2220: Imagine Going Back in Time

2019-10-26T22:41:12Z

Js: /* Explanation */ Grammar, Words.

{{comic
| number = 2220
| date = October 25, 2019
| title = Imagine Going Back in Time
| image = imagine_going_back_in_time.png
| titletext = I wonder what the trendy adults in 2019 who are too cool for Pokemon will be into. Probably Digimon!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by Politoed. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] is checking his {{w|Pokemon Go}} app, to see to a Pokémon he has left in a gym (to defend it against the other two teams. This can be done remote.) In the gym (which can hold up to six Pokémon) he sees another Pokémon player has left a frog Pokémon, which is now standing next to his. This players nick name is "Reelect Trump 2020" and Cueball can see this in the game by clicking on the frog Pokémon.

Cueball/[[Randall]] is not a fan of the current U.S. President {{w|Donald Trump}} (or anyone wishing him to be re-elected, as became clear in [[1756: I'm With Her]] and [[Sad comics|many comics]] that followed it, now including this), and this prompts Cueball to speak the following line to [[Megan]]: "A player named "Reelect Trump 2020" put a frog Pokemon in the gym next to mine." (Note that since the offending player is in the same gym as Cueball, they are "on the same team" and Cueball will not be able to remove either his, or his own Pokémon from the gym. Only players from the other two teams could do that).

This is such a strange sentence to utter that Megan facepalms herself and imagines how that sentence would have sounded to Cueball if he had said it to himself 20 years ago (in 1999 as this comic was released in 2019). "Imagine going back in time" is a phrase used to highlight how quickly or drastically something has changed, hence the title of the comic.

Megan is probably referring to the entire sentence, not something you could have imagined saying 20 years ago, as Pokémon Go was not a thing. But her emphasis (or this comics at least) is on how strange it might have sounded to anyone in 1999 that Trump was president and thus was up for reelection. It turns out, however, that she does not have to imagine how the past Cueball would react, since present day Cueball just happens to have a time machine on him! (Not so strange in xkcd since {{w|time travel}} is a [[:Category:Time travel|recurring theme]]).

Cueball thus immediately tests the scenario in practice by using his hand held time machine device to go back 20 years to talk to his past self in 1999. A Bzzzt later he is back, and the comic reenters just as he finish speaking the line to his past 1999 self. Thus before this he may have had time to explain his former self, who he is and how he got there, and explain what his intentions are... So his former self has now come over his shock of learning that time travel is possible and by seeing his future, and 20 years older, self...

But past Cueball reacts, not by surprise (or with the wished for dismay) that Trump is actually the future president. But instead by asking questions about the popularity of Pokemon in 2019. And then he realizes that "he" still plays Pokémon as a 20 year older adult, thus probably at least in his 40s since the two versions of Cueballs are the same height, meaning the 1999 Cueball is also adult. So his next question is if it, in 2019, is seen as cool for "old" people to play Pokémon Go?

Cueball gets defensive and states that he did not come back to be mocked. But his past self continues by saying this is a sobering cautionary tale. The future Cueball just realizes that his past self may now change his behavior, never starting playing Pokémon Go (maybe stopping his current interest in Pokémon altogether). Thus future Cueball may just have risked changing the future, so he may cease to exist, like in so many time travel movies that created paradoxes (cause had he not gone back, time could not have changed, and if the future changes, he will never go back to change the past). So in an attempt to protect his existence in the future, he yells out, "listen, Self..."

Randall released a comic about Pokémon Go less than a week after it's release back in July 2016: [[1705: Pokémon Go]]. But Pokémon in general has been a [[:Category:Pokémon|recurring theme]] in xkcd long before Pokémon Go was released.

{{w|Pokemon}} is a media franchise that debuted in 1996 in Japan as both a video game and a trading card game. It was originally designed for and marketed to younger children (the tie-in cartoon series constantly emphasizes its main characters are ten years old), with a design, aesthetic and gameplay that were optimized for a younger audience. Since then, and up to 2019, there have been a total of eight generations of video games on consoles. As the franchise continued to thrive and evolve, it's gone through multiple generations, including ''Pokemon Go'', an augmented reality game for smartphones. These latest versions, in particular, have become popular with adults, some of whom grew up playing the earlier generations.

In 1999 in North America, only the first generation of Pokemon video games had been released, consisting of {{w|Pokémon Red and Blue|Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Red}} for the Nintendo Gameboy. The second generation of Pokemon video games would not even be announced in Japan until {{w|Pokémon Gold and Silver#Release|November 1999}}, and advertising for the North American release would begin in December of 1999 with only the launch of the {{w|List of Pokémon: Adventures on the Orange Islands episodes|second season of the tie-in cartoon series}}; however, whether there would be a sequel game to tie in with this new season was only a matter of fan speculation in North America at that time. A person living in 1999, who has only seen the first generation, with no official confirmation that a second generation was even being considered, and unable to predict the nostalgia market that would appear later, would quite plausibly wonder about its popularity 20 years later.

{{w|Donald J. Trump}} is the president of the United States at the time of publishing, elected in 2016. Even during his campaign, the idea of his election was considered absurd in many circles, as he had never held any kind of public office, and had no background that would lend itself to expertise in government or public policy. Prior to his election, he was primarily known as a New York real estate mogul and host of the 2003 reality television show ''The Apprentice''. While he'd been teasing the idea of a presidential run since the 1980s, and indeed {{w|Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign|was currently seeking the Reform Party candidacy in 1999}}, most people saw the idea as unserious, and the concept of him actually being President of the United States would have been hugely unexpected to most Americans in an earlier era.

[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog Pepe the Frog] is an internet meme that has become associated with Donald Trump after his use of it during his presidential campaign. The use of a frog Pokémon, therefore, is a callback to this internet phenomenon.

The Pokémon left in the gym is most likely [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Politoed_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Politoed], the only official frog Pokémon released in the game at the time of publication. It comes from the tadpole series with [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwag_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwag] that evolves into [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwhirl_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwhirl] which by using a [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/King%27s_Rock kings rock] can be evolved to Politoed (instead of to [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwrath_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwrath]). There are other frog like Pokémon in the game, but where people who dislike Trump might have chosen [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Toxicroak_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Toxicroach], it seems an unlikely choice by a fan that hopes Trump is reelected!

This comic's joke is similar to one used in the 1985 science-fiction film ''{{w|Back to the Future}}'', in which Doc Brown (of 1955) is shocked to learn that {{w|Ronald Reagan}} would be the President of the United States in thirty years' time, when in 1955 Reagan was a TV actor.

{{w|Digimon}}, as mentioned in the title text, is another media franchise which is similar to Pokemon in some ways, though it is often perceived as more "cool" and "adult" oriented. Its popularity in North America rose around 1999 with the airing of its anime series, but [https://www.geekinsider.com/digimon-vs-pokemon-retrospective-monster-marketing/ never became as popular as Pokemon].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball talks to Megan while looking at his smart phone.]
:Cueball: Ugh. A player named "Reelect Trump 2020" put a frog Pokemon in the gym next to mine.

:[Megan puts her hand to her face. Cueball is holding a device in his hand with an antenna. He uses the other hand to move a stick on the device.]
:Megan: Imagine going back in time and saying that to yourself 20 years ago.
:Cueball: Oh, I have a time machine! I'll try that.

:[A sound effect between panels, likely the sound of Cueball's time machine.]
:Bzzzt

:[Two Cueballs standing, facing each other. The one on the right is holding the handheld device, and is thus Cueball from 2019. He is apparently repeating his statement to the other Cueball from 1999, with only the last 3 words shown. He gestures towards the left Cueball. Above the left Cueball there is a frame with a caption:]
:1999
:Cueball from 2019: ...next to mine.

:[Cueball from 1999 is shown, with Cueball from 2019 speaking off panel.]
:Cueball from 1999: I see.
:Cueball from 1999: Pokemon is still popular in 2019?
:Cueball from 2019: Yeah.

:[Cueball from 2019 is holding a finger up in front of Cueball from 1999.]
:Cueball from 1999: And it's cool for people your age to play it?
:Cueball from 2019: OK, I did not come here to be mocked.
:Cueball from 1999: This is a sobering cautionary tale.
:Cueball from 2019: '''''Listen, self...'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Politics]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2220: Imagine Going Back in Time