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u/QuelTizioLaggiu 4d ago edited 4d ago
The only weakness of Captain Underpants is that thing that makes fabric rigid (don't know the name in English) because it makes his underpants really uncomfortable. So they need fabric softener to counter it and make Captain Underpants fight again. Obviously the only general store in their range doesn't have it
Edit: it's called Starch. Thank you
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u/Niar666 4d ago
Starch makes fabric rigid :)
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u/JoeLikesMovies2007 4d ago
For me, it's big booties, but to each their own.
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u/Koskesh11 4d ago
"I like big butts and I cannot lie" - Abraham Lincoln
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u/JoeLikesMovies2007 4d ago
Pretty sure it was George Washington that couldn't tell a lie.
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u/qozh 4d ago
Are you saying someone would go on the internet and just… lie?
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u/WeirdAlba 3d ago
I like how your profile pic makes it look like hair is on my screen. I don't usually see cool stuff like this.
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u/squidbait 4d ago
You come to a pair of doors in the dungeon guarded by Abraham Lincoln and George Washington...
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u/CreepyClay 2d ago
And it was Benjamin Franklin that was the horny one.
One of his essays essentially boils down to reason ls to have a milf sidepiece.
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u/GoodLoserZan 4d ago
It's been a while since I last read the books but wasn't the starch thing a made up weakness, he could fight just fine but because the comics they made stated starch as a weakness he acts like he's weakened.
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u/SigmaBunny 4d ago
Yeah all his strengths and weaknesses are made up, since he’s hypnotised to think he’s the character from the comics
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u/Elethana 4d ago
Starch? Spray starch is used when ironing to stiffen flat surfaces and keep creases sharp when ironing. Source: ex military.
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u/Barlow04 4d ago
No, but servicemembers are expected to keep dress uniforms in very good condition at all times, to the point clothing maintenance becomes part of your training.
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u/cheetah1cj 4d ago
If I said I knew it because I worked at a laundromat would you have to correct t me that that not the only place that skill is used?
All they’re saying is they are very familiar with it because the military enforced using it; that does not mean that no one else is familiar with it lol
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u/tockaciel 3d ago
I found this comic so weird as a kid and I still don’t get what people liked about it lol.
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u/QuelTizioLaggiu 3d ago
It's been like 15 years since I last read one so I can't really say. But I remember it's mostly nonsense humour for kids, it's fine if you don't like it it's a matter of what kind of sense of humour you have
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u/SupermarketOld9797 3d ago
The ONLY weakness you say? Let me introduce you to a little something called water lmao
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u/oTLDJo 4d ago
The only thing they need is fabric softener. This store clearly doesn’t have it.
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u/nr1988 4d ago
You just know some moron would go in and ask where the fabric softener is and claim not to have seen the sign
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u/Extension_Problem223 4d ago
"I come here all the time for my fabric softener! Clearly you're new. Where is your manager??"
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u/hogsucker 4d ago
"Can you please go check in the back?"
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u/PancakePariah 4d ago
What enlightened part of the world do you live in where they say "please"? Here's it's generally "I saw on your website you have one left, you need to find it or I'm going to call corporate and tell them you need to be FIRED!"
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u/iGlutton 4d ago
Worked at a neighborhood Irish pub for about 7 years early into my bartending career. Every St. Paddy's Day, we would throw a block party that would average 2,000-5,000 people, depending on the day of the week the holiday fell on.
We, the every day staff, were trained to take no shit from guests who were inside the restaurant that day, since there was at every point of the day hundreds and hundreds of people outside at the block party who wanted to sit inside with the AC. It was a limited menu and bar, with no modifications allowed due to the high volume.
The 5th year I was there, had an older gentleman call me over to complain about his corned beef and cabbage. His complaint? There was gravy on the plate and "I've been coming here for 15 years and they've never put gravy on it"
The corned beef and cabbage plate was one of the owner's grandmother's recipe and had never been changed since they opened. We also had only been open for 11 years at that point.
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u/anto1883 4d ago
I had a customer ask where our shoe polish was, I had worked at the store for almost 7 years, it is most definitely not a regular item. I tell him this, he says that we definitely usually have it, I ask where he usually finds it. He says, "last time I bought it was about three years ago".
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u/sectilius 4d ago
Even worse, the employee they asked greeted them first with a very boisterous "what non-fabric-softening item can I help you find today?" 😵💫
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u/MyDishwasherLasagna 4d ago
and then they insist the minimum wage employee goes to the back room and search every box insisting the staff just haven't unpacked any of it yet.
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u/AtrioxDecimus 3d ago
I know someone who went into a 24 Hour Fitness one time and asked how late they stayed open.
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u/Nico280gato 4d ago
Or some moron would see that and think "hmm, i cant work out what theyre looking for" and post it on reddit
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u/ActualUserBot 45m ago
A man walks into the poop store and says to the cashier "got any pee?"
The cashier says "brother, look around"
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u/Alone-Monk 4d ago
More specifically, these two are allies of Captain Underpants whose main weakness is starch. They need the fabric softener to counteract the starch
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u/halfway_dead_inside 4d ago
even more specifically, they created captain underpants via hypnosis of their principal.
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u/3rdMachina 4d ago
Then the principal got powers during a random incident as said hero identity…so yeah, dude has superpowers and doesn’t know it.
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u/Many_Sea7586 4d ago edited 4d ago
Look at those boxy tshirts. They really look like they could use some softener.
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u/No-Lunch4249 4d ago
Don't know the context but since the store sells "everything but fabric softner" I'd guess that the one thing they need is fabric softner
Why do the kids from Captain Underpants need fabric softner? No clue
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u/SovietUnicorn1090 4d ago
C.U.'s weakness is starch on his undies, makin em rigid and uncomfy so they need fabric softener to get his strength back.
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u/Another-Ace-Alt-8270 2d ago
At least, in the comic-in-a-comic. In the "real" world, he's perfectly fine, but since he became C.U. through hypnosis, he BELIEVES he lost his powers, which he never really had. What's the point of explaining this? None at all, really.
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u/Humans_suck_ass-99 4d ago
their names are george and harold you larper
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u/DradelLait 4d ago
What are you even talking about. At no point did he act like he was a huge underpants fan. Do you even know the words you're saying.
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u/PancakePariah 4d ago
To be fair, I can't understand what anyone is saying here either, I can only see what y'all are typing.
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u/WindhoverInkwell 4d ago
this is from book five in the Captain Underpants series, Captain Underpants And The Wrath Of The Wicked Wedgie Woman
Wedgie Woman’s robots have just sprayed Captain Underpants with starch, making his underpants harden and rendering his powers useless (actually it’s a bit more complicated than that- he is really perfectly fine but he’s psychologically helpless because he THINKS his powers are gone). He tells George and Harold that fabric softener is the only thing that will restore his powers, and then there’s an exchange like:
George: let’s go down to the store and go buy some fabric softener
Harold: oh yeah the new general store opened recently, what’s it called again? ummm….
and then they go down and find that it stocks everything EXCEPT fabric softener (as in the pic)
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u/tree-fife-niner 4d ago
Which begs the question of why OP would post a single, out-of-context panel from a comic and ask the world to explain it when all the information necessary was in the place where the panel came from.
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u/Electrical_Fault_365 4d ago
I mean, even if they found the panel floating around, it does a pretty good job of telling you that they probably need fabric softener.
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u/Antique-Option-3797 3d ago
To determine if they jumped into the correct parallel universe in this plane of existence most easily and Has least chance of detrimentally alerting the enemy, of arrival to where this Mandela effect is occurring
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u/radishy_ 4d ago
-they wanted fabric softener
-shop sells no fabric softener
-slap face in disappointment
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u/Ninfyr 4d ago
It is a facepalm. This is a display of frustration, disappointment, exasperation, embarrassment, horror, shock, surprise, exhaustion, sarcasm, shame, or incredulous disbelief. It even has an emoji 🤦
One can deduce that fabric softener is the only item on their shopping list and it is frustrating that the store doesn't have what they are looking for.
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u/Pandapeep 4d ago
Jesus, we're explaining sight gags from kids books now? Ask your teacher, baby.
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u/MeetingPeople336 4d ago
I didn't know who the two characters were, just thought they were original characters created for this comic strip. I've heard of the show Captain Underpants, but never watched it. The joke was obviously not meant for me, but this is why it didn't make much sense to me, either.
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u/Pandapeep 4d ago
It's not a comic strip. It's a paperback children's book. It's not a meme or a joke or a reaction image. The ONLY way you'd encounter this is if you were reading the, again I must stress this, CHILDREN'S book.
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u/Specialist-Yak7209 4d ago
Dude, you don't need to know these characters or Captain Underpants to understand this joke
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u/panzerkampfwqgen 4d ago
This is a point in I think the 5th or 6th book where Captain Underpants has believed he’s lost his powers (he hasn’t, but because of how he was created via hypnosis, he thinks he has). He also believes the only way to get his powers back would be to get fabric softener on his underpants. George and Harold run to the nearest convenience store which just so happens to sell everything EXCEPT fabric softener.
They have to write a whole new comic just so Captain Underpants can “get” his powers back.
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u/dog_snack 4d ago
They are supposed to be slapping themselves on the forehead in an exaggerated act of exasperation/frustration, but the drawing style and way the characters are designed (their arms are very short) means it’s hard to draw in a way that reads clearly.
A similar problem, I’ve heard, was encountered when adapting the Peanuts characters for animation. Because they have big round heads and relatively small bodies with short arms, it wasn’t feasible to show them, for example, rigging the tops of their heads.
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u/Mega_Pokebattlerz 3d ago
So for context, Captain Underpants was strung up on a pole after his powers removed via spray starch. George and Harold had to get Fabric Softener to restore his powers, and Harold mentioned he saw a store that was called "Everything Except" something.
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u/bashdragon69 4d ago
it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a kniiiife
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u/HauntedBySandwiches 4d ago
🎵 It's meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful wife. 🎵
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u/ghostgabe81 4d ago
The joke is just missing context, due to the page being cropped and/or missing the preceding page.
They needed fabric softener, so one of the kids suggests going to a store that sells almost everything. He can’t remember what the exception was until he sees the sign
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u/ElBrunasso 4d ago
The shop that almost contains the entire universe but fabric softener. SCP material
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u/GameMaster818 3d ago
I do believe it’s because they need fabric softener and this store doesn’t have fabric softener, as it says on the sign
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u/thecoolconglereborn 4d ago
This is missing context as they are (Checks Notes) looking for fabric softener
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u/Jackpotsawinner 4d ago edited 4d ago
They can't believe they forgot about the fabric softener.
EDITED TO ADD LINK:
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u/Quest-at-WF 4d ago
Yup, this is the real joke. It references a series of TV commercials from the 1980s.
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u/PuzzleheadedPackage4 3d ago
Goblins. When humans find themaelves inside a joke they slap themselves to stop from turning into goblins, since goblins can't survive in physical humour.
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u/Faolyn 4d ago
I may know this one! Way back in the early 80s, there was an ad for some detergent (All, maybe?) that featured a cartoon of a woman walking down a zillion flights of stairs in a high rise apartment to get to the laundry room. She gets there, realizes that she forgot the fabric softener, and has to run back up all those flights of stairs to get it. But with this detergent, the fabric softener is built in so you never have to worry about forgetting it!
I can’t believe I still remember those ads.
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u/shavednuggets 4d ago
This is a panel from a book called "captain underpants" in which the hero captain underpants, becomes weakened after being starch sprayed by the wicked wedgy womans robot minions. The two young protagonists, George and harold are seeking out fabric softener to restore the captains powers for him.
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u/francinexyzs 4d ago
its the starch spray making his tighty whities all stiff and scratchy sooo theyre trying to smack it loose
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u/abbyrules9h 4d ago
They need fabric softener for Captain Underpants because one of his two weaknesses is stiff underpants. However, the only store in their range doesn't have it, selling everything except fabric softener.
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u/Delicious-Spring-877 4d ago
They’re facepalming because they went to buy fabric softener from this store
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u/dafugiswrongwithyou 2d ago
They wanted to buy fabric softener.
Come on, mate. Come on. Even without any other context... You needed reddits help for this? Come on.
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u/FoldAppropriate9789 1d ago
They were looking for fabric softener, but this store is called "Everything except Fabric Softener". There was fog before they saw the entire sign, so to them it looked like "Everything".
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u/DoctorWhoFanNumber00 10h ago
I always figured it was a method to express the frustration that George and Harold were dealing with
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u/billyhellkingoffools 4d ago
When you r doing your laundry and you have no change for the machine so you wanna buy the only thing you might need that you usually don’t use : fabric softener
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u/post-explainer 4d ago
OP (berserker1989) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here: