423: Finish Line

2014-07-31T17:09:58Z

Mister Pold: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =423
| date =May 14, 2008
| title =Finish Line
| image =finish_line.png
| titletext =The question with Lucy and the football was always whether, on some level, she believed the things she said.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are playing {{w|Mario Kart}}, with Cueball's {{w|Luigi}} character ahead of Megan's {{w|Mario}} towards the end of the race. Megan begins waxing philosophically on how she sometimes stops right before the Finish line. Because she know she has already won and then she do not need the machine to tell her so. She says it proves she doesn't act like a rat going through a laboratory maze in pursuit of cheese.

This talk makes Cueball realize that winning a video game isn't really important, and how by speeding through a racing level like the game asks you to do, you sometimes miss the fun of simply exploring the level and enjoying the extraordinary level of detail and work that went into it. He thus exclaims it was a good call and slows down - expecting Megan to join him exploring.

But it was just a ruse by Megan who speeds past him and wins, much to her glee. "It's more fun than a blue shell", she says, referring to the Mario Kart item that, when fired, will inevitably hit the race leader and cause him to crash. [[Randall]] has [[290: Fucking Blue Shells|rather adamantly]] expressed his opinion about blue shells before.

Cueball's response suggests that he has been fooled before by Megan's ''Be a rebel'' speach. Something she can pull off against him again and again. This leads to the subject of the title text.

The title text refers to the comic strip ''{{w|Peanuts}},'' and the running gag where fussbudget Lucy would hold the (american) football for lovable loser Charlie Brown and he'd come running at it full speed, only to have Lucy pull the football away at the last moment and send Charlie Brown crashing to the ground. What made it funny was that each time, Lucy would find some way to convince Charlie Brown that ''this'' time, she wouldn't pull the football away, and he'd try again — but lo and behold, of course she did.

The title text ask the important question if Lucy belived the things she said - even if she would eventually pull the ball away. If so it would be easier to fool Charlie. Maybe Cueball suggests that Megan belives what she says up to the point where she wins...

==Transcript==
:[Mario and Luigi in go carts, Luigi in the lead.]
:Megan (playing Mario): Sometimes I stop right before the finish line.
:Cueball (playing Luigi): Why?
:[Cut to Cueball and Megan playing the video game.]
:Megan: 'Cause I know I've won.
:Megan: It proves I'm playing for fun, on my own terms. That I don't need validation from the machine.
:Megan: That I'm not a rat pulling a lever.

:Cueball: ...Man. Good Call. Let's stop and explore the course for a-
:''Player Two wins''
:Cueball: Hey!
:Megan: Ha ha!
:Cueball: Dammit, I'm a sucker for your "Be a Rebel" speech.
:Megan: It's more fun than a blue shell.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Talk:201: Christmas GPS

2014-07-28T12:27:57Z

Mister Pold:

Why the car is on the left side? Did Randall move to UK? Over water? Still so many questions.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:59, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

: It is a valid line of inquiry, but there are many more gaping, unexplained things in xkcd to worry about. I'd guess the car was easier to draw that way, or something. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 04:57, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

:: He might be driving on the wrong side because he is drunk. With a bit of work we could eliminate some of the possible birthdays for these characters(assuming they ended up at a plausible place). Through elimination via clues in various comics we might one day figure out the birthdays(assuming Randall is track this information and leaving clues, which he most likely is(everything he does has some sort of code or secret(seriously... everything))). [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 02:07, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

: The simplest explanation is that the GPS coordinates corresponded to the left side of the road, and given that the road seems remote or secluded, it was probably easier to just pull over to the left rather than make a legal U-turn. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 16:23, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
I agree: the lines behind the car seem to be tire tracks and brake lights. P.S I'm a big fan of your ruby WLP (assuming you're the same person), keep up the good work![[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.237|141.101.99.237]] 06:15, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

It seems the title text could be referring to someone who is so obsessive compulsive about following the arbritrary rules set up for the game that they will not change them despite ruining their chance to 'make out'. There is no helping this type of person. --[[User:Mister Pold|Mister Pold]] ([[User talk:Mister Pold|talk]]) 12:27, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

423: Finish Line

Talk:201: Christmas GPS