2331: Hamster Ball 2

|< < Prev Comic #2331 (July 10, 2020) Next > >|

Hamster Ball 2

Title text: The worst is being teased by responsible, mask-wearing teens. They even spritz the hamster ball with disinfectant before rolling it, carefully avoiding the filter vents.

Explanation

A hamster ball is a small, transparent sphere in which a hamster or other pet rodent can run around (reasonably) safely, without being in its cage. Cueball had previously obtained a "human-sized hamster ball" for himself.

Cueball relates that, once upon a time, he was teased for this seemingly-frivolous pursuit, but he feels that now, in the midst of a worldwide coronavirus pandemic, having his own bubble to be inside is a smart move. He is contrasted to White Hat, who is wearing a facemask for protection.

"Who's laughing now" is a common phrase that you know better than others who originally laughed at you, or that the "tides have turned" and you have a control over the situation. However, as White Hat notes, the same people who laughed at Cueball before are still laughing at him, for the same reasons as before: even though his hamster ball has some practical utility now (enforcing social distancing), it still looks ridiculous and is lots of fun to roll around.

In the title text, Cueball says that he feels worst about being teased by "responsible, mask-wearing" teens, who treat the outside of his hamster ball as a potentially-contaminated surface (which it is, if it has previously been rolled around by irresponsible teens who might have contracted and spread the coronavirus) and disinfect it, taking care to avoid spraying the vents and thus not exposing Cueball's lungs to a hazardous chemical, before rolling him around. It's not clear why he doesn't like being rolled around by responsible teens; it could be that he vindictively wishes that they would catch the coronavirus from the outside of his hamster ball, thus proving that he was correct to use it, or it could be that his ego is injured by the fact that even responsible and otherwise well-mannered and socially-conscious teenagers (who are not likely to be particularly harmed themselves by COVID-19, but conscientiously follow guidance to reduce transmission and protect those who are at-risk) find his hamster ball so ridiculous that they have to have fun at his expense.

As the title indicates, this is the second comic specifically devoted to hamster balls; the first was 152: Hamster Ball, in which Cueball wished for a genie to give him a human-sized hamster ball (and then had no other wishes he wished to wish). A human hamster ball also features prominently in 211: Hamster Ball Heist.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[Cueball is inside a transparent human-sized sphere, evidently "rolling" forward. Ahead of him is White Hat, wearing a facemask.]

Cueball: They laughed at me, all those years ago, when I got this human-sized hamster ball.

[Frameless panel with just Cueball rolling forward, with his hand in a fist.]

Cueball: But who's laughing now?!?

[Cueball and White Hat have stopped. White Hat is pointing into the distance.]

White Hat: Sounds like the same people.

White Hat: See? There's some of them over there.

[Cueball turns around to roll backwards while White Hat stands next to him still.]

Cueball: Yeah, neighborhood kids.

Cueball: At least they've stopped trying to roll me into soccer goals.

Cueball: No, here they come.

Cueball: Run!

 add a comment! ⋅  add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅  refresh comments!

Discussion

Whoa. Hamster balls are more popular than I thought ... also, surprisingly, not recommended for guinea pigs. -- Hkmaly (talk) 22:24, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

The Avengers (not those Avengers, though, that I know) used Human Hamster-Balls to cross a lake. Trying to google-fu a clip of it while excluding the other upstarts from a search has so far been impossible, though. 162.158.159.76 23:53, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

A two second Google search got me https://primaryimmune.org/story-david who I recall as 'bubble boy' and living in a plastic bubble. I note that the bubble did not contain a toilet or kitchen and this was most likely his transpo and not his life. Perhaps the article says. BTW, this is a covid19 entry. 108.162.216.112 05:21, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Should we point out explicitly that the original hamster ball was 14 years ago, so the "same people" cannot be neighborhood kids? Physicalattraction (talk) 10:35, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

that could still be their collective identity from Cueball's perspective. ocæon (talk) 20:35, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

true, that is a valid point. Physicalattraction (talk) 21:07, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

i wonder if Randall's been zorbing yet⸮ ocæon (talk) 20:35, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

Hmm... would this work to stop COVID? Give everyone a hamster ball. Solves the antimaskers. 172.69.62.124 17:53, 31 July 2020 (UTC)