968: Everything

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Everything

Title text: I wanna hold your hand so I don't fall out of your gyrocopter.

Explanation

In traditional western cliches of romance, men are expected to give women particular gifts (including flowers, candy and stuffed animals) and make declarations about how that woman is the sole focus of his life. This strip deliberately subverts those expectations by renouncing those sentiments and giving a decidedly non-traditional set of gifts, but making clear that this is a touching expression of love between these two parties.

Cueball is gathering a lot of different sorts of random things, including a parasol, a miniature Eiffel Tower, what appears to be a small round bomb with a short fuse and the bust of a mannequin. He adds these to an already immense pile of weird things including balloons and a cage with a bird.

While this happens Cueball narrates in short sentences. The first three are statements that at first seems similar to what you would find on a birthday or anniversary card from one person in a relationship to another, but in this case, all the statements ends up reversed. This can be interpreted as negative, neutral, or simply dismissing the idea that ones' romantic interests should be their sole focus in life.

• Normal sentence: You are the light of my life.
• Cueball's sentence: You are not the light of my life.
• Normal sentence: Making you happy is my greatest dream.
• Cueball's sentence: Making you happy isn't my greatest dream.
• Normal sentence: Your smile is all I live for.
• Cueball's sentence: Your smile is not all I live for.

The fourth sentence emphasizes this, but Cueball then says that he does appreciate how this person is "strange and fascinating" like no one else he's ever met.

It turns out to be Megan he is talking about who is shown applying a hammer to the front of a large and strange vehicle while standing on one of its huge wheels. She seems to have built this giant super tank/machine from anything Cueball supplies her with, having several huge pigged wheels, a mounted gun, satellite dish, a crane and smoke coming out of an exhaust pipe at the top, implying it is already running. But Cueball is very fascinated by her strangeness.

Cueball's final statement changes the meaning of the cliched sentiment I want to give you everything. Instead of out of blind devotion, he wishes to give Megan the world just to see what kinds of things she would create (like the contraption shown in the final panel).

Some of the objects in the piles in the second panel can easily be determined, like the two balloons. But most others are more difficult to recognize. To the left there is what appears to be a cage with an animal inside, could be a bird. To the right there appears to be the hilt of a sword (maybe stuck in a stone, see 1521: Sword in the Stone). Finally the tall thin thing sticking out of the top left of the right pile could be the stuffed giraffe from 604: Qwertial Aphasia. There are other distinct things, like the tall "cylinder" and the three "cannonballs" in a pyramid pile to the left, and something with a peculiar shape between the "giraffe" and the sword hilt. But it seems impossible to determine what they are.

The title text similarly starts with the conventional Beatles love song "I Want to Hold Your Hand", but only in order to not fall out of a gyrocopter. A gyrocopter is a flying machine that has a rotor like a helicopter, but the rotor is not powered by a motor. Rather, the motor of the gyrocopter drives a propeller that accelerates the machine forward, while the air rushing past the rotor drives the rotor like a helicopter during autorotation.

Transcript

[Cueball drags a small wagon and a bag full of various items.]

Cueball: You are not the light of my life. Making you happy isn't my greatest dream.

[Cueball places the items in an even bigger pile of even more random items.]

Cueball: Your smile is not all I live for. I've got my own stuff going on. But you're strange and fascinating and I've never met anyone like you.

[Cueball stares in awe as Megan assembles the items into a gargantuan, intoxicatingly complex machine.]

Cueball: I want to give you everything just to see what you would do with it.

A larger version can be found here:

[Cueball is walking right while carrying a huge bag, full to the brim, over his shoulder and he is also dragging a small wagon behind him. On top of the wagon are six visible items: the bust of a mannequin with a foot to stand on which stands on the next object, a square white box, a miniature Eiffel Tower which is partly hidden behind the first two objects and the next, a deck umbrella which is leaning on the next item, a box wrapped like a present and on top of this box is what appears to be a small round bomb with a short fuse.]

Cueball (narrating): You are not the light of my life.

Cueball (narrating): Making you happy isn't my greatest dream.

[The next two panels only shows silhouettes and are both zoomed far out. In the middle of this panel sits the wagon with the items still in place and as visible as they can be in silhouette. The lever that Cueball held on to has been lifted up so it rests near the present. Cueball stands to the right of the wagon and lifts the bag up on top of a large pile of items taking up the rest of the right part of this panel. Only a few items in this pile are visible as they stick out of the top. There is a stick with a head to the left, then three things protruding from the middle and finally to the right what may appear as the hilt of a sword. To the left of the wagon is a smaller pile with many other objects, but here some of them can be recognized. To the far left of the foot of the pile is what appears to be a cage which may contain an animal, possibly a bird. Above the cage to the right is a tall structure, like a pipe, with a wider section at the top. The central part of the pile looks like the tip of a pyramid, and two helium balloons are tied to strings at this tip, so they float above the pile. At the base of the pyramid tip there is a ledge on which lies three round objects in their own 1, 2 pyramid shape. Below this ledge the pile falls straight down to a low layer going from there to just where the wagon stands.]

Cueball (narrating): Your smile is not all I live for.

Cueball (narrating): I've got my own stuff going on.

Cueball (narrating): But you're strange and fascinating and I've never met anyone like you.

[Cueball stands to the left leaning back and looking up at Megan and the giant vehicle/tank she is assembling. Megan is standing to the left of the three visible huge pigged wheels (almost two times higher than Cueball). She seems to be hammering something onto the top of the front of the tank. She obviously used the items Cueball delivers to build some sort of super tank with huge wheels, a mounted gun (above her head), satellite dish at the rear and a crane in the middle. It appears to be running as there is smoke coming out of the top exhaust pipe of the tank and there is also a smaller pipe with a rounded top next to this high exhaust.]

Cueball (narrating): I want to give you everything

Cueball (narrating): Just to see what you would do with it.

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Discussion

this is the sweetest comic - one of my favorites. 68.50.245.55 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The first four statements are reminiscent of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 (my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun).108.162.219.202 04:12, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

I smiled at the SWEETNESS, one of the best XKCD comics.Boeing-787lover 03:49, 23 November 2017 (UTC)