Editing 1257: Monster

{{comic
| number    = 1257
| date      = August 28, 2013
| title     = Monster
| image     = monster.png
| titletext = It was finally destroyed with a nuclear weapon carrying the destructive energy of the Hiroshima bomb.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody on the opening scene of the science fiction monster movie {{w|Pacific Rim (film)|Pacific Rim}} from 2013. In the film, huge monsters called {{w|Kaiju}} (for instance {{w|Godzilla}} is a big Kaiju) entered the world through an inter-dimensional portal under the Pacific ocean and attacked coastal cities. The first Kaiju attacks the city of San Francisco, killing tens of thousands of people before its death five days later. 

In this comic, officials and police are evidently trying to describe the extraordinary qualities of a huge monster by comparing it with everyday objects instead of numbers, which is a recurring theme on xkcd (see [[526: Converting to Metric]], [[1047: Approximations]]) and also in the [[Blag]] article [http://blog.xkcd.com/2013/05/15/dictionary-of-numbers/ Dictionary of Numbers] where [[Randall]] says "I don't like large numbers without context."

This comic pokes fun at how common it is in the media to compare things of extraordinary qualities to a certain narrow set of well-known objects. The comic features people discussing a fictional monster which - apparently - can be only described by these overused comparisons. The three used by [[Megan]], [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are:
*The monster is as long as a football field. This is most likely an {{w|American_football#Field_and_equipment|American football field}} (given the author is American). So the monster is about 120 yards/110 m long.
**Here is an {{w|Marco Polo Park|example from Wikipedia}} where a building is compared to the length of a football field.
*The monster runs as fast as a cheetah, at least 60 mph or 96 kmh.
**The {{w|cheetah}} is famous for being the fastest land animal at full sprint. Like the monster, the cheetah is prone to comparisons: to cars, since 60 mph is a common highway speed limit. Unlike a cheetah, however, the monster's speed is almost certainly thanks to its large stride.
*The monster is as heavy as a {{w|blue whale}} (about 180 tonnes).
**Here is an [http://factismals.com/tag/fish/ example] where the weight of a blue whale is used in two different comparison (something heavier and something lighter).
*Finally it is stated that it has the intelligence of a two-year-old child. Comparing someone's intelligence to a child of a given age is very common.
**Here is an [http://www.livescience.com/5613-dogs-smart-2-year-kids.html example] where a dog is compared to a two year old kid.
**There is even an xkcd comic that is referring to this age IQ: [[1364: Like I'm Five]].

The caption below the panel names the monster the ''Frequently-Made Comparisons Monster'' and continues the joke by comparing the number of killed people to those that could fill a (sports) stadium (of the order tens of thousands), and the area of devastation to the smallest state in the US {{w|Rhode Island}} (1,214&nbsp;sq&nbsp;mi/3,140&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) (a state Randall also used for comparison in the What if? [http://what-if.xkcd.com/8/ Everybody Jump]. In another What if? he uses a football stadium filled with ants as a comparison: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ Lethal Neutrinos].)

The title text take the joke one step further by comparing the {{w|nuclear bomb}} used to destroy the monster to the bomb dropped on the {{w|Hiroshima}} at the end of the second world war. This is an oft-used reference for explosive devices, and implying that it is the frequently-made-comparison quality of the bomb that destroyed the monster. (Here is an {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event#Effects of impact|example from Wikipedia}} of such a comparison with the strength of a meteor strike.)

==Transcript==
:[Four people are standing around a table-top crisis planning model. Cueball and Ponytail are wearing police-style hats; Megan holds a clipboard and blond girl has her hands on the table.]
:Megan: It's as long as a football field. Runs as fast as a cheetah.
:Cueball: Weighs as much as a blue whale.
:Blond girl: Can we negotiate with it?
:Ponytail: No. It has the intelligence of a two-year-old child.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:By the time the Frequently-Made Comparisons Monster was finally defeated, it had eaten enough people to fill a stadium and devastated an area the size of Rhode Island. 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:American football]]