1452: Jurassic World
| Jurassic World |
 Title text: Hey guys! What's eating you? Ha ha ha it's me! Oh, what fun we have. |
Explanation
This strip refers to Jurassic World, the then new Jurassic Park movie, and the titular theme park. White Hat explains to Megan that, in their park, they have genetically engineered a better Tyrannosaurus. Megan doesn't feel that the historic Tyrannosaurus can be improved upon, but White Hat insists they've created an even more terrifying, smarter Tyrannosaurus for this new park.
White Hat refers to Tyrannosaurus as "two decades old", referring to the T-Rex in the original Jurassic Park, and that they improved it by further genetic engineering. Megan comments that she is fairly certain it is older than two decades, suggesting that she is referring to the actual Tyrannosaurus that lived millions of years ago.
In the third panel, White Hat gestures to introduce the "new" Tyrannosaurus, only seen in a zoomed-out fourth panel, who is immediately recognizable as the green Tyrannosaurus from Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics; specifically, from the last panel of said webcomic - which in turn is from clip art. Anyone who has read so much as a handful of Dinosaur Comics will know that its Tyrannosaurus character "T-Rex" is about as far from smart and scary as it is possible for a Tyrannosaurus to be (see this example from the day this comic was released).
The title text is an example of what T-Rex (the character) would say to a couple of humans, and it's a poor joke which would only be funny when it's a talking T-Rex saying it. Despite his goofy mannerisms, he is still a carnivore who attacks (or at least accidentally steps on) humans, as can be seen in panel 3 and 4 of his own native webcomic.
Transcript
- [White Hat holding one hand up in front om him and Megan are walking together.]
- White Hat: In Jurassic World, we've used genetic engineering to create a better dinosaur.
- Megan: Tyrannosaurus is the most charismatic animal that ever lived, and you think you'll upstage it?
- [White Hat now holds both his hands up in front of him as he and Megan walk on.]
- White Hat: Tyrannosaurus was cool, but it's two decades old!
- Megan: I think it's a little older than that.
- [In this frame-less panel White Hat points up as they continue to walk.]
- White Hat: We took Tyrannosaurus and we improved it. Made it scarier, deadlier, smarter.
- White Hat: Look–there it is!
- [Characters appearing to be a Cueball and a version of Megan are dwarfed in the bottom left corner as they stare up at a facsimile of the green T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics. They only reach T-Rex to it's knees.]
Trivia
- In the last panel Randall may have forgotten to draw White Hat's hat so that he looks like Cueball. On the other hand, the 'Megan' in the longshot panel also has notably distinct hair from her appearances alongside White Hat, and neither are walking (or gesturing up), so it is plausible that these are two entirely new characters already present (to better indicate scale) by the time the two main characters' walk brings them just close enough for it for White Hat to make the dramatic reveal to Megan (and ourselves), but still remaining outside the last frame itself.
- Note that in the two other comics with T-Rex, Randall put in a small Cueball under the foot of T-Rex in the fourth panel of 145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics, and in the T-Rex story line from 1350: Lorenz, he also forgot to drawn Hairy's hair, thus also there including Cueball though like here by mistake...
- If it was a mistake, it might be explained by the trailer for the Jurassic World movie having been released a day before this comic, so Randall most likely created this comic on very short notice.
- The entire Dinosaur Comics was parodied in 145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics, where Randall copied the drawings himself, and T-Rex has appeared in one of the story lines in 1350: Lorenz (see this example story line and the Dinosaur section under Lorenz themes), where the actual images from the first three panels of Ryan's comic are used, just like here where it is the last panel which is used. Later, T-Rex appeared in 3012: The Future of Orion.
- Unlike the surrounding comics, this comic does not have a 2x scale version. This is likely because T-Rex already appears at the highest resolution here, though a higher-resolution render may exist.
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Uh ... maybe, just maybe, is Megan referring to the ACTUAL tyrannosaurus, the animal which lived several millions years ago? -- Hkmaly (talk) 11:47, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
Any reason why "white hat" is not wearing his hat in the final panel? 173.245.54.194 12:20, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
- Good catch. Jarod997 (talk) 14:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
- none that I feel confident about - perhaps the T-Rex ate it or blew it off swinging his tail around? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
- Logical reason: Randall forgot.
- Fun reason: the surprise blew away the hat! Greyson (talk) 16:07, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
Is it just me, or does this particular episode of xkcd just not come off as funny? Jarod997 (talk) 14:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
- I suppose not particularly, but that happens regularly - it's not always supposed to be funny... -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
- I really enjoyed this comic. It's probably because I did not see the punchline coming on my small smartphone screen. RecentlyChanged (talk)
I believe that Rex from We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story would be even more 'improved'! Greyson (talk) 16:07, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
- Barney would have been more logical as it (he?) already appears on a TV in JP III :-) 108.162.254.100 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
I'd think that Dinosaur Comic's T-Rex is actually quite intelligent for a dinosaur. 108.162.221.169 18:26, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
"But Megan objects to this notion that the T.rex is only 20 years old, staying with the line of thought that White Hat started with." This phrase is very confusing for a non-native english speaker... I nearly edited it as a mistake from the author before understanding its actual meaning. Maybe it should be rephrased in a simpler way?188.114.110.47 08:55, 27 November 2014 (UTC)
Note: There is also movie Tyrannosaurus. I though they may refer to that, with the world being in italics, but that one is not 20 years old. -- Hkmaly (talk) 12:52, 28 November 2014 (UTC)
I think the explanation should mention the double meaning (figurative vs. literal) of "what's eating you?", as I think most non-native speakers won't be aware of the figurative one. (For example, I only caught it the third time reading.) --108.162.230.119 12:31, 30 November 2014 (UTC)
- Which is? I'm not a native English speaker either, but I suppose the figurative meaning is "what's troubling you?". Oddly, Wiktionary was of no help. 188.114.99.189 23:47, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
Is it just me or this comic is pretty obviously referencing Apple's ads? Like 'it's two decades old!' as they constantly need to create a new iphone, and even if nothing changes, they still fill the ad with marketing bullshit. "We improved it. Made it scarier, deadlier, smarter." All of those are subjective. Etimologyman (talk) 20:30, 8 March 2019 (UTC)
Now, almost a decade after the release of the comic, I was thinking if White Hat is not, as currently claimed, talking about animation technology but about actually "improving" the T-Rex. You know, like it is one plot point in the movie. But sadly I don't know if that detail was already known in November 2014. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 10:24, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
- Ok, I checked: the trailer for the movie was released one day befor ethe comic. This cannot be a coincidence. I'll change the explanation accordingly. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 10:31, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
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