I understood the comic from a socioeconomic perspective. The mom only had access to knockoff versions of the Rubix cube.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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The real trick is taking a cube, swapping the placement of some of the bits, then mixing it up and handing it to someone whoβs confident in their ability to solve a cube.
They sadly can prove if a cube is unsolvable.
Yes, but an over confident person will take a while to do so.
Not really, by the time you reach the end, you notice a piece is twisted
I think their point is that someone who pretends to be really good arrives on the OLL/PLL part (or their method's equivalent), doesn't actually know the (valid) combinations and goes off of vague resemblance will take a while to catch on that it's not them getting their algorithms wrong or missing a case.
An experienced cuber may spot the odd number of flipped edges or swap-cycle hybrid of permutations and know it's bollocks right away, but the overconfident one may doubt their own judgement and memory first.
I took the time to learn how to solve a rubix cube a few years ago. It's actually surprisingly easy. You can learn in less then an hour and then just a bit of repetition.
It's fun to show off to young nieces and nephews. I like to say "ok mix it up REALLY good this time" and "ooooh nooo, this is really mixed up, I don't know if I can do this one!"
I only ever managed to do five sides :(
It's really hard when one is colorblind
That's just mahjong with extra steps.
science has gone tooth arrrr
Of course a Tetris fan would say that about other innovative puzzles.
Wraps back around to being possible if you are completely blind though.
Tap for spoiler
/s or /j not sure what suits this best, but not serious
But actually this isn't wrong. You just repeat steps over and over. I'm pretty sure you don't have to see to solve it. I don't know exactly what you have to do, and if going too far unsolves it, but I do know people do it blindfolded, maybe with someone telling them when they're done?
The people doing it blindfolded memorize the cube state before they start
Nope, the red and green colours they use are not easily confused
It bothers me that the new cube isn't possible... White and Yellow are always opposite. And Blue and Green are opposites.
Everything is possible with unofficial manufacturers
The off brand one I had didnβt even have the same colours, let alone on the right sides.
I had one with spongebob characters!
This guy Rubik's Cubes
Cube knower
The one who whispers with the cube.
Thereβs the Japanese color scheme and the western color scheme, which have blue and yellow switched
Wait what did I miss? I bought 2 cubes (official Rubik's cubes) last year and both of them have W/Y G/B O/R opposites
Is that not exactly what they just said? White and yellow opposite, Green and Blue opposite
Maybe the kid just repainted it and didn't know. So next level cheating.
Oooh I probably misinterpreted. I read it as if they were insisting that's how the "old" cube was and the new cubes should be.
The modern version is you twist one edge half way and push up on the exposed corner. The corner popps out, then you take every piece apart and re-assemble correctly.
Push up on an edge, not a corner. Less stress on the pieces
I used to do this in the 80s. It saved ruining the stickers.
I think you could do that on the old ones, too. The stickers were just easier.
I learnt how to solve the classic 3x3, then a 4x4, then a 2x2, and a 5x5, and a 7x7.
Now I use then as essentially fidget toys.
My favorite fidget toy is this cool-looking cube I bought to which I did not apply the stickers. I can twist it around to de-stress, and it's always totally solved.
I kept this habit from my childhood, when I pulled all the stickers off one so all the sides were forever black and I was happy with that.
But have you learned the 1x1 yet??
I have a Nintendo ten billions barrel. It once was in a solved state, then one day an aunt tried to show me how it's done... I am not good with puzzles, but I am good with not talking to that aunt anymore (for mostly unrelated reasons)
This is on par with the cubes that you used to be able to pop the individual squares out and connect them in whatever order you want.
The mom misunderstood the puzzle when she said "You got that talent from me," which also foreshadows her flashback.
Very few people have ever solved a Rubik's Cube from scratch, unless you're including pure luck or people who didn't really mix it up. But pure luck isn't really a "talent". To solve the puzzle yourself involves, at the very least, a lot of analysis and writing diagrams and sequences and shit.
It's the mom's misconception that makes this comic so real to me. She probably thinks people solve them by figuring it all out themselves. But the kid knows that he followed instructions.
The mom yanked off the stickers and put them back in the right order. That's how she thinks kids would solve them.
Yes that is essential to what I was saying. The mom thought she would get away with rearranging the stickers as a child because she thought people would believe that she solved the puzzle. And now as an adult, she's confused because she believes her child actually solved it, which she believes is simply extremely difficult, not virtually impossible. She would understand what actually happened if she understood that people basically can't solve it, and that her kid simply followed the fairly simple instructions that likely came with the cube.
This is a good reminder for me, though, to keep my audience in mind when writing comments. I have left most meme communities, but the comics community is going to be similar to meme communities with regard to members.
Oh, so that's why i've found them always freaking hard? People just remember moves depending on patterns?
Yes. It is possible to luck into a solution if you don't know a method. But it's pretty rare, and if you don't get lucky, the best most people will ever do is to have a mostly solved cube.
To go further requires you to use predefined sequences of moves that at first appear to mess up the parts that were already solved, or to systematically work out those sequences yourself, which would involve some serious effort with extra cubes or with writing down sequences on paper or something similar.
It's counterintuitive, but at a certain point, if the cube is mostly solved, but the last bits are wrong, the only way a normal person could solve it without these sequences is to completely mix up the cube again and start over, hoping to get luckier the next time.
I don't know the odds of getting lucky like I've said. I used to practice cubing just to pass time, and I've probably completed hundreds of cubes, and only once did I luck into a solved cube without using those sequences. And I assume I was lucky even with that.
Similiar to chess?