish abandon. Ponytail wants her to rein in her enthusiasm during the actual hearing as the funding is unlikely to come if they are behaving childishly instead of being professional.

The joke is that most of the motivation people working in space agencies have for spending billions of dollars and other resources on interplanetary exploration is not really for all the stuffy reasons listed, but simply because they believe space is cool. Funnily, due to the vacuum in space, you would actually not hear sounds and so some part of the enthusiasm is entirely childish.

The title text refers to a repurposable piece of electronics contained within specific {{w|greeting card}}s, which plays a prerecorded song when the card is opened. Usually, these cards play a song, like "Happy Birthday", when they are opened. Apparently, their grant application has incorporated speakers which play "spaceship noises", in order to stimulate excitement about the coolness of space in the receiver which is in contrast to the solemn tone mission hearing normally have. An additional joke is that the card will likely hurt their chances to get the funding instead of stimulating excitment in the receiver.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking.]
:Ponytail: All ready for the hearing? Let's go over things one more time.
:Ponytail: *ahem*
:Ponytail: What is the main reason to fund this mission?

:[Close-up of Megan.]
:Megan: It will significantly advance out long-term goal of better understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar System, while fulfulling our mandate to develop a new generation of interplanetary spacecraft.
:Ponytail (off-panel): Great.

:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking. Megan's arms are raised.]
:Megan: And because it's ''space!''
:Megan: Spaaaaaace.
:Megan: Pew pew pew!
:Megan: ''Space!''
:Ponytail: Dial it back.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]

2124: Space Mission Hearing

2019-11-27T23:28:23Z

172.68.47.234: /* Transcript */ complete

{{comic
| number = 2124
| date = March 15, 2019
| title = Space Mission Hearing
| image = space_mission_hearing.png
| titletext = Our grant application contains one of those little greeting card speakers that plays spaceship noises when you open it.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are organizers of a space mission going over their upcoming presentation to a hearing that will approve the mission's funding. Megan recites the grown-up, professional, scientific justification for the mission, but soon her enthusiastic and nerdy attitude toward space breaks through, and she exclaims "space" and "pew pew pew" (An internet meme for the sound of lasers, inspired as a typical sound that media space weapons make, and now an onomatopoeia often used in gaming speak for ray weapons and spells as a joke) with childish abandon. Ponytail wants her to rein in her enthusiasm during the actual hearing as the funding is unlikely to come if they are behaving childishly instead of being professional.

The joke is that most of the motivation people working in space agencies have for spending billions of dollars and other resources on interplanetary exploration is not really for all the stuffy reasons listed, but simply because they believe space is cool. Funnily , due to the vacuum in space, you would actually not hear sounds and so some part of the enthusiasm is entirely childish.

The title text refers to a repurposable piece of electronics contained within specific {{w|greeting card}}s, which plays a prerecorded song when the card is opened. Usually, these cards play a song, like "Happy Birthday", when they are opened. Apparently, their grant application has incorporated speakers which play "spaceship noises", in order to stimulate excitement about the coolness of space in the receiver which is in contrast to the solemn tone mission hearing normally have. An additional joke is that the card will likely hurt their chances to get the funding instead of stimulating excitment in the receiver.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking.]
:Ponytail: All ready for the hearing? Let's go over things one more time.
:Ponytail: *ahem*
:Ponytail: What is the main reason to fund this mission?

:[Close-up of Megan.]
:Megan: It will significantly advance out long-term goal of better understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar System, while fulfulling our mandate to develop a new generation of interplanetary spacecraft.
:Ponytail (off-panel): Great.

:[Megan and Ponytail are standing and talking. Megan's arms are raised.]
:Megan: And because it's ''space!''
:Megan: Spaaaaaace.
:Megan: Pew pew pew!
:Megan: ''Space!''
:Ponytail: Dial it back.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]