171

Poll
Posted on June 26, 2023 by David M Willis

171 thoughts on “Poll”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    next, on Who Wants to Be a Teacher’s Aide?

    1. Steamweed

      If that hasn’t been done on Piled Higher and Deeper, then it damn well should be.

      1. bubba0077

        I don’t think Jorge is still making new strips

        1. Cholma

          If he is, he’s posting to a secret URL that I’m not privy to. 🙁
          We need more Tajel & Cecila in our lives!

        2. dinajoyce

          He still posts *something* on instagram sometimes. So far it’s all been strips I hadn’t seen before, but I was never great about checking that one super regularly and I didn’t find it on Insta until recently

    2. Needfuldoer

      [Someone plays the Who Wants to be a Millionaire theme music at full blast on their tinny phone speaker]

  2. Sol

    Strips like these I wonder if Willis misses writing for Shortpacked!

    1. ThunderNight

      Considering the superhero antics earlier he probably misses writing for the Walkyverse in general.

      1. Sol

        I always think sometimes what the Its Walky! storyline would look like now with decades of experience and hindsight behind Willis. Like, if he were to rewrite it.

  3. Jon

    Uh-oh – Robin has Fourth-Wall Awareness!!

    1. jeffepp

      It was only a matter of time.

    2. Matthew Davis

      Ok, who pulled the tag in this one?

    3. Alaric

      Only if she eats sufficient quantities of sugar.

      1. Xaeon

        So constantly then.

    4. Needfuldoer

      She’s staring right at us…

      Tomorrow does she point at the poll and say it’s meaningless because she already decided, and that the next 6 months’ worth of strips are already drawn?

  4. Regalli

    Aaaah, Robin fourth wall awareness. I do love that about her sometimes.

  5. NGPZ

    Whatever happened to Robin’s mustard elbows? 😮

    1. Angel

      even someone like robin would do laundry occasionally lol. unless she’s somehow rich enough to buy a new jacket everytime

    2. Proxiehunter

      She licked the mustard off.

    3. Needfuldoer

      She sent the jacket out to the cleaners a while back.

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/sneakinta/

  6. DarkoNeko

    …what

    1. Alongcameaspider

      Robin has 4th wall awareness and the ability to teleport people what do you not understand

      1. Cholma

        Perfect Avatar is perfect.

      2. danimagoo

        Ok, I know She-Hulk can sorta teleport because she has 4th wall awareness and can step out of a comic panel and into another one. Can she pull other people through with her? Is Robin She-Hulk?

  7. Cattleprod

    I’m always a little surprised when a new character appears and I click on their name to find out they *haven’t* made several crowd shot cameos already.

    1. Thag Simmons

      He was in Shortpacked!, I think

      1. Clif

        He appeared in Shortpack a total of six times and got one speaking line.

        It’s in the first panel of https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/dinosaurpark

    2. Poskie

      When Walky was cruising for free pizza, I’m pretty sure he made mention of two people, Barry and Hilary, manning one of the voter registration booths.

      1. Needfuldoer

        [Fry] I get it!

      2. HueSatLight

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/allright/ good memory

  8. Samniel

    The logical part of me’s thinking maybe Ruth mentioned something to Becky who mentioned something to Robin and now we’re here.

    But Robin having metaknowledge actually makes more sense.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      The middle link in the chain was actually Leslie, not Becky, but otherwise this is essentially correct.

      1. DailyBrad

        God, that feels like a million years ago now, but yeah, you’re totally right.

      2. Jennifer Bak

        Well-remembered Rassilon!

    2. Ophidiophile

      This comic is already mind-numbingly slow, so sometimes Willis uses Robin to speed through the mind-numbingly boring parts (that he doesn’t want to waste time drawing).

      1. Needfuldoer

        She could’ve approached him at his public-facing job at Galasso’s at some point, off-panel. It wouldn’t be the first time she hired one of their employees.

  9. Bluewind

    *quietly looks at medieval beekeeper art to recover from whiplash*

  10. Stephen Bierce

    Veinspotting? Is that what I heard?

  11. BBCC

    Oh Robin. We’re all voting for Barry anyway.

    1. HueSatLight

      I look forward to getting to know Barry and their foibles. Did not expect Jason to get the Penny treatment, but it’s a pleasant surprise.

    2. Jamie

      That’s going to be the lesson. She doesn’t care how they vote; she’s going to pick Jason because she’s already decided.

      1. NullSet

        That is also the lesson of the poll here on the site, since willis has already completed the next 6 months of strips.

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          I wonder if this will be like the poll over whether Joyce or Walky should get the comic strip. Maybe Robin will just have two TAs now.

    3. Sirksome

      Why would we want to curse sweet, innocent, Barry with the burden of working for Robin tho?

      1. BBCC

        Because it’s that or we put Jason back in the classroom.

      2. HueSatLight

        I have a possibly irrational dislike of Jason. Even before his sexpestery. The new design helps, but not enough.

  12. BOOSTER SHOT

    Glad to see Robin still has enough superspeed to vibrate at the right frequency to break nearby walls

  13. Nono

    I mean, I’m voting for Barry.

    1. Opus the Poet

      That’s the perfect vote, even though there are multiple months of Jason comics in the can. Barry is the less sex-pestery choice. And dang you otto Korrect. I did spell sex-pestery properly, you just need to update your dictionary.

  14. Chaucer59

    Run, Jason, run like the wind!

  15. Grimey

    Robin with fourth wall awareness feels correct.

  16. RassilonTDavros

    Ah, I was hoping this would happen. Jason and Robin are the kind of characters who are bound to really bounce off of each other comedically.

    1. Bash

      You’re right, this would be hilariously bad.

  17. audkitten

    I don’t know who Barry is but I’m diggin his hair!

    1. MM

      It’s a toupee he stole from Becky’s haircut.

  18. Reltzik

    … does Jason have ANY qualification in poli-sci?

    1. MM

      Per the May Patreon comic, evil supervillain dad?

    2. HueSatLight

      english accent.

      1. Steamweed

        I’ll vote for him.

  19. Dday

    I’m sure Dorothy is fine.

  20. Yotomoe

    I’ll vote Barry. Ginger black guys probably gets a lotta shit. Let the man have a cushy job with an animaniac as his boss.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      I’m voting Jason, because of the Rule of Narrative Causality.
      In other words, it has to be Jason because the plot says it should be Jason.

      1. Sirksome

        Not necessarily true. I’m sure the narrative could come up with many other ways for Jason to re-up his visa and stick around. He is a rich, white, dude. The world is essentially made to cater to him. Even if his dad is evil. That’s likely more of a perk for him realistically.

      2. Yotomoe

        you shouldn’t vote for somebody just because they’re gonna win. You gotta REJECT FATE.

        1. Mark

          Fate leaning on a stone, resting her head on her arms and weeping silently.

        2. GLaDOS

          Rapunki, when he joined the Seven.

        3. Yumi

          I’m still voting for Jason because yeah, there are some things worth duking it out with fate over, but this just isn’t one of them.

          Also, if Barry did win, I’m afraid fate’s next move would be to, like, drop a piano on them so that Jason gets it anyway. Barry probably doesn’t deserve that.

        4. Seregiel

          Vote Jason and watch their existences neing in close proximiry act as a purgatory for one another’s sins. Apologies for any bad writing. I’m wearing stupid nails.

    2. DailyBrad

      See, I vote for Jason because Barry probably deserves a nicer job.

      Jason’s better than he once was, but he should pay further penance.

    3. Arian

      I’m voting for Barry because it’s obviously *meant* to be Jason, and I don’t want the DM to think he can railroad me 😛

    4. Dday

      I voted for Barry, mostly because Jason was already a TA and he boned his own student at this specific college and she is currently enrolled in this specific class.

      1. anonymsly

        Sal is not in this class.

        1. Dday

          Huh i could a sworn, ok i stand corrected

  21. DailyBrad

    Oh yeah, Leslie did try to put in a word for him ages ago. Surprised this is coming back around.

    I wonder if Barry even wants this gig. I guess, if nothing else, he’s got a tag now.

  22. Ty34er

    I’m voting for Barry

  23. Just an Armadillo

    What’s going on? How did I get here? Why do I hear reality shattering around me?

    1. DailyBrad

      Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down. Letting the days go by, water flowing underground. Into the blue again, after the money’s gone. Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground.

      1. not someone else

        Robin’s just the same as she ever was.

      2. Needfuldoer

        There is water at the bottom of the ocean.

  24. JA

    Fourth wall looking a little shaky.

  25. HueSatLight

    Everyone’s noting Robin leaning on the fourth wall, but Jason is showing a lack of situational awareness. It was only yesterday he was in the same building, with Ruth asking someone else in the department if he could have a job as a TA. https://www.dumbingofage.com/trustworthy/

    I wonder if this is Robin’s way of discretely asking the students if they have an objection. We’ll see if it’s a secret poll or not, where they could write those down. https://www.dumbingofage.com/sexpest/

  26. Marvelman

    What does Jason know about political science?

    1. Segnosaur

      Probably not much. But neither does Robin, so it works out.

      More seriously… How useful Jason is depends on a lot of factors… Having him answer student questions would be a problem but there are other things he could help with.

      What are Robin’s tests like in the class? (even a non-expert could probably grade true/false or short answer questions… Long essay style questions would need a bit more expertise.) what type of classes did Jason take during his undergrad years? (Some colleges might have a broad based curriculum where even someone in mathematics might need to take a civics course or 2) is there any other prep work Robin might need? (Eg getting her lecture materials ready, proof reading her materials or her tests, etc )

      1. MM

        And then there’s the likelihood that if he does get roped into this, he’ll make it a priority to fill in whatever gaps in his knowledge he has, because that’s just how he works.

      2. Kimi

        Tbh, I find some international students have a better understanding of our government than the majority of the students in the class. Had one exchange student that could name all of the US presidents off the top of their head.

    2. Angel

      i would’ve expected a teachers aide to maybe do a little research on the subject but mostly be there to like hand out papers, keep stock of supplies and maybe help grading some stuff but i cant imagine robin’s class being super complicated or ‘traditional’

      1. Kimi

        Unless there are essays, TAs are normally given answer keys by the professor anyway. Essays and papers are more questionable, but a lot of that is just checking that they used good sources, didn’t plagiarize, and write a cohesive and reasonable argument. That is actually more complicated the more TAs you have since everyone has a different opinion (aka one person might let something fly that someone else wouldn’t). Having office hours, answering questions, and doing a tutorial might be more difficult, but I found that office hours were normally answering questions about how something got graded (normally people who weren’t happy about their grade and wanted to argue for a higher grade, so almost like customer service).

        1. Angel

          Of course. But this is still robin we’re talking about. If anything jason might be overqualified since he was al egit prof here before

  27. Golden Yak

    She knows about us! Everybody, uh…. actually, I don’t know what we should do with this information.

  28. Sirksome

    Being Robin’s TA is probably terrible. We should all vote for Jason.

  29. Taffy

    Robin’s kind of a maniac, so this feels right. Even if she’s not aware of the fourth wall, she’d probably act like she was.

  30. Architex

    I’m a little disappointed there isn’t a new poll on the page to support Robin’s theory.

    1. Architex

      Annnnd I refreshed and now look like an idiot.

      1. PirateTawnee

        You look fine, I didn’t even think about a poll until I saw your comment.

        1. Architex

          Thank you stranger <3

      2. Angel

        It would be amusing if barry somehow won in a landslide despite him never apeparing before

    2. Tan

      I am extremely curious if this storyline will be dragged out long enough to use the results of the site poll, or if democracy is a sham (which is absolutely a Robin’s poli-sci class lesson).

  31. Micki

    Robin has a lot of flaws, but gosh darn it, she’s fucking SPOT ON with the “Jonny Lee Miller” bit lmaooo ?

  32. Alex Boston

    I wonder if Barry is a sort of anti-ringer in on the “let’s hire Jason” scheme. I also wonder if Barry is the name chosen in homage to Barry Allen, who can vibrate through walls (although not the 4th wall as far as I know, Flash Facts excepted).

    1. Segnosaur

      I wonder since Barry has been given a tag whether it was done because he was named in comic or might he be a repeating character.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      And I was thinking of Barry from Questionable Content.

  33. Mano308gts

    Man, there’s lamp-shading…

    Then there’s this. Robin’s 4th wall break is a major lampshade of off-screen developments. XD

  34. Bicycle Bill

    From the look on Barry’s face, the “…what am I doing here?” line could just as easily have been his.

    1. Clif

      Barry is only here because Mike was no longer available.

  35. Mr. Random

    I mean, does Robin from the Shortpacked! -verse and her shenanigand give 4th wall powers to all versions of Robin?

    1. Needfuldoer

      I like to think Dumbiverse!Robin is Walkyverse!Robin, mid-Cadbury bender. She’s loaded up with enough sugar and laundry detergent to hit just the right quantum harmonic resonance frequency and fall through to the alternate universe.

    2. Furie

      This is where the Robin that ODs on cereal ends up. She’ll eventually lose her memory as she returns to her own world, but what she does when here will destroy us all!!!

  36. thakoru

    Jason, the gossip chain was 3 people long and you were present for the first half. This should not be hard to put together.

    (Unless, of course, he’s asking how he literally got here because Robin somehow has super speed in this universe too and a second ago he was halfway across campus.)

    1. Opus the Poet

      A second ago he was tending bar at Galasaso’s.

  37. RacingTurtle

    Sorry, Jason, you have to be Robin’s TA. Barry just got here and doesn’t deserve that punishment

  38. Derek

    is Robin breaking the fourth wall? I’m gonna barf

    1. Daibhid C

      No, she’s saying weird stuff that happens to look like she’s breaking the fourth wall, about something that we actually saw her learn about on panel. She’s Ted Forth, not She-Hulk.

  39. Now

    What a delight these past strips have been, the webcomic is in its manic phase and I’m here for it.

    In my country, you couldn’t be the equivalent of a TA without a formal education in the tenured professor’s discipline, can Jason really be a political science TA with a mathematics background? Or is it the joke that is going to slap us in the face two weeks from now?

    Either way I’m delighted.

    1. Adam Black

      Yeah. TAs are regulated hyperlocally. Grad statudent Unions and Universirty rules.

      There might be some with federal regulation, but only if they are funded by a specific federal research grant.

      Even in that case i think regulation might go the otherway towards protecting stem and science foundation grantees not social science ( which is in the Humanities ) .

      But TAs are often the prerogative of the Professor and comes out of their grant. Robin already has no formal education in PS, she was hired for celebrity status.

      I think the bigger issue is Jason evading the kafkaesque disciplinary action.

    2. Rotunda

      In the U.S. as well this is unlikely. Teaching assistantships are understood to be for graduate students in the department that teaches the course. In real life, Jason would not be considered, nor would Robin be able to select him on her own initiative. Dumbing of Age is not real life.

      1. thejeff

        In real life, Robin wouldn’t be.

      2. HueSatLight

        not relevant to this strip, but there’s undergrad TAs too. In my major at my school, there were a lot of undergrad TAs, and like one grad TA who was the boss.

  40. C.T. Phipps

    It turns out Barry was a die-hard Robin voter and a toxic dude.

    He still gets picked.

  41. Bobcat

    The fourth wall has been broken, smashed, shattered, its debris grinded and thoroughly snorted.

  42. brionl

    A Challenger Approaches!

  43. AbacusWizard

    I think sometimes Robin forgets that she’s in the alternate universe *without* alien superpowers.

  44. Suet

    I haven’t seen Barry before (1)
    I haven’t seen Barry before (2)

    Imagine if Barry wins the poll… NO RIGGING!

  45. Mr.Morningstar

    Didn’t Ruth specifically ask Robin about getting him a TA job with her though?

    1. morleuca

      Ruth asked Leslie, Leslie said she couldn’t due to ethics, her own morality, and the fact she had no budget. Then, because she felt bad, she went and asked Robin. Who said as much to her, with the exception of the budget part. But then found out what a TA can do for her, and jumped at the chance. The fact that doing a favor for Leslie might infatuated her a little bit is also a motivating factor.

      1. morleuca

        Ugh. Infatuated = ingratiate

        1. Mr.Morningstar

          I mean also that to be fair

      2. Mr.Morningstar

        AGH right it was Leslie, but Robin does have reason to know about it then

    2. Bash

      Right, but it seems she didn’t tell Jason.

      1. thejeff

        Jason was with Ruth when she asked Leslie.
        Leslie kind of turned them down though and Jason has no reason to know that she knows Robin, much less that she asked Robin.

        1. HueSatLight

          Even if he didn’t watch the news during election season, he knows it’s the same building/department. He was there yesterday. There’s clearly a logical way she could know.

          Jason is confidently ignorant of the situation that he finds himself in, he has an English accent, and he’s a sex pest. He’s overqualified, he should be a cable news pundit.

  46. Acher4

    Lol 50-50 on the poll.

    😛

    I know this is not a poll that will decide the actual future, but damn it would be sweet, like Robin’s death in DC… (well no sweet, but you know, engaging :P)

  47. Romanticide

    For gods sake Jason, Robin is actually trying to be helpful for once and you actually could use that help… save the smartass for when you are hired!

    1. Bash

      I think Jason agrees with the assessment that he probably shouldn’t be a TA anymore.

  48. Juanoku

    Wow it’s actually 50/50 in the poll, that’s nuts

    1. Leorale

      Resist fate! Shake your fist at god! Barry 2023!!

  49. Sombrero

    Voted for Jason because he’s obviously the chosen one (by Robin).

  50. kgy121

    Vote for Barry to show that the elections are rigged, gerrymandering is rampant, and that our votes don’t matter when the majority goes for him and Jason wins anyway.

    1. Zaxares

      Exactly! Robin’s students get a good lesson in the realities of political science, Jason gets another chance, and everybody’s happy! Except for Barry, but we all know the opinions and feelings of minorities don’t matter, right? ;P

      1. Opus the Poet

        How do you gerrymander a webcomic poll? just for my edification.

  51. Abel Undercity

    Is Robin breaking the fourth wall?

    Oh my Grodd, is Robin a She-Hulk?

    I need to go lie back down.

  52. Yeet

    Jason really just lets women drag him to places and then complains about it, doesn’t he.
    Also Walky, come to think, so maybe he’s just very draggable.

  53. TrueVCU

    Of course Robin is the Walkyverse’s Deadpool

    1. TrueVCU

      Perfect gravatar, no notes

  54. Sirksome

    There’s something very funny about Jason being so unpopular that the poll deciding his fate is nearly a tie with a guy we literally just met and know nothing about! At the time of this comment less than 20 votes in Jason’s favor is the difference. Almost any other main character and this would be a blowout.

    1. SeanR

      903 votes, in the AM.
      Have there BEEN 904 VIEW of the comic, yet?
      I smell ballot stuffing.

      I wouldn’t put it past Willis to start the poll at 400/400, to get a “close” race.

      1. David M Willis

        I assure you I have more than 1000 readers.

        1. SeanR

          If you didn’t, you’d still be working in another field. I just wasn’t convinced that many had viewed the comic by the 11:00 hour. Considering, I often stay up until it posts, although I hadn’t this night, I shouldn’t make that assumption.

          There is this gag magic item in some game I have been known to play, that gave you, temporarily, a maximum HP that was significant, but it didn’t give you any actual HP to go with it. The way the game graded your health was, so long as you had at least a certain percentage of your maximum, you were “healthy”, but if your total HP was only a tiny fraction of your maximum HP, you were “near death”, as indicated by a red health bar. So, suddenly having your maximum HP jump, leaving your actual HP alone, immediately put you into the red, health-wise. The item was a pretend heavy hit to your HP, that didn’t actually harm your character, just appeared to do so. Again, for gag effect. 99% of your HP GONE, (actually, your total HP limit raised to about 10,000%, or whatever it actually was, for a few seconds).

        2. SeanR

          Or rather, I wasn’t convinced the poll had racked up that many votes by 11 hours after the comic posted, with that being only 3-5 hours of “up-time” for most of your audience.

        3. Daibhid C

          Speaking as someone in a different timezone, I generally check the strip around 2am-4am strip time on working-from-home days, and I’m always surprised how many comments there already are, so I would believe there’s been 900 votes in that time.

        4. David M Willis

          Traffic for me spikes every night around update time, usually with about several thousand simultaneous visitors at midnight. Something’s very wrong if I don’t have the bulk of my traffic by the time folks wake up in the morning.

        5. Needfuldoer

          We haven’t scared them all off? (Maybe out of the comments; it seems like the same couple dozen regulars are always here…)

  55. Council

    Serious Shortpacked vibes on this one

  56. SeanR

    Jason’s not eligible for the job. He’s not a natural-born Citizen, and he wasn’t a Citizen of the United States at the time the Constitution was adopted.
    He, like Schwarzenegger, may be popular, but can’t hold the position.
    Ruth, like Cruz, MIGHT be eligible. Both were born in Canada to an American parent. Both are also unpopular with enough people that neither would get it, however. That said, Robin looks like the type of person who would pick Ruth anyway.

    So, we’re stuck with “Barry”.

    1. Taffy

      You don’t have to be any of those things to be eligible for a job, you just have to have some paperwork that says you can have the job, like a work visa (or whatever the fuck they’re called, I’m not a visologist here). Jason’s visa let him have his other TA job, so unless something expired at some point, I don’t see a reason it wouldn’t work for this one. Getting fired and re-hired in a slightly different position is the backbone of the American workforce.

      1. Needfuldoer

        If anything, getting hired as Robin’s TA would get him back in compliance with his visa.

    2. Yeet

      Really confused as to the implication that Schwarzenegger can’t hold a TA position for constitutional reasons when he was a state governor. I think you might be confusing this with the presidency?

      1. SeanR

        Deliberately.

  57. Victor Riley

    Oooh, 4th-wall meta humor!

  58. The Jighole Man

    Ok, deadpool.

  59. BlackScarabFilmZ

    Knowing Robin and her chaos, I have one piece of advice for the other guy…

    Run, Barry. Run!

    1. Morleuca

      I am arching my eyebrow at you, and sighing. well done

  60. vulcanodon

    Barry: (votes for Jason)

  61. HueSatLight

    Very disappointed in 55% of you.

  62. Alaric

    Dammit. I really, really wanted to vote for Barry. But I found myself voting for Jason.

  63. IniquitousKing

    I’m actually kinda hoping that Jason is the one who backs out of this of his own free will. He seemed to be reflecting last time we saw him that maybe he wasn’t cut out for being a teacher and at least looked to be on the path to accepting that.

    (May be biased in that I find Robin rather loathsome)

  64. modulusshift

    The story needs Jason to win, but it doesn’t need it to be by much. I voted Barry to keep it close lol

  65. Teddae

    Drama tag!!! (Shortpacked callback)

    1. Jennifer Bak

      Robin is always going to be an agent of chaos and pull that tag! XD

  66. bcb

    I’m voting Barry!

  67. Polaris

    Robin is still depicted as a horrible, horrible person… Yet you can feel Willis loves her, I’m really troubled each time she appears…

    1. Icalasari

      I think she’s also starting to break the fourth wall

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