Talk:Particle Man

Original research

 * I removed a bunch of fan speculation as it is obviously originally research and not verifiable in the least.  Wickethewok 05:40, 18 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Agreed, except for the one about Terry Pratchett. That one is rather specific and is *probably* not speculation. Thus, I just put it back in with a citation tag on it, until someone can verify for sure. Mucus 15:58, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Spiderman?
"Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a Spider can" "Particle Man, Particle man, doing the things a particle can" Isn't it kind of a reference? Maybe? I dunno

I'd say that's a serious reach. Particle man is sui generis.

I don't think it's a reach at all; many people I've asked said they immediately thought of Particle Man when they heard the Spiderman line. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.48.163.61 (talk) 21:16, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's a fairly logical inference. It shouldn't be included without a reference from a reliable source, however. --BDD (talk) 17:56, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Triangle Man
US Government...Executive, Legislative, Judicial Particle Man: Uranium Universe Man: God

I had always heard: Triangle Man = Christianity (trinity) Particle Man = Science (Christianity smacking around Gallileo, et al.) Universe Man = Deism (watchmaker, hands-off theory of a deity- Thomas Jefferson, for example) Person Man = Secular humanists (Also smacked around by Christianity) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.48.163.61 (talk) 21:18, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Strong Similarity with The Fool's Rainbow Man (1969)
Having just listened to the 2020 LP Behind the Dykes, a great compilation of Dutch 60s pop, Rainbow Man by The Fool (Side B, track 10) would appear to be a source for Particle Man. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xtJeMZ7AQA ... at 0:54 when the song kicks in. I think this should be mentioned in the article here. Thoughts? Scribblerman (talk) 00:15, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Meaning of the song
I seem to recall at some point being told that the person/people who wrote this song didn't have any particular meaning in mind... If anyone can track down an official source for this staement, it might be important. (Personally, the song always reminded me of the Mega Man games, but that's probably a lot less important...) --Scrounge 03:32, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Greek Philosophy
Since Person Man lives in a garbage can, wouldn't Diogenes of Sinope be a more suitable influence? And Pythagoras for Triangle Man? Or is this Post-Modernism gone too far?Mon Vier 16:45, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Particle man.jpg
Image:Particle man.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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Fair use rationale for Image:Particle man.jpg
Image:Particle man.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 01:24, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Interpretation
I changed the interpretation title to cultural references as I believe it fits better, discuss Banime 18:35, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

He's got a watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand, and an eon hand...
I think it's important to point out that the song goes on to state state: "when they meet, it's happy land". A happy event/place occurring on the scale of the entire universe should not be left out of a discussion of the song. It's important to note that Universe man did not stand up for person (smaller) man. This casts a pall over the entire song, characterizing the universe as an indifferent force. 66.67.236.248 (talk) 03:03, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Silent Hill 2 "reference"
One could add a pretty popular, albeit crudely drawn Youtube music video showing similarities between the four persons described in "Particle Man" and characters from the video game Silent Hill 2. The video can be found here. The characters are as follows: Particle Man is Walter, Triangle Man is Pyramid Head, Universe Man is Eddie and Person Man is James. They fit surprisingly well, actually.91.67.221.191 (talk) 22:38, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I think that particle man=scientists universe man-God and person man=Hobos Triangle man= The US government

The USA screws everybody accept god hes unscrewable  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.187.155.31 (talk) 18:19, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Incorrect reference
The reference number 4 (Ricks, Rosy. "They Might Be Giants at the Pabst—Oh, Boy". Third Coast Digest. 2011-10-30. Prime 7 Media.) is used twice in this article, while the second use is as citation for specific description of a video clip ("It also portrays Universe Man as being just as mean as Triangle Man towards Particle Man, despite what the lyrics suggest."), yet none of that information can actually be found in the cited article. The closest it gets is the mere mention of using wrestler imagery by the artists ("It was an early taste of things to come with No Means No and beyond, teaching scientific concepts of mass using wrestlers."), which doesn't even talk about the particular clip mentioned in the Wiki article at all! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.100.108.177 (talk) 01:34, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Missing potential irony?
In talking about the animation the article says It also portrays Universe Man as being just as mean as Triangle Man towards Particle Man, despite what the lyrics suggest. but because of the qualifier "usually" used within the song the statement Usually kind to smaller man is likely ironic Boris J. Cornelius (talk) 20:09, 18 February 2021 (UTC)