Original Commentary

Yes, the microwave is glowing and making a crackling sound. Not normal, as you can tell by the sound effects. Those effects are in a font we made from Isabel's handwriting - Terrence

Modern Commentary
It's a tough line, making it seem obviously broken without making it explode or do something a little too cartoony - Terrence

Original Commentary

The VrRrmMm is the sound of a malfunctioning magnetotron shutting down when the cord is pulled. More explanation would have been included, except this comic originally ran alongside the previous comic - Terrence

Modern Commentary
I mean, here she is trying to make sure the thing doesn't blow up and he just comes in and asks about the popcorn... - Terrence

Original Commentary

Something similar happened to a computer monitor we had. It made crackling noises and gave off a puff of smoke. No, we didn't try to fix it or plug it back in - it was about ten years old and belonged to my brother. He was content that it had at least exploded a little; he hadn't expected much from it, apparently - Terrence

Modern Commentary
So this didn't actually happen to us, but it's closer to real life than a lot of other storylines.

Especially Kimberly being spooked and Brisbane kinda not really reacting to it. - Terrence

Original Commentary

We're hoping that nobody who designs microwave ovens for a living is reading this, because there's probably a really technical name for the safety features on a modern microwave, and a complicated answer to whether Brisbane or Kimberly is right. Brisbane sure doesn't know what it is. He does, however, want popcorn - Terrence

Modern Commentary
I will point out that microwaves have very high-voltage transformers inside. It is possible to use these to do fractal wood burning. It is not possible to use these to do fractal wood burning safely. If you touch the wrong part, you will die painfully.

Unplugging the thing is a very good first step, though. - Terrence

Original Commentary

Amazing how Brisbane has grown as a person throughout the comic. At the start of You Say it First (much less Unlike Minerva) he wouldn't have dared to ignore Kimberly like that. Whether it's a good idea or not remains to be seen - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Is Kimberly overreacting to a weird noise?

Yeah, maybe a little. Is Brisbane blithely disregarding her feelings because he's confident that he can make things work, despite having absolutely no idea what he's doing?

Definitely. - Terrence

Original Commentary

Because she loves him. That's why - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Can you blame her? - Terrence

Original Commentary

Yes, as far as Brisbane is concerned, she's being totally unreasonable. However, it's hard to argue with "I don't want you to get hurt". I mean, what can you come back with? "But I want to get hurt?" - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Did you know that CRT monitors have a capacitor in them that stores a large amount of electricity. You can get a dangerous shock from them even after they're unplugged for an hour.

Now, do microwaves have anything like that?

Does this specific microwave have anything like that?

How sure are you? - Terrence