2009-09-25
Explanation
This comic imagines a scenario where LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) would actually be useful. In the top panel, a giant alien monster announces: "I am from Planet X! I am immune to metal and explosives! Hahaha! Hahaha haha -- oh no! My one weakness! Oversized foam weapons wielded in authentic medieval style!" A person in a cape stands before the creature holding a foam sword. The bottom panel shows a woman cutting off a man mid-sentence as he tries to explain this scenario: "So, you see--" "NO LARPING!"
The joke works on multiple levels. It satirizes how LARPers might try to justify their hobby by imagining an absurdly specific scenario in which foam swords and medieval cosplay would be the only thing that could save humanity. The alien's weakness is so precisely tailored to LARP equipment that it is transparently a fantasy concocted by someone desperate to make their hobby seem practical. The woman's exasperated interruption suggests she has heard this kind of argument before and is not remotely convinced.
The votey panel shows the cartoonist (presumably Zach Weinersmith) being told "Wearing a cape while cartooning isn't LARP!" to which another person responds "It's worse!" This is a self-deprecating joke suggesting that the author himself engages in cape-wearing behavior that is arguably even less justifiable than LARPing, since at least LARPers are socializing and exercising outdoors.