protein
Original: protein on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (labeled "IN SCI FI"):
A robot serving food to a crew aboard a spaceship.
Robot: HERE ARE YOUR PROTEIN CYLINDERS, CREW.
A human crew member (a woman with green hair): UGH. YOU KNOW IF THIS NEXT JOB COMES THROUGH, I'M GONNA BUY MY FIRST BITE OF *REAL MEAT*.
Panel 2 (labeled "REALITY"):
A man stands in a grocery store holding a package labeled "Organic Blend Lettuce."
Man (thought/speech): GOD I WISH I COULD AFFORD TO BE VEGAN.
In the foreground, a shopping cart with a sign on it reading: "Beet Nugs" and a price tag reading "40c".
Votey:
A close-up illustration of a single beet nugget ("nug") resting on the ground, with the stylized word "nug" written in cursive above it against a sky-blue background.
A robot serving food to a crew aboard a spaceship.
Robot: HERE ARE YOUR PROTEIN CYLINDERS, CREW.
A human crew member (a woman with green hair): UGH. YOU KNOW IF THIS NEXT JOB COMES THROUGH, I'M GONNA BUY MY FIRST BITE OF *REAL MEAT*.
Panel 2 (labeled "REALITY"):
A man stands in a grocery store holding a package labeled "Organic Blend Lettuce."
Man (thought/speech): GOD I WISH I COULD AFFORD TO BE VEGAN.
In the foreground, a shopping cart with a sign on it reading: "Beet Nugs" and a price tag reading "40c".
Votey:
A close-up illustration of a single beet nugget ("nug") resting on the ground, with the stylized word "nug" written in cursive above it against a sky-blue background.
Alt text
A two-panel SMBC comic contrasting science fiction with reality. The first panel, labeled "IN SCI FI," shows a robot serving a spaceship crew, saying "Here are your protein cylinders, crew." A green-haired crew member complains, "Ugh. You know if this next job comes through, I'm gonna buy my first bite of REAL MEAT" -- implying that in the future, real meat is a rare luxury and synthetic protein is the norm. The second panel, labeled "REALITY," shows a man in a grocery store holding a package of organic lettuce and thinking, "God I wish I could afford to be vegan." In the foreground, cheap "Beet Nugs" (beet nuggets) sit in a cart marked 40 cents. The joke flips the sci-fi premise: in real life it's vegetables and plant food that feel like the unaffordable aspiration, while cheap processed food is the default. Votey (aftercomic): a single beet nugget rests on the ground beneath the word "nug" written in elegant cursive against a blue sky, lovingly presenting the humble "nug."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.