290: Fucking Blue Shells

2014-11-14T04:19:52Z

Fnj: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 290
| date = July 16, 2007
| title = Fucking Blue Shells
| image = fucking_blue_shells.png
| titletext = You can evade blue shells in Double Dash, but it is deep magic.
}}

==Explanation==

Sometimes, something suddenly goes wrong and you can only shout obscenities at it. For instance, when the dog bites, when the bee stings, something unexpected happens, or a program crashes (e.g. a {{w|Segmentation fault|segfault}}) the victim often reacts by swearing.

For [[Randall]], however, profanities are caused mostly by blue shells in the video game {{w|Mario Kart}}. The blue shells, when fired, target the player currently in first place and stop them cold. In a close game, a player can go from first to an unrecoverable last in one hit.

The title text refers to the "{{w|Mario_Kart:_Double_Dash!!|Double Dash}}" edition of Mario Kart. This includes a technique to avoid being hit by a blue shell, but it requires skillful timing to accomplish. The term "deep magic" is a reference to {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}, in which Aslan explains away a seeming miracle as such. Interestingly, with a boost mushroom in Mario Kart Wii, it is also possible (with accurate timing) to escape blue shells.

==Transcript==
:My Profanity Usage By Cause:
:[Pie chart is shown.]
:[Injury is about 2.5% of pie chart.]
:[Irony is about 2.5% of pie chart.]
:[Misc is about 2.5% of pie chart.]
:[Segfaults is about 10% of pie chart.]
:[Mario Kart is about 82.5% of pie chart.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

290: Fucking Blue Shells