Now I’m picturing Robin singing “I’m in the mood to help you dude. You ain’t never had a friend like me!”
Steamweed
“There are 3 rules to me helping you: I can’t bring back anyone from the dead, I can’t make anyone fall in love with anyone else (although pure animal fuckin’ lust is another matter), and I can’t kill anyone for you (well, I mean, I could, but let’s not go there).”
So if Robin does a good thing, like help Becky, she gets rewarded (would have won reelection if she hadn’t bowed out).
And if she does a bad thing, she faces no consequences because it’s Robin, let’s just count our blessings she didn’t do something WORSE.
Wow. She really has cracked the code to Only Fail Upwards. Thing is, she managed to do it while being not an Old White Straight Dude. In fact, she’s zero out of four. This may be unprecedented in our society.
Guys, we need to be very afraid of Robin. She might actually be a genius.
Ethnically Hispanic, last I saw. For weird reasons, we tend to mix ethnicity and ‘race’ (skin color) into a whole amalgam… Throwing in a nice helping of nationality while we’re at it.
But, back on topic, since Robin is Hispanic, then she can’t be white (or at very least isn’t “white; non-Hispanic,” as it shows up on the checkboxes these days).
not someone else
Hispanic people can be any race- there are white Hispanic people (I mean, Spanish people for one), Afro-Hispanic people, Indigenous and Hispanic people… In the US we’re most “aware” of people who either are mestizo or who are treated as mestizo as soon as someone realizes they’re Hispanic, but that’s a very oversimplified picture.
BBCC
They can be any race, but Becky knew Roz was Latina just by looking at her so I don’t think the DeSantoses are supposed to be white.
Bysmerian
Huh. Is there somewhere she’s specified as such? Her surname is Italian; I know in the US that there’s been a history of discrimination there but last I checked that has been considered white for a long time.
Mano308gts
@Not Someone Else- I don’t quite know if you understood this or not, but there was a healthy topping of ‘not being serious’ about my whole “since Robin is Hispanic, then she can’t be white.” My entire point was that we conflate the terms race and ethnicity; Robin is white *and* Robin is Hispanic.
Oh, gosh, no, I’ve heard that said straight up seriously by people so I didn’t get it, sorry!
BBCC
Robin is not white and hispanic. Becky clocked her sister as Latina just by looking at her (“the Mexican chick with glasses”) so I’m guessing that means they’re not white and that it’s visible, because while people can be white and Mexican, white Americans (particularly ones fresh out of communities like Becky’s and Joyce’s) don’t see a white person with an Italian last name and go ‘The Mexican chick?”
Laura
…I always just figured “DeSanto” was a shortening of “De Los Santos,” a perfectly cromulent Spanish-language surname. Lots of folks shorten their surnames.
HueSatLight
whiteness is a social construct.
Is Marco Rubio white? Maybe, depends on who you ask and in what year. Italians are [provisionally] white now, and a person might not be able to tell if someone is Italian or Mexican.
Bysmerian
Okay, I stand corrected!
Yumi
Sometimes “white; non-Hispanic” will be the only “white” option on a form, which, as someone who is very much white but *also* Hispanic, is always frustrating to me.
This does seem to be the case much less often these days, though; more often now I’m seeing it as two separate questions– one about race (which now usually lets you select multiple options rather than just having people go under “multiracial/mixed” if there’s not just one that they fit), and one asking if you’re Hispanic/Latino– yes/no.
Bash
Why would they bother to specify that white does not include hispanic if there is no white option that includes hispanic? That’s just strange to me. Why not just white?
Taffy
It’s because the people who create application forms are lazy/ignorant/Xbox fanboys/racist/stupid, or some combination thereof.
Yumi
Because I guess you’re just supposed to select “Hispanic” or “multiracial” or something if you’re not “white; non-Hispanic.”
It always annoyed me. Like, if you wanted me to just pick one thing, I’d pick “white,” like, okay, no problem. But I don’t want to pick an option that specifically denies part of who I am.
Liliet
I’m Ukrainian but I work as a translator, mostly of documents, and the first time I saw a document with that question on it (death certificate) I questioned if I was having a stroke. If you must have a question like that leave it write-in, what the fuck are those checkboxes. The word “hispanic” isn’t even translatable into Ukrainian (or Russian) without some truly insane contortion of meaning, because the category it refers to is just… wow. WHY DOES THAT GO ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS OH MY GOD
All this time she seemed like a caricature of herself mixed with a modern politician
And it turned out it was a planned and carefully curated persona so she could do whatever she needed to do – either getting praise for doing the right thing or no backlash because, “She’s Robin”?
Like damn, her character did a 180 and it’s kind of scary how secretly competent she is
I get the impression that in the past she genuinely did whatever she wanted and faced minimal consequences, but since meeting Leslie and Becky she’s found a moral center and started to care more about the people around her. She still plays up the wacky hijinks because that’s what people expect, but she tries to put it to a better use now.
Robin, you never fail to amuse. Which is odd considering how much you fail at other basic things. One of which is trying to comfort someone of their mistakes and then accidentally raising their anxiety immensely.
Now the question becomes: Is Leslie going to tell someone about Jason, or is she going to let it continue? And which one will make her feel worse?
What’s there to tell? Robin acted with pretty total transparency when hiring Jason. They know he was disciplined for having gotten with a student, and the school knows they fired him, so… who is left, really?
I didn’t think Robin could get away with hiring him again, especially since the firing was over sex between a student and TA. If she has hired him without the school’s knowledge then they could just bar him from working there if they choose to.
However if the school doesn’t care and nobody else cares then this is a great thing. Might bother Leslie a bit that she inadvertently got Jason hired after not wanting to hire him, but then again maybe not.
Was Jason fired or did he quit before the process got to him?
DailyBrad
He was I think fired, but given an opportunity to defend himself, which he chose not to do. Penny, who was also fired, tossed his name out there but did not in fact even know he’d done it, too, she was just being spiteful.
One of the sagest pieces of wisdom (aka, one of the only pieces of wisdom) Robin has ever dispensed is to make mistakes. So yeah, at least she’s following her own advice?
How is this sound logic? Owning that you’re a terrible person doesn’t excuse bad behavior. Especially when no one is asking Robin to do any of this. She’s entertaining sure, but that doesn’t go very far. Leslie doesn’t seem pleased by the argument at least.
Sound logic in that she’s shown she is aware of being the perfect Teflon Scapegoat
Which is honestly… Terrifying. Somebody being dumb and awful is one thing. Somebody being smart enough to understand all that and use it?
That’s terrifying. Leslie probably realizes she can’t even out Robin to anybody because her persona is so iron clad that nobody would believe her, and Robin could use this to extract favours because she’s essentially forced Leslie into a contract against her will – Would be easy for her to, if Leslie ticked her off, flip this onto Leslie and have people go, “We expect this of Robin, but YOU!?”
“Especially when no one is asking Robin to do any of this.”
Leslie kind of did. Yeah, she was “just asking questions” and didn’t identify Jason, but the intent was clearly there.
HueSatLight
nope. she might have gotten around to it, but she did not ask Robin to do anything.
Sirksome
That’s debatable. We can only speculate on intent cause she never actually asked and took care to be vague. I don’t think Leslie actually knew what she wanted yet or if she had the right to even act. People are allowed to have conversations without committing to them. Using peers, colleagues, as sounding boards for discussion. Honestly it kind of feels like Robin’s taken advantage of the briefest amount of trust Leslie gave her to try and score some points with her.
The point Robin is making here is that she can risk her career in ways that Leslie cannot. Even if Leslie wanted to help Ruth she woulda felt obligated to stay out of it. Robin just does whatever dipshit idea pops in her head because that’s what people expect of her. So she can do something Leslie was conflicted about doing and then if it goes tits up Robin will take the brunt of the backlash because again, it’s what everyone expects of her.
I’m really not a fan of people doing a “favor” they decide I’m asking for, when I’m not. I do like Robin as a character, unreasonably. But maybe not for the next 24 hours, feeling kind of pissy.
Yeah, Robin’s a goofball and kind of a real-life Daffy Duck sometimes, but she isn’t stupid and is surprisingly savvy, particularly after having tasted legitimate consequences for herself and others as a result of her actions.
So, you still get the wacky, but you also get her knowing her limitations more and trying to act with a level of responsibility and forward thinking. Just, still dressed up as “eat a bowl of gummiworms for breakfast” nutty.
186 thoughts on “Tragic moral flaw”
Ana Chronistic
Whatever is wrong in your world, blame me
If you got a boy, not a girl, blame me
Just blame me, just blame me
Whatever is wrong
PASchaefer
If all else fails, you can blame it on me.
Lieutenant Dan
Underrated song, that.
fridge_logic
Damn, that’s really catchy.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Oh Robin, it’s more of a “some of column A, some of column B” thing. i.e. Porqué no los dos. It’s both Robin, you’re both.
And I’m here foe it.
Enkrod
Now I’m picturing Robin singing “I’m in the mood to help you dude. You ain’t never had a friend like me!”
Steamweed
“There are 3 rules to me helping you: I can’t bring back anyone from the dead, I can’t make anyone fall in love with anyone else (although pure animal fuckin’ lust is another matter), and I can’t kill anyone for you (well, I mean, I could, but let’s not go there).”
Doctor_Who
So if Robin does a good thing, like help Becky, she gets rewarded (would have won reelection if she hadn’t bowed out).
And if she does a bad thing, she faces no consequences because it’s Robin, let’s just count our blessings she didn’t do something WORSE.
Wow. She really has cracked the code to Only Fail Upwards. Thing is, she managed to do it while being not an Old White Straight Dude. In fact, she’s zero out of four. This may be unprecedented in our society.
Guys, we need to be very afraid of Robin. She might actually be a genius.
Thag Simmons
The key thing is that you need to a bit of a cartoon character to pull it off, which I think is a hard strategy to replicate.
True Survivor
Oh my god. Yeah, definitely.
Nathan
Zero out of four? She’s not white?
Mano308gts
Ethnically Hispanic, last I saw. For weird reasons, we tend to mix ethnicity and ‘race’ (skin color) into a whole amalgam… Throwing in a nice helping of nationality while we’re at it.
But, back on topic, since Robin is Hispanic, then she can’t be white (or at very least isn’t “white; non-Hispanic,” as it shows up on the checkboxes these days).
not someone else
Hispanic people can be any race- there are white Hispanic people (I mean, Spanish people for one), Afro-Hispanic people, Indigenous and Hispanic people… In the US we’re most “aware” of people who either are mestizo or who are treated as mestizo as soon as someone realizes they’re Hispanic, but that’s a very oversimplified picture.
BBCC
They can be any race, but Becky knew Roz was Latina just by looking at her so I don’t think the DeSantoses are supposed to be white.
Bysmerian
Huh. Is there somewhere she’s specified as such? Her surname is Italian; I know in the US that there’s been a history of discrimination there but last I checked that has been considered white for a long time.
Mano308gts
@Not Someone Else- I don’t quite know if you understood this or not, but there was a healthy topping of ‘not being serious’ about my whole “since Robin is Hispanic, then she can’t be white.” My entire point was that we conflate the terms race and ethnicity; Robin is white *and* Robin is Hispanic.
@Bysmerian…
It’s directly mentioned on several occasions regarding Robin’s political career, including the comparison to AOC; here’s one such reference from Leslie herself… https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/knock/
not someone else
Oh, gosh, no, I’ve heard that said straight up seriously by people so I didn’t get it, sorry!
BBCC
Robin is not white and hispanic. Becky clocked her sister as Latina just by looking at her (“the Mexican chick with glasses”) so I’m guessing that means they’re not white and that it’s visible, because while people can be white and Mexican, white Americans (particularly ones fresh out of communities like Becky’s and Joyce’s) don’t see a white person with an Italian last name and go ‘The Mexican chick?”
Laura
…I always just figured “DeSanto” was a shortening of “De Los Santos,” a perfectly cromulent Spanish-language surname. Lots of folks shorten their surnames.
HueSatLight
whiteness is a social construct.
Is Marco Rubio white? Maybe, depends on who you ask and in what year. Italians are [provisionally] white now, and a person might not be able to tell if someone is Italian or Mexican.
Bysmerian
Okay, I stand corrected!
Yumi
Sometimes “white; non-Hispanic” will be the only “white” option on a form, which, as someone who is very much white but *also* Hispanic, is always frustrating to me.
This does seem to be the case much less often these days, though; more often now I’m seeing it as two separate questions– one about race (which now usually lets you select multiple options rather than just having people go under “multiracial/mixed” if there’s not just one that they fit), and one asking if you’re Hispanic/Latino– yes/no.
Bash
Why would they bother to specify that white does not include hispanic if there is no white option that includes hispanic? That’s just strange to me. Why not just white?
Taffy
It’s because the people who create application forms are lazy/ignorant/Xbox fanboys/racist/stupid, or some combination thereof.
Yumi
Because I guess you’re just supposed to select “Hispanic” or “multiracial” or something if you’re not “white; non-Hispanic.”
It always annoyed me. Like, if you wanted me to just pick one thing, I’d pick “white,” like, okay, no problem. But I don’t want to pick an option that specifically denies part of who I am.
Liliet
I’m Ukrainian but I work as a translator, mostly of documents, and the first time I saw a document with that question on it (death certificate) I questioned if I was having a stroke. If you must have a question like that leave it write-in, what the fuck are those checkboxes. The word “hispanic” isn’t even translatable into Ukrainian (or Russian) without some truly insane contortion of meaning, because the category it refers to is just… wow. WHY DOES THAT GO ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS OH MY GOD
Yotomoe
I’d straight up marry Robin, ngl.
jeffepp
Les might beat you to it.
Doctor_Who
She already did in one reality.
Leslie to Yotome.
Yotomoe
They’re my OTP from beyond realities.
TulipKitten
Honestly, me too. Robin is fuckin’ smooth here.
Kim
She’s the best. No contest!
Caro
i was like ‘man dumbverse robin is less interesting than walkyverse robin’ and then this strip happened and i shut my mouth
Thag Simmons
She’ll always be more at home in Shortpacked! but this is still a really good bit.
Icalasari
All this time she seemed like a caricature of herself mixed with a modern politician
And it turned out it was a planned and carefully curated persona so she could do whatever she needed to do – either getting praise for doing the right thing or no backlash because, “She’s Robin”?
Like damn, her character did a 180 and it’s kind of scary how secretly competent she is
Gigafreak
It kinda makes one realize how she managed to snag a seat in a government office to begin with.
thejeff
If you accept this take on Robin, it also makes her whole time at Leslie’s even more sinister.
Icalasari
Oh definitely, she went from idiot with occasionally endearing points to, “Holy crap she’s terrifying”
Bash
I get the impression that in the past she genuinely did whatever she wanted and faced minimal consequences, but since meeting Leslie and Becky she’s found a moral center and started to care more about the people around her. She still plays up the wacky hijinks because that’s what people expect, but she tries to put it to a better use now.
Taffy
I have to say, Robin’s on to something here. Leslie’s hands are completely clean, while Robin’s hands smell of chocolate and peanut butter at worst.
True Survivor
Oh hey, I just noticed one of TA’s must have tied Robin’s bowtie for her between scenes. That’s a cool detail.
Also, I love Robin’s face in panel 5.
Jo_cubstar
I do, too. I also love that she’s doing that whole “fluffing my hair up, cause I’m so hott” thing
Slartibeast Button, BIA
But do they have to tie it while standing behind her because they can’t do it from the front?
shadowcell
Dumbing of Age Book 13: …just all of panel 5 really
Kyrik Michalowski
Robin, you never fail to amuse. Which is odd considering how much you fail at other basic things. One of which is trying to comfort someone of their mistakes and then accidentally raising their anxiety immensely.
Now the question becomes: Is Leslie going to tell someone about Jason, or is she going to let it continue? And which one will make her feel worse?
DailyBrad
What’s there to tell? Robin acted with pretty total transparency when hiring Jason. They know he was disciplined for having gotten with a student, and the school knows they fired him, so… who is left, really?
Kyrik Michalowski
I didn’t think Robin could get away with hiring him again, especially since the firing was over sex between a student and TA. If she has hired him without the school’s knowledge then they could just bar him from working there if they choose to.
However if the school doesn’t care and nobody else cares then this is a great thing. Might bother Leslie a bit that she inadvertently got Jason hired after not wanting to hire him, but then again maybe not.
drs
Was Jason fired or did he quit before the process got to him?
DailyBrad
He was I think fired, but given an opportunity to defend himself, which he chose not to do. Penny, who was also fired, tossed his name out there but did not in fact even know he’d done it, too, she was just being spiteful.
Reltzik
One of the sagest pieces of wisdom (aka, one of the only pieces of wisdom) Robin has ever dispensed is to make mistakes. So yeah, at least she’s following her own advice?
RassilonTDavros
Oh God. I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner.
Robin is the real New Mike.
NGPZ
Eh, Mike gave a little piece of himself to everyone he touched in his life. Sometimes for a nickel.
Nono
And Leslie is Dorothy?
Hazel
Disturbingly sound logic here by Robin.
Sirksome
How is this sound logic? Owning that you’re a terrible person doesn’t excuse bad behavior. Especially when no one is asking Robin to do any of this. She’s entertaining sure, but that doesn’t go very far. Leslie doesn’t seem pleased by the argument at least.
Icalasari
Sound logic in that she’s shown she is aware of being the perfect Teflon Scapegoat
Which is honestly… Terrifying. Somebody being dumb and awful is one thing. Somebody being smart enough to understand all that and use it?
That’s terrifying. Leslie probably realizes she can’t even out Robin to anybody because her persona is so iron clad that nobody would believe her, and Robin could use this to extract favours because she’s essentially forced Leslie into a contract against her will – Would be easy for her to, if Leslie ticked her off, flip this onto Leslie and have people go, “We expect this of Robin, but YOU!?”
Like cripes, she may actually be evil
drs
“Especially when no one is asking Robin to do any of this.”
Leslie kind of did. Yeah, she was “just asking questions” and didn’t identify Jason, but the intent was clearly there.
HueSatLight
nope. she might have gotten around to it, but she did not ask Robin to do anything.
Sirksome
That’s debatable. We can only speculate on intent cause she never actually asked and took care to be vague. I don’t think Leslie actually knew what she wanted yet or if she had the right to even act. People are allowed to have conversations without committing to them. Using peers, colleagues, as sounding boards for discussion. Honestly it kind of feels like Robin’s taken advantage of the briefest amount of trust Leslie gave her to try and score some points with her.
Yotomoe
The point Robin is making here is that she can risk her career in ways that Leslie cannot. Even if Leslie wanted to help Ruth she woulda felt obligated to stay out of it. Robin just does whatever dipshit idea pops in her head because that’s what people expect of her. So she can do something Leslie was conflicted about doing and then if it goes tits up Robin will take the brunt of the backlash because again, it’s what everyone expects of her.
Laura
I do love panel #2 here:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/hiss/
“Anything, for you.
Always.”
I love that.
Laura
Oh, gosh, no, wrong avatar for that comment!
HueSatLight
I’m really not a fan of people doing a “favor” they decide I’m asking for, when I’m not. I do like Robin as a character, unreasonably. But maybe not for the next 24 hours, feeling kind of pissy.
swashlyn
Panel 4 is the softest Robin we’ve ever seen I’m thrown off guard a bit
StClair
Robin is your Friend on the Other Side.
cbwroses
“C’mon, shake my hand.
Won’t you shake…a poor sinners hand?”
Me reaching through the screen towards Robin: “YESSSSSS!”
Moon
yeah ok but the face shes making in the last panel is sooo cute
EpochFlame
robin actually being helpful and thinking one (1) step ahead is grand
DailyBrad
Yeah, Robin’s a goofball and kind of a real-life Daffy Duck sometimes, but she isn’t stupid and is surprisingly savvy, particularly after having tasted legitimate consequences for herself and others as a result of her actions.
So, you still get the wacky, but you also get her knowing her limitations more and trying to act with a level of responsibility and forward thinking. Just, still dressed up as “eat a bowl of gummiworms for breakfast” nutty.
Mark
This is what makes intelligence without judgment so dangerous.
BBCC
Somehow I think that fails to comfort Leslie/
JessWitt