gifted
Original: gifted on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman (with glasses, holding test results): GOOD NEWS BOBBY! ACCORDING TO THESE TEST RESULTS YOU'RE GIFTED!
Panel 2:
Boy with red hair (Bobby): WOW! HOW GIFTED?
Panel 3:
Woman (pointing at a chart): YOU'RE IN THIS BLUE REGION HERE:
Panel 4:
A bell curve (normal distribution) chart with labels along it from left to right:
- below average (far left tail)
- average (the peak, colored yellow)
- keen, lifelong awareness of own deficiencies (the right shoulder of the curve, colored blue)
- excellence (far right tail)
Votey:
Narration / woman's voice: ONE DAY, YOU COULD BE THE OPENING ACT FOR SOMEONE REALLY GOOD.
(Close-up of the boy's face, eyes closed, looking crestfallen/resigned.)
Woman (with glasses, holding test results): GOOD NEWS BOBBY! ACCORDING TO THESE TEST RESULTS YOU'RE GIFTED!
Panel 2:
Boy with red hair (Bobby): WOW! HOW GIFTED?
Panel 3:
Woman (pointing at a chart): YOU'RE IN THIS BLUE REGION HERE:
Panel 4:
A bell curve (normal distribution) chart with labels along it from left to right:
- below average (far left tail)
- average (the peak, colored yellow)
- keen, lifelong awareness of own deficiencies (the right shoulder of the curve, colored blue)
- excellence (far right tail)
Votey:
Narration / woman's voice: ONE DAY, YOU COULD BE THE OPENING ACT FOR SOMEONE REALLY GOOD.
(Close-up of the boy's face, eyes closed, looking crestfallen/resigned.)
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: a woman in glasses holds up a sheet of test results and tells a red-haired boy, 'Good news Bobby! According to these test results you're GIFTED!' Panel 2: the boy beams and asks, 'Wow! How gifted?' Panel 3: the woman points off-panel and says, 'You're in this blue region here:' Panel 4: a bell curve chart. The labels reframe the distribution as a joke: the far-left tail is 'below average,' the yellow peak is 'average,' the blue right-shoulder region the woman pointed to is labeled 'keen, lifelong awareness of own deficiencies,' and only the far-right tail is 'excellence.' The gag: the boy's 'gifted' result just means he is unusually aware of his own shortcomings, not actually excellent. Votey: a close-up of the boy's face with eyes shut and a defeated expression while a voice says, 'One day, you could be the opening act for someone REALLY good.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.