Difference between revisions of "Category:April fools' comics"
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In 2006, the first year that xkcd released in March and April, there was no comic released on April 1st and no April Fools' comic was released. The two comics before and after were [[83: Katamari]] from March 31st and [[84: National Language]] from April 3rd. | In 2006, the first year that xkcd released in March and April, there was no comic released on April 1st and no April Fools' comic was released. The two comics before and after were [[83: Katamari]] from March 31st and [[84: National Language]] from April 3rd. | ||
| − | [[Randall]] first posted an April Fools' comic on Sunday, April 1, 2007. This comic ("[[Syndication]]") was not numbered; sequentially, it came between [[242: The Difference]] and [[243: Appropriate Term]]. It has not been preserved in the official xkcd archives, though it survives on a [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3701 thread in the xkcd forums]. | + | [[Randall]] first posted an April Fools' comic on Sunday, April 1, 2007. This comic ("[[Syndication]]") was not numbered; sequentially, it came between [[242: The Difference]] and [[243: Appropriate Term]]. It has not been preserved in the official xkcd archives<!--, FORUMS DEAD though it survives on a [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3701 thread in the xkcd forums]-->. |
For April Fools' Day 2008 [[Randall]] created [[404: Not Found]], which is a meta-comic, since it in fact doesn't exist. But that he considers it a comic is both made clear in the explanation for said "comic" and also since he links to it in his 2018 April fools' comic [[1975: Right Click]], from a fools' menu that links to all his comic alphabetically by title. | For April Fools' Day 2008 [[Randall]] created [[404: Not Found]], which is a meta-comic, since it in fact doesn't exist. But that he considers it a comic is both made clear in the explanation for said "comic" and also since he links to it in his 2018 April fools' comic [[1975: Right Click]], from a fools' menu that links to all his comic alphabetically by title. | ||
| − | The comic for April 1st 2009 had no obvious ties to April Fools' Day, but on that day Randall made an April Fool in another way. See the [[563: | + | The comic for April 1st 2009 had no obvious ties to April Fools' Day, but on that day Randall made an April Fool in another way. See the [[563: Fermirotica#Trivia|Trivia section]] for [[563: Fermirotica]], released that day. |
| − | April 1st, 2010 didn't coincide with a comic release. However, on that day the site was altered to mimic a Unix command line interface, the so called [[UniXKCD]]. (This happened wile [[721: Flatland]] was the newest comic, but it was released March 31st and had nothing to do with April Fools' Day, see this [[721: | + | April 1st, 2010 didn't coincide with a comic release. However, on that day the site was altered to mimic a Unix command line interface, the so called [[UniXKCD]]. (This happened wile [[721: Flatland]] was the newest comic, but it was released March 31st and had nothing to do with April Fools' Day, see this [[721: Flatland#UniXKCD|trivia]]). |
Starting on Friday, April 1st, 2011 with [[880: Headache]], [[Randall]] has released a real April Fools' Day joke annually, except 2017. | Starting on Friday, April 1st, 2011 with [[880: Headache]], [[Randall]] has released a real April Fools' Day joke annually, except 2017. | ||
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Beginning with the second year in that row, with [[1037: Umwelt]], he moved the release day to Sunday April 1st 2012, and thus began the practice of releasing an April Fools Day comic on April 1st, notwithstanding [[#Release Weekday|what day of the week]] it fell on by shifting the comic's release to that day. Typically it would thus replace the next release day, so there would not be a comic on Monday the 2nd or 3rd of April, if April 1st fell in the weekend. | Beginning with the second year in that row, with [[1037: Umwelt]], he moved the release day to Sunday April 1st 2012, and thus began the practice of releasing an April Fools Day comic on April 1st, notwithstanding [[#Release Weekday|what day of the week]] it fell on by shifting the comic's release to that day. Typically it would thus replace the next release day, so there would not be a comic on Monday the 2nd or 3rd of April, if April 1st fell in the weekend. | ||
| − | This worked for the next three years with [[1193: Externalities]] in 2013, [[1350: Lorenz]] in 2014 (first Tuesday release) and [[1506: xkcloud]] in 2015. But then the project became so complicated that in 2016, the release was delayed until [[1663: | + | This worked for the next three years with [[1193: Externalities]] in 2013, [[1350: Lorenz]] in 2014 (first Tuesday release) and [[1506: xkcloud]] in 2015. But then the project became so complicated that in 2016, the release was delayed until [[1663: Garden#Monday 4th of April release|Monday April 4th]] with [[1663: Garden]]. |
| − | The yearly trend thus continued until 2017, where no comics were released on April 1st. And the two comics around the date had nothing to do with such a joke. See more on this, and why this may have been the case, in the [[1818: | + | The yearly trend thus continued until 2017, where no comics were released on April 1st. And the two comics around the date had nothing to do with such a joke. See more on this, and why this may have been the case, in the [[1818: Rayleigh Scattering#No April Fools' Day comic in 2017|trivia section]] of the first of these two, [[1818: Rayleigh Scattering]]. |
Then from 2018 Randall once again began releasing April Fools' Day comic. In 2018 he again moved the release day from Monday April 2nd to Sunday April 1st with [[1975: Right Click]]. In this comic he both links to [[404: Not Found]] and [[UniXKCD]] two of his previous "not a real comic" April Fools' Day jokes. In 2019 April 1st was a Monday so a normal release day, and he released [[2131: Emojidome]], another user generated comic. | Then from 2018 Randall once again began releasing April Fools' Day comic. In 2018 he again moved the release day from Monday April 2nd to Sunday April 1st with [[1975: Right Click]]. In this comic he both links to [[404: Not Found]] and [[UniXKCD]] two of his previous "not a real comic" April Fools' Day jokes. In 2019 April 1st was a Monday so a normal release day, and he released [[2131: Emojidome]], another user generated comic. | ||
| − | In 2020 he again had trouble and the release of [[2288: Collector's Edition]] was delayed two days for a [[2288: | + | In 2020 he again had trouble and the release of [[2288: Collector's Edition]] was delayed two days for a [[2288: Collector's Edition#Trivia|Friday April 3rd release]]. Instead the planned Friday comic [[2289: Scenario 4]] was released on Saturday. |
| − | In 2021 [[2445: Checkbox]] was released on Thursday April 1st, making it the first April Fools' Day comic to be released on a Thursday. Only Saturday has yet to see a special release. It could have been in 2017, but that was the year without such a comic. | + | In 2021 [[2445: Checkbox]] was released on Thursday April 1st, making it the first April Fools' Day comic to be released on a Thursday. Only Saturday has yet to see a special release. It could have been in 2017, but that was the year without such a comic. April 1st fell on a Saturday in 2023; however, no fools' comic has been posted as of April 3 2023.<!-- update this when we get Monday's comic. would be a shame if fools' was canceled... --> |
In 2022 [[2601: Instructions]] was released on Friday April 1st, a normal release day. There was though an interesting fact related to this release. First of all it visually was similar to the previous Fools' comic, which had only a {{w|checkbox}} to begin with. Instructions only had a {{w|radio button}}. But more interesting, like last year, this comic had an audio part. Thus making it a recurring Fools' theme, and also making these two comics the, at that time, only [[:Category:Comics with audio|comics with audio]]. Although in Instructions the sounds was a vital part of the joke, which was not the case the year before. (Also both comics had a mute button, that could toggle the sound on and off. But the two comics similar buttons worked in reverse, so the mute button had muted sound in the first, but the audio on in the second of the two comics...) | In 2022 [[2601: Instructions]] was released on Friday April 1st, a normal release day. There was though an interesting fact related to this release. First of all it visually was similar to the previous Fools' comic, which had only a {{w|checkbox}} to begin with. Instructions only had a {{w|radio button}}. But more interesting, like last year, this comic had an audio part. Thus making it a recurring Fools' theme, and also making these two comics the, at that time, only [[:Category:Comics with audio|comics with audio]]. Although in Instructions the sounds was a vital part of the joke, which was not the case the year before. (Also both comics had a mute button, that could toggle the sound on and off. But the two comics similar buttons worked in reverse, so the mute button had muted sound in the first, but the audio on in the second of the two comics...) | ||
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#2008 '''Tuesday''' April 1st: | #2008 '''Tuesday''' April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[404: Not Found]] |
| − | # | + | #*This was technically not a comic, but it did specifically "not come out" on April 1st. |
| − | # | + | #*But it DID not come out, between the normal Monday and Wednesday release making it "not" an extra comic that week. |
#2011 Friday April 1st: | #2011 Friday April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[880: Headache]] |
#2012 '''Sunday''' April 1st: | #2012 '''Sunday''' April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[1037: Umwelt]] |
| − | # | + | #*The next release was not Monday but Wednesday, so it replaced the Monday release. |
#2013 Monday April 1st: | #2013 Monday April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[1193: Externalities]] |
#2014 '''Tuesday''' April 1st: | #2014 '''Tuesday''' April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[1350: Lorenz]] |
| − | # | + | #*This was the first Tuesday release, but the other two releases that week fell normally on Monday and Friday, thus it replaced Wednesdays release. |
#2015 Wednesday April 1st: | #2015 Wednesday April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[1506: xkcloud]] |
| − | #2016 [[1663: | + | #2016 [[1663: Garden#Monday 4th of April release|Monday April 4th]]: |
| − | # | + | #*[[1663: Garden]] |
| − | # | + | #*This comic was supposed to be released Friday April 1st but had technical problems and ended up being released on Monday April 4th. |
| − | # | + | #*There where thus only two comics in the week before. See the link above. |
| − | # | + | #*There was [[1663: Garden#April Fool's comic|no doubt]] that this was supposed to be the April Fools' day comic. |
| − | + | #There was [[1818: Rayleigh Scattering#No April Fools' Day comic in 2017|No April Fools' Day comic]] in 2017! | |
#2018 '''Sunday''' April 1st: | #2018 '''Sunday''' April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[1975: Right Click]] |
| − | # | + | #*The next release was not Monday but Wednesday, so it replaced the Monday release. |
#2019 Monday April 1st: | #2019 Monday April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[2131: Emojidome]] |
#2020 [[2288:_Collector's_Edition#Trivia|Friday April 3rd]]: | #2020 [[2288:_Collector's_Edition#Trivia|Friday April 3rd]]: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[2288: Collector's Edition]] |
| − | # | + | #*This comic was supposed to be released Wednesday April 1st but had technical problems and ended up being released on Friday April 3rd. |
| − | # | + | #*The original planned Friday comic, [[2289: Scenario 4]], was then released on Saturday April 4th |
#2021 '''Thursday''' April 1st: | #2021 '''Thursday''' April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[2445: Checkbox]] |
| − | # | + | #*The next release was not Friday but Monday, so it replaced the Friday release. |
#2022 '''Friday''' April 1st: | #2022 '''Friday''' April 1st: | ||
| − | # | + | #*[[2601: Instructions]] |
</div> | </div> | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
Revision as of 15:08, 3 April 2023
- Comics (or other happenings related to xkcd) that were put up on April Fools' Day as an April Fools' Day joke. They have been annual, having been featured every year since 2018.
- Click to expand for a more detailed explanation:
Explanation
In 2006, the first year that xkcd released in March and April, there was no comic released on April 1st and no April Fools' comic was released. The two comics before and after were 83: Katamari from March 31st and 84: National Language from April 3rd.
Randall first posted an April Fools' comic on Sunday, April 1, 2007. This comic ("Syndication") was not numbered; sequentially, it came between 242: The Difference and 243: Appropriate Term. It has not been preserved in the official xkcd archives.
For April Fools' Day 2008 Randall created 404: Not Found, which is a meta-comic, since it in fact doesn't exist. But that he considers it a comic is both made clear in the explanation for said "comic" and also since he links to it in his 2018 April fools' comic 1975: Right Click, from a fools' menu that links to all his comic alphabetically by title.
The comic for April 1st 2009 had no obvious ties to April Fools' Day, but on that day Randall made an April Fool in another way. See the Trivia section for 563: Fermirotica, released that day.
April 1st, 2010 didn't coincide with a comic release. However, on that day the site was altered to mimic a Unix command line interface, the so called UniXKCD. (This happened wile 721: Flatland was the newest comic, but it was released March 31st and had nothing to do with April Fools' Day, see this trivia).
Starting on Friday, April 1st, 2011 with 880: Headache, Randall has released a real April Fools' Day joke annually, except 2017.
Beginning with the second year in that row, with 1037: Umwelt, he moved the release day to Sunday April 1st 2012, and thus began the practice of releasing an April Fools Day comic on April 1st, notwithstanding what day of the week it fell on by shifting the comic's release to that day. Typically it would thus replace the next release day, so there would not be a comic on Monday the 2nd or 3rd of April, if April 1st fell in the weekend.
This worked for the next three years with 1193: Externalities in 2013, 1350: Lorenz in 2014 (first Tuesday release) and 1506: xkcloud in 2015. But then the project became so complicated that in 2016, the release was delayed until Monday April 4th with 1663: Garden.
The yearly trend thus continued until 2017, where no comics were released on April 1st. And the two comics around the date had nothing to do with such a joke. See more on this, and why this may have been the case, in the trivia section of the first of these two, 1818: Rayleigh Scattering.
Then from 2018 Randall once again began releasing April Fools' Day comic. In 2018 he again moved the release day from Monday April 2nd to Sunday April 1st with 1975: Right Click. In this comic he both links to 404: Not Found and UniXKCD two of his previous "not a real comic" April Fools' Day jokes. In 2019 April 1st was a Monday so a normal release day, and he released 2131: Emojidome, another user generated comic.
In 2020 he again had trouble and the release of 2288: Collector's Edition was delayed two days for a Friday April 3rd release. Instead the planned Friday comic 2289: Scenario 4 was released on Saturday.
In 2021 2445: Checkbox was released on Thursday April 1st, making it the first April Fools' Day comic to be released on a Thursday. Only Saturday has yet to see a special release. It could have been in 2017, but that was the year without such a comic. April 1st fell on a Saturday in 2023; however, no fools' comic has been posted as of April 3 2023.
In 2022 2601: Instructions was released on Friday April 1st, a normal release day. There was though an interesting fact related to this release. First of all it visually was similar to the previous Fools' comic, which had only a checkbox to begin with. Instructions only had a radio button. But more interesting, like last year, this comic had an audio part. Thus making it a recurring Fools' theme, and also making these two comics the, at that time, only comics with audio. Although in Instructions the sounds was a vital part of the joke, which was not the case the year before. (Also both comics had a mute button, that could toggle the sound on and off. But the two comics similar buttons worked in reverse, so the mute button had muted sound in the first, but the audio on in the second of the two comics...)
Randall discusses several April Fools comics in his talk at Øredev 2013.
Release Weekday
- Here is a list of the day of the week the "real" April 1st comic was released.
- Those not on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, have been moved to hit April 1st.
- Example with the first to do so 1037: Umwelt.
- It was planned for release on Monday April 2nd but came out Sunday April 1st 2012.
- The next comic 1038: Fountain skipped Monday and came out as normal Wednesday April 4th.
- Those not on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, have been moved to hit April 1st.
- 2008 Tuesday April 1st:
- 404: Not Found
- This was technically not a comic, but it did specifically "not come out" on April 1st.
- But it DID not come out, between the normal Monday and Wednesday release making it "not" an extra comic that week.
- 2011 Friday April 1st:
- 2012 Sunday April 1st:
- 1037: Umwelt
- The next release was not Monday but Wednesday, so it replaced the Monday release.
- 2013 Monday April 1st:
- 2014 Tuesday April 1st:
- 1350: Lorenz
- This was the first Tuesday release, but the other two releases that week fell normally on Monday and Friday, thus it replaced Wednesdays release.
- 2015 Wednesday April 1st:
- 2016 Monday April 4th:
- 1663: Garden
- This comic was supposed to be released Friday April 1st but had technical problems and ended up being released on Monday April 4th.
- There where thus only two comics in the week before. See the link above.
- There was no doubt that this was supposed to be the April Fools' day comic.
- There was No April Fools' Day comic in 2017!
- 2018 Sunday April 1st:
- 1975: Right Click
- The next release was not Monday but Wednesday, so it replaced the Monday release.
- 2019 Monday April 1st:
- 2020 Friday April 3rd:
- 2288: Collector's Edition
- This comic was supposed to be released Wednesday April 1st but had technical problems and ended up being released on Friday April 3rd.
- The original planned Friday comic, 2289: Scenario 4, was then released on Saturday April 4th
- 2021 Thursday April 1st:
- 2445: Checkbox
- The next release was not Friday but Monday, so it replaced the Friday release.
- 2022 Friday April 1st:
Pages in category "April fools' comics"
The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total.
