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probe-4

2024-03-03 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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probe-4
Votey panel for probe-4
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Explanation

This comic plays on the popular culture trope of alien abductions involving "probing" -- the widespread joke/fear that extraterrestrials abduct humans to perform invasive rectal examinations.

In the first panel, an alien tells "Steven" that they've reached his planet and it's time for his "probing." Steven screams in terror. He then protests: "Look at that thing! It's too shiny! It's not even risen!" -- seemingly objecting to the probe instrument's appearance while also possibly confusing "risen" in a way that adds to the absurdity.

The alien then tries to reassure Steven: "There's no fluke at the back to keep it from getting stuck." This is a detail borrowed from actual medical device design (instruments have flanged bases for safety), which makes the alien's reassurance even more uncomfortable.

The twist comes in the next panel: "This isn't an internal probe. It uses light pulses." The alien reveals the probe is completely non-invasive -- it's essentially just a scanner. But Steven screams even louder ("AAAAAAAAA") anyway.

The humor is in the subversion: the entire abduction probing trope is built on fear of invasive procedures, but here the alien is being perfectly reasonable and using harmless technology. Steven's terror is entirely irrational -- he's afraid of the concept of "probing" regardless of what it actually involves. It satirizes how fear is often about the narrative rather than the reality.

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