Talk:105: Parallel Universe

Rikthoff (talk) The issue date might be off. All files since 101 have been created on April 11th, 2006. Anyone with an actual issue date?

I have verified that the date is correct now. lcarsos (talk) 22:10, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

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A comment, and a question:

• First off, I don't think the hairy character could possibly be a woman (or that it should matter anyway), otherwise it would be made clearer in the drawing and the transcript. Compare for instance with previous comics 102, 93 and 84: each time it is made clear in the drawing as well as in the transcript. So in my opinion it's just another random guy.
• And now, not being a native English speaker, I don't understand what is meant by "make out" here (and I think this should be part of the explanation). "Make out" seems to have multiple possible interpretations, and if it is the semi-sexual meaning (as in Making out on Wikipedia) here, then I don't see the point of "taking this chance to make out with oneself"... a quirky fantasy? and a homosexual one, which doesn't seem in the xkcd style to me...

What I understand is that in the last panel the hairy character realized he could use the same argument for him as well; but apart from that, this comic remains pretty obscure to me. More explanation would be appreciated :-) Cos (talk) 17:28, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

• My interpretation: It's a classic course of action to make out (or even have sexual intercourse) with one's duplicate in the event that the two meet. Hairy suggests this to Cueball, pointing out that the duplicate may disappear at any moment because of the potentially tenuous nature of the spell keeping the duplicate in this reality. Hairy then realizes that, hypothetically, he/she could also spontaneously disappear, and uses this as a way to hint that he/she would like to make out with Cueball. The joke is the same regardless of whether Hairy is Megan or a male friend of Cueball, but if it's a male friend, there is an added layer of intended humor in the homosexual nature of the suggestion. Either way, Hairy is making the self-serving suggestion that Cueball forgo a rare chance (making out with his alternate-universe duplicate) in order to take advantage of a common chance (making out with an acquaintance from the same universe) because of a superficially identical pressure (spontaneous disappearance; in alternate-Cueball's case, because something would cause them to revert to their universe of origin, and in Hairy's case, because of some unknown hypothetical factor). JET73L (talk) 06:44, 10 November 2012 (UTC)
  • I like this explanation the best. It's really the clearest out of all of them. --Jimmy C (talk) 23:44, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
  • I agree with Jimmy C and JET73L -- mwburden 70.91.188.49 20:33, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

I kind of figured Hairy's line in the last panel was a "I just said something really untoward and will now leave the room before you hurt me/I embarrass us all further" sort of thing. Am I alone in this? 108.162.215.75 19:04, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

• Yeah, that's what I always thought too. Or that he was suggesting he could leave to give Cueball and Cueball some privacy. 108.162.237.189 01:44, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

The alternate is missing from the parallel universe. It would be easy to imagine a parallel universe in which the other individual who is present did the summoning, causing themselves to vanish from a different universe, which could be the one depicted in the comic. 199.27.128.232 05:40, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't see why the alternate explanation assumes this particular Cueball would be dating Megan and not Hairy. It seems a bit heteronormative. I do think the regular explanation is correct, however. It's an argument by analogy. "If your alternate-universe could vanish at any moment, you should make out with him. I could vanish at any moment. Thus, by analogy..." 108.162.238.71 02:34, 28 January 2016 (UTC)