517: Marshmallow Gun

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Marshmallow Gun
Except in reality crossing a stream of marshmallows would create a giant Bill Murray.
Title text: Except in reality crossing a stream of marshmallows would create a giant Bill Murray.

Explanation

Cueball has obtained a gun that shoots marshmallows and promptly decides to shoot at Megan. Having taken the first few hits without much reaction, she sighs and then brings out the super soaker, which was first used on her in 220: Philosophy (and later reappears in 2334: Slide Trombone), and soaks him with it.

The next day, everyone has such guns and starts shooting marshmallows at each other. We see Beret Guy and Megan who confront Cueball, saying Hey, noob! Eat Stay-Puft®! This is like saying eat lead when threatening someone with a regular gun, since Stay Puft is a fictional brand of marshmallows from the Ghostbusters movie. (Of course, it's also a reasonable thing to say, since marshmallows are good to eat.)[citation needed] These statements and many like them appear in many first-person shooter games with chat.

Beret Guy realizes that the "streams" of marshmallows are about to cross and shouts a warning, but it is too late and they cross anyway. This results in something gigantic appearing with a Foom Roaaar! off-screen. It roars at the three friends. Megan looks up and states that this is bad as the giant shouts You're shooting what? Presumably the crossing marshmallow beams have recreated the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. In the movie, crossing the ghost-capturing streams from the proton packs was "bad." But in the end, in which an ancient spirit took the form of this giant Marshmallow Man, the monster was destroyed as a side effect of crossing the streams. The Stay-Puft man sees what they are shooting and is justifiably upset.

The title text is a further Ghostbusters reference, as Bill Murray was one of the actors in the movie. Since the crossing of the streams of the proton packs by Bill Murray and the other Ghostbusters is related to the destruction of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the movie, the crossing of the marshmallow streams in the comic does the opposite and summons an enormous Bill Murray.

Transcript

[A box above the first frame:]
I got this gun that shoots marshmallows.
[Cueball removes the red marshmallow gun from a box.]
[Cueball shoots at Megan with marshmallow gun from offscreen.]
Pop pop pop
Whap whap whap
[Megan facepalms.]
Pop
Megan: Sigh.
[Megan removes a super soaker from desk drawer.]
Pop pop
[Megan shoots Cueball (offscreen) with the super soaker.]
Cueball (offscreen): Augh!
Fwoosh
Cueball (offscreen): Man, I forgot that was there.


[A box above the first frame of the second part of the comic:]
The next day, everyone else got them too.
[Megan and Beret Guy brandish marshmallow guns.]
Megan: Hey, noob! Eat Stay-Puft®!
[Megan shoots a marshmallow gun.]
Pop pop pop
[Cueball shoots a marshmallow gun.]
Poppop pop
[Megan and Cueball shoot marshmallows into the air, crossing the streams.]
Beret Guy (offscreen): No! Don't cross the—
[Between the last two frames is a wide gap with the following text:]
Foom
Giant monster (offscreen): Roaaar!
[Megan, Cueball, and Beret Guy are all standing with weapons pointed at the ground looking up.]
Megan: Okay, this is bad.
Giant monster (offscreen): You're shooting what?


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Discussion

Not wanting to be picky, but there's loads of logic problems (loads more than suspended by standard disbelief, that is) with crossing marshmallow beams and getting... whoever/whatever it is in giant form. Proton beams (possibly, the original film is vague and inconsistent in its technobabble), when crossed, destroyed the marshmallow man. So marshmallow beams should perhaps be applicable in somehow despelling Giant Protons Man, or something similar. Just saying. 31.111.87.233 13:25, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Oh don't be shy. You totally wanted to be picky. If you didn't you wouldn't have pointed that out. You're just guilty about it, which is silly. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 06:28, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Maybe *you* should be writing this comic instead of Randall 108.162.219.223

I think the main cause was Beret Guy, while he is off-screen, it is him who shouts "No! Don't cross the-" and it is a big theme within the comics that stuff Beret Guy says or does alters reality in unlogical ways. Thus, Mr. "I don´t want to be picky" Picky´s logic problems are no problem at all 141.101.105.77 13:54, 25 October 2021 (UTC)