3246: Speedrun

Speedrun

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Title text: Usain Bolt holds the world record in the 100 meter speedrun.

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Explanation

This is one of 46 incomplete explanations: This page was created by a SPEEDRUNNING BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic shows Cueball sitting at a desk complaining that his speedrun got deleted off of Speedrun.com, which is a popular leaderboard aggregator for speedruns.

A tool-assisted speedrun (or TAS for short) is a speedrun that uses software tools to make certain hard or even humanly impossible inputs easily. Lateralus and Ænima are albums by the band Tool. This comic makes use of a pun, where rather than using third party tools to assist him in beating a video game as quickly as possible, Cueball is getting "assistance" from the rock band Tool in the form of background music to help him concentrate. In real life, a speedrun would be unlikely to be removed based on the music one is listening to while completing it, though it may be considered similar to using a metronome, a controversial topic. The comic could also be referencing Alex Honnold’s ascent of the Taipei 101 tower, during which he listened to Tool.

The title text is a pun on the word "speedrun". Usain Bolt's 100-meter dash record is a world-record "speedrun" in the sense that it is literally a speedy run and also an attempt by someone to complete a task as fast as possible (it is common on the internet for people to jokingly refer to a task they are completing very quickly as a speedrun). The notion of such a record being classified as a legitimate speedrun isn't farfetched as Speedrun.com has some leaderboards for In Real Life records. The use of "speedrun" to refer to an actual fast run may be considered to be a case of 3123: Canon.

Transcript

This is one of 46 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop. Megan is standing behind him.]

Cueball: Aw man, Speedrun.com removed my world record just because I listened to Lateralus and Ænima to get in the flow.

Megan: Oh, a copyright thing?

Cueball: No, they don't allow Tool-assisted speedruns.

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Discussion

F1RST! I actually found the comic before Theusafbot did. K9Dragon23, or RainWingSquares (talk) (talk) 01:01, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

I also did a crappy first draft explanation. K9Dragon23, or RainWingSquares (talk) (talk) 01:03, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

There goes the speedrun records King Pando (talk) 01:38, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

L0l, my br0ther and father g0t me in0 t00l 216.25.182.141 02:59, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Published on the 25th Anniversary of the song release right?

wasn't there an olympic runner who requested a song to be played with his preferred beats per minute, only to be rejected out of a concern for an unfair advantage? 84.225.125.43 07:10, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Wow! I needed this explanation. I knew nothing of speedruns, nor Tool. Usain Bolt I had heard of.--2A00:23CC:D248:8901:79C8:645F:821A:1BA3 08:37, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Cueball is such a tool. 2A02:2455:1960:4000:2C98:4FB4:B92F:33B4 10:07, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Shouldn't they remove Usain Bolt'd record as a TAS?--94.73.49.13
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