Everything
by Jeff
Image text: I wanna hold your hand so I don't fall out of your gyrocopter.
In this comic, the first three sentences are a bunch of statements that you would find in a birthday or anniversary card from one person in a relationship to another. In this case, all the statements are in the negative. However, by the last frame, a positive greeting card statement is used, but is continued below, which makes it less of a greeting card statement and more match up with what is going on in the background.
In the background, Cueball is gathering a lot of different sort of random things, including a crane, what appears to be a bomb and the top of a manikin. He takes two more piles of stuff and creates some sort of super tank with huge wheels, a mounted gun, satellite dish and crane. It appears to be running as there is exhaust coming out of the top of the machine.
In the image text, a gyrocopter is a very small ultralight helicopter.
UPDATE: Thanks to the commentors, I missed the outline of a female character on the tank in the last frame. So take what I've said up there and reverse it. Cueball is the character speaking, not some separate 3rd party about Cueball.
October 24th, 2011
I don’t think cueball built the tank. I’m pretty sure he was bringing this stuff to the girl he talks about in the strip. You can see her building the tank in the last frame. She’s kind of standing on it (right above that big wheel).
October 24th, 2011
I’d have to agree – it looks to me like the object of Cueball’s (lack of) passion is the one building the massive tank, using all the stuff Cueball brought. I don’t know about anyone else, but I would really love to know someone like that!
October 24th, 2011
Thirded. Please correct the original explanation, it’s WAY off!
October 26th, 2011
Good eyes, all. I’ve fixed it.
October 24th, 2011
I agree with Michael.
Cueball most likely gave all his stuff to the girl as he said in the textboxes. Then she built the big machine-thing.
October 24th, 2011
And not because I am a “corrector” but that I think it even more funny to point out, that isn’t a crane on the wagon, it is a mini Effel Tower and a patio umbrella. LOL! He cracks me up!
October 24th, 2011
Is it just me, or does anybody else think that the huge machine cutie is building is like a large version of the cart cueball is bringing her in the first panel?
The mannequin = the machine gun, the eiffel tower becomes the smokestack, the umbrella is the crane, the bomb is the parabolic satellite antenna, the little wheels become the huge wheels.
Maybe it’s just me.
October 24th, 2011
The above commenters are definitely right- Cueball gave everything to someone (Cutie?) who built the armored vehicle. I’d have to say the vehicle doesn’t count as a tank, given that there is no main gun.
My contribution is that the first frame may show an umbrella, in reference to some of Cueball’s robot wars paraphernalia. From the FIRST Design strip:
http://xkcd.com/689/
October 24th, 2011
There is also a double meaning with the text “I want to give you everything.” The greeting card statement is more about love, time, commitment..you know, that stuff that relationships are made of. But the actual image in box 3 is showing physical objects that he is giving her.
October 24th, 2011
It’s also a distant reference to MacGyver. He found a “MacGyver” girl
(In the last frame she’s using a hammer).
Anything he brings(even complete random stuff like umbrella, eifel tower,
a manequim…) , she will use in an awesome way. As such he wants to
bring everything to such an imaginative girl!
October 24th, 2011
My take: I definitely agree with this one being categorized as being a bit ‘emo.’ In a metaphorical sense Cueball is saying that emotionally he does not want to get to heavily involved in this relationship, he has his own life to attend to and things he wants to accomplish. But at the same time he may not want to give up a chance to be with someone this interesting, hence the “giving you everything.” He’s probably not being literal, he wants to be open with this person but he doesn’t want to be so serious that he seriously cripples or constrains his ability to be happy. So he will take the chance and be willing to give this person a shot at impressing him by giving them “everything” to see what she does with it, that she may show him something worth sticking around for.
October 25th, 2011
Sometimes, a metaphor is just a phor.
October 24th, 2011
>a gyrocopter is a very small ultralight helicopter.
Actually, A gyrocopter is a gyrocopter, not a helicopter. And gyrocopter can be quite large. Some have been about as large as the largest helicopters ever built.
And I must disagree with Shannon ” that isn’t a crane on the wagon, it is a mini Effel Tower and a patio umbrella.”
I think it is actually a trebuchet.
My two cents.
October 24th, 2011
You are correct about the gyrocopter. To be more specific, in a gyrocopter the main rotor blades are not powered as in a helicopter. Instead, they spin as a result of air passing over them and thus provide lift.
You are incorrect in your disagreement, however. That is clearly a mini Effel Tower and a patio umbrella on the wagon in the first frame.
October 26th, 2011
Can you give any reference for a gyrocopter (autogyro) “as large as the largest helicopters ever built”? I’ve found no evidence for any working autogyro aircraft of large size. There is evidence of autogyros flying over the Eiffel Tower (the full sized one, with correct spelling), and I would accept a claim that they have flown over patio umbrellas, without demanding documentary evidence. I discount any assertions that an autogyro has been shot down with a trebuchet.
October 26th, 2011
Look up the Fairey Rotodyne, and the Kamov Ka-22.
November 2nd, 2011
I must agree that it is most definitely a trebuchet not a crane. I can’t see a counterweight to add (and really actually cause the) leverage but it could easily be hidden behind the base. Just my two cents.
October 24th, 2011
“I wanna give you everything” and “I wanna hold your hand” are lines from Beatles songs. I bet the other “greeting card” sentiments are also based on pop songs.
This strip is going to be shared on about a zillion Facebook walls in the Maker community.
October 24th, 2011
I feel like cueball is bringing all of the junk from the rest of his life that he’s just kind of dismissed and then he meets someone that is able to do something amazing with it that he never thought possible. Additionally the tank having a crane, satellite dish, and gun represents that it can build something new, be entertaining, and “fight” anything in the rest of the world all while being safe inside their armored vehicle.
October 24th, 2011
I see it in otwer way. I think Cueball is giving all they have to the girl he is in love, but she creates a tank with these things *against* himself.
October 24th, 2011
Once more, I must point out explainxkcd’s insistence on taking away all intellectual credit from Cutie.
How could Cueball have built all this, if he is blatantly saying he brought it for someone else to build?
This is getting really irritating.
October 25th, 2011
Not to mention she’s right there building it in the last panel. Yeah. I hope he corrects the explanation above.
October 24th, 2011
> In the image text, a gyrocopter is a very small ultralight helicopter.
No, it’s not.
It is a type of rotorcraft which uses an unpowered rotor in autorotation to develop lift, and an engine-powered propeller, similar to that of a fixed-wing aircraft, to provide thrust.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Autogyro
October 26th, 2011
FYI, the wikimedia secure site has been recently deprecated. Now you can simply use https://, as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro. Much better imo
October 24th, 2011
You’re all idiots – She’s pregnant. His soliloquy is a little sociopathic – but in the end, she’s using everything he has to make something more than he can understand
October 25th, 2011
Nice interpretation. I guess it would have less negative counts if you wouldn’t have started it with an insult and continued with a lesser-known loanword to emphasize your erudition.
October 24th, 2011
No no no. How can none of you understand this comic properly? Cueball represents the founding fathers (of the USA of course) giving the future (Cutie) the tools and equipment necessary to create something truly incredible. Though it is not without irony that the final product seems to be a war machine.
Obviously.
October 24th, 2011
This made me laugh out loud, literally.
I hope it’s a joke.
October 24th, 2011
woah, lots of disagreement on this one.
October 24th, 2011
I’m just wondering what the real female-figure torso is doing in the stick-figure world. Must just be a work of art expressing wildly exaggerated forms from an uncontained imagination.
October 24th, 2011
I think it depicts the process by which one falls in love. The negative reversals of the cliches show that he is not yet in love with the girl, but she does excite him in a way similar to falling in love, “And I’ve never met anyone like you.” To explore this feeling he brings out items which represent fragments of his personality to see how she interprets or reacts to them. The final construction reveals much about her and them. The result is magnificent, albeit menacing, much like love is at its first stages.
October 25th, 2011
This is what I’ve been feeling all long. The “physical” interpretation is the usual xkcd-styled twist of the comic, not only bringing a somewhat whacko perspective but also easing the mood of the comic. The underlying sentimental thought remains, though.
We’ve seen many occurrences of this style, where something completely unrelated pops into the picture when the plot is about to thicken (Electric Skateboard, that strip about the toast at a girl’s wedding, etc…).
October 26th, 2011
This is exactly how I interpreted it. Thanks for putting it into words
October 24th, 2011
Wow, I really want to comment but I can’t come up with any psycho-babel analysis or critical hyperbole. I think I will just say it is a pretty cool comic once again and, having found a girl pretty much like this, would like a break from all of the junk piling up around the house.
October 24th, 2011
Pretty sure it is a metaphor for throwing every random thing possible at Siri, to see what she’ll say. Hence building the ridiculous contraption
October 26th, 2011
Everything is about the iPhone in one way or another, right?
October 25th, 2011
I think it makes sense if you think about meeting someone you’re intrigued with–especially someone outside of your normal circle of friends and completely different. You’re not at the point yet where your whole world revolves around them (as in the first two panels), but you are so fascinated by them, that you want to give them everything to see what they do with it. To see where things lead. It’s as if you are at that inflection point. You’re giving them everything (sort of on faith) even though you don’t have all of the other emotional attachments yet.
October 25th, 2011
This reminds me of a short story I read, that would have been either Asimov, or from an Asimov-edited collection, about an autistic boy who can’t speak; one day he goes down to the local junkyard and returns with a discarded bicycle wheel which he places in the yard. The next day he goes back to the junk yard and returns with another piece which he connects to the wheel. Each day he does this, returning with something else and connecting it to the growing sculpture. Eventually the sculpture is completed, there is a switch which he flicks, and it turns on, and something amazing happens…
October 26th, 2011
I am unsure about this one – there is a sadness and resignation to Cueball in the first and second panels (maybe I am just depressed …) as he drags all the stuff he has collected and talks about giving these things to someone he clearly does not have a close emotional relationship to. I get a feeling of a compulsion and, possibly, destructive relationship between the one giving and the one creating.
October 26th, 2011
Well, I’m not very sure, because english it’s not my first language and the strip it’s quite ambigous (tipically Randall), but i think he could be refering to science (or knowledge in its whole meaning). At least it has a lot of sense in my mind: “you’re strange and fascinating and I’ve never met anyone like you” “your smile is not all i live for” “i’ll give you everything just to see what you would do with it”. He loves science, and wants to dedicate his life on it.
October 26th, 2011
I think that’s a bit far fetched, as it’s made clear by the comic that cueball refers to a woman.
October 26th, 2011
It’s clear that Randall loves science and women. There is no reason to discount a certain amount of symbolism, and multiple layers of meaning in his creations.
October 26th, 2011
First pardon me being nosy about others’ personal life.
But is this a love letter to Randall’s fiance who was diagnosed with breast cancer?
October 26th, 2011
Since you’re all still posting on the comic from the 24th on the 26th, it looks like Randall has ExplainXKCD stumped.
October 26th, 2011
Well, I think it’s an homage to A Softer World. Down to the mouseover text that has a twist of its own.
October 27th, 2011
I see here a love deeper than expected or even wanted, a new feeling that twists Cueball’s mind into a space he didn’t know existed. He defends his erstwhile, feelings – a healthy unwillingness to live for or through someone else – but paradoxically ends up devoting himself to his lover anyway because he is so enthralled by her joie-de-vivre. In the end, I hope Cueball finds that he gets back everything he has given, amplified, beautified, sanctified. Good luck, Randall.
October 28th, 2011
I see a disheartened guy giving everything to an amazingly unique and creative woman, despite his rationalizations about having a life of his own, only to discover that everything he gave her was turned into a war machine (with gun and trebuchet included) ready to pass over him if necessary.
November 2nd, 2011
I used to date a woman just like that.
November 14th, 2011
I hate this one. Where’s this guy’s masculinity, where are his balls if he is reduced to being a servant boy to this “woman” who prefers this self-aggrandizing masturbation over being a wife and a mother?