Blasto
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Blasto is a soft drink brand sold around Roseville, best known as Paulo's soda of choice and the source of the prize contest he and Mike spend years trying to crack.
| Blasto | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Casting Call, page 2 March 24, 2010 |
| Type | Soft drink brand |
| Related characters | Paulo, Mike, David, Lucy |
Description
Blasto turns up in every form a soda comes in: cans at the lunch table,[1] a large bottle at a house party,[2] and a fountain drink on the Burger-Tron menu.[3] The can is a warm yellow with the brand name printed across it in big stylized letters.[4] Opinions on the flavor are rather split. Mike hates the stuff,[5] Paulo can put away a whole pile of cans in one lunch period,[1] and David drinks it for breakfast.[4]
What sets Blasto apart from an ordinary soda is its contests. Somewhere out there is a winning can worth $50,000 to whoever finds it, with a hundred mountain bikes given away as secondary prizes.[5] The contest comes back every year,[6] and a later edition raises the stakes to "$150,000 in a can",[4] with the result printed under the tab.[7] Nobody in the comic has ever been shown winning it.
History
Blasto debuts in Casting Call, where Paulo works his way through a can at lunch beside a pile of empties.[1] He and Mike explain their arrangement to Sue. Mike can't stand the drink, so he handles the buying, while Paulo handles the chugging, all in pursuit of the $50,000 winning can. Mike's own motives are a little humbler, since what he actually wants is one of the mountain bikes. Sue is mostly amazed that the two of them are cooperating at all — "Who thought all it'd take for you two to get along was a soda competition?"[5]
The system carries on into Back and Forth, where the cans once again stack up in front of Paulo at lunch[9] and Mike points out that he could stop paying for the Blasto whenever he likes. Paulo isn't worried. "You want the bike, I stomach the soda. You NEED me."[10] In Call Waiting, Paulo pitches an escalation. If Mike sells his phone and sinks all the money into Blasto, Paulo can win the prize and Mike can move away to live with Sandy. Mike declines, and makes it clear he won't be helping when the contest rolls around next year either.[6]
The gag returns in Table for One, by which point Blasto has launched a new contest with "$150,000 in a can". David has taken over the buying, and he greets Paulo by pressing a can to his cheek.[4] Paulo chugs it and checks under the tab, where his prize is waiting: one chance to "Please try again!"[7]
After that, Blasto settles into the scenery. A large bottle of it turns up at the New Year's party in New Year's Resolution, where a distracted Mike pours it right over the rim of Paulo's cup.[2] By Rain Check it is on the fountain at Burger-Tron, where Lucy orders a medium Blasto alongside her Astro-Burger and fries.[3]
Trivia
- Blasto is a holdover from Veronica's childhood version of the comic. Her commentary on its first appearance admits, "I WAS LIKE SEVEN WHEN I MADE IT UP SO I HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE FOR THE NAME TO BE MILDLY EMBARRASSING."[1]
- The money for Paulo's cans comes out of Mike's allowance — per the authors' commentary, "Good ol' Maishul has quite the allowance saved up."[5]
- According to a Tumblr answer from Veronica, the Blasto contest was tied to "Confrontation 2", a storyline that had been planned since 2006 and was eventually scrapped.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 53: Casting Call, page 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 119: New Year's Resolution, page 4
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 8
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Chapter 92: Table for One, page 8
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Chapter 53: Casting Call, page 3
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 62: Call Waiting, page 5
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 92: Table for One, page 9
- ↑ Chapter 53: Casting Call, page 2
- ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 19
- ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 29
- ↑ "Will we see Alejandro again? Will there be a Confrontation 2?". bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com. 2026-06-02.