Robert

 

MTV Name/NicknameRobert
Fandom NamesRobert, Robert Korleski, Robert "Lip" Schitz, Robert Waldman
Stock/stereotypePolite Jock
ClassmatesDaria and Jane
Speaks?Occasionally
Frequency seenOccasionally
Based on real person?No
Alter egos?No

 

Description

Robert is a tall, broad-shouldered, powerfully built teen with a short haircut and a widow's peak. He usually wears a blue sweater or sweatshirt over a light blue T-shirt, with dark gray baggy short pants and white sneakers with sagging socks. Though not very bright, he is well mannered toward women and easily manipulated by Quinn in particular. When around males, however, he becomes an average guy, prone to roughhousing and fun.

In many screen captures Robert's skin tone is noticeably darker than other white students around him. He could be well tanned from being outdoors a lot, or he could have Native American, Hispanic, or other ancestry. His use of a string tie with his suit in "Daria Dance Party" suggests a Western U.S. influence.

 

Notes

Robert is one of a number of males at Lawndale High with a Robert-derived name (Rob, Bob, Bobby Bighead, etc.). This seems to be a running gag in the series (e.g., the Tiffanys and the Jennifers). His strength is well apparent, as he broke Kevin Thompson's jaw in a fistfight ("Daria Dance Party"). Robert, on the other hand, emerged only mildly roughed up.

 

Fanfiction Appearances

Robert is not often seen in fanfiction, and when he is seen his appearances are nearly always brief and not especially noteworthy. A list of fanfiction in which he makes an appearance can be found on DariaWiki.

 

Image Gallery


1 (full image)

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8 (alternate image)

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10 (alternate image)

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Image Gallery Notes

1. Line drawing of Robert, from MTV. The alternate image shows Robert with Daria in the MTV.com flipbook, "It Takes Two to Tangle."

2. Iconic picture of Robert from "The New Kid": big, handsome, well built, polite to women. He's not adverse to roughhousing, but he usually does so in a fun-loving way.

3. Daria's photo essay in The Daria Database shows Robert spraying Silly String at Kevin, who is spraying back. The scene takes place in Pizza King while Jane reads in the foreground, ignoring everyone.

4. Robert (a junior now), talking with Layered Blonde (a sophomore), enjoys himself at the "C+ party" at Brittany's house in "Groped by an Angel."

5. Robert, still in the background (on the left), appears at the party at Kevin Thompson's house in "Mart of Darkness."

6. Kevin, who has been pawing Angie on a parade float ("I Loathe a Parade"), is interrupted by Robert, who hands out hard candy for the football players to toss to the crowd. The players throw the candy hard enough to knock down small children.

7. "The New Kid": Robert is sitting with his friends at the Fashion Club's table, which Quinn permitted them to do. (Oddly, this is from the same sequence as in #2, only Robert's friends vanished when #2 was shown.) Tiffany Blum-Deckler can be seen at right; Nikki's Boyfriend and the red-haired best friend of Robert are also shown. The red-haired guy is on the Lawndale Lions football team with Robert.

8. Daria's Morgendorffer's first known date was with Robert ("The New Kid"), with Quinn and Sean double-dating with them. This was of course part of Quinn's plot to get Daria to change her mind about changing the school yearbook. Robert read intellectually challenging questions to Daria as part of the date, but he goofed up his mission by asking the key question too obviously. (He read from index cards: see the alternate image.) He also kept calling Daria "Darcy." Daria played along with it for the most part but never seemed to treat the date as a "real" one, as she had suspected Quinn was up to something.

9. "The New Kid": Upset that he has been forbidden to eat at the Fashion Club table in the school cafeteria, as punishment for screwing up the questions, Robert begins to cry. Quinn relents and reduces his sentence, for which he is grateful.

10. "The New Kid": Instead of beating up Ted DeWitt-Clinton at Mr. Fun's Exciting World of Games as he had originally planned (though he had forgotten why), Robert ends up becoming friends with Ted, who knows a lot of cool guy stuff about combat (see alternate image). Robert is shown with his red-haired best friend and Nikki's boyfriend.

11. "Daria Dance Party": Poor Robert gets snookered into becoming Brittany's date to the school dance. He was with his family at Disney World when Kevin got the other guys on the football team to not going out with his then-ex-girlfriend. Jodie suggested Brittany ask Robert out, which Brittany did, but only to make Kevin jealous. Interesting string tie Robert has. He cleans up well.

12. "Daria Dance Party": Brittany discovers that Robert can't dance, so she demands he take her home. Robert's car appears to be a mid-1990s dark blue Mustang convertible.

13. "Daria Dance Party": Brittany's plan to make Kevin jealous works, but when Kevin gets into a fight with Robert, Robert breaks his jaw. Looking a bit disheveled, bruised, and dirty, Robert watches from the sidelines as Brittany makes up to Kevin, who lies in agony on an ambulance gurney.

14. Robert and his best friend (both in the front row) listen to Mr. DeMartino express his outrage over a cheating scandal involving the football team ("Murder, She Snored"). It appears that Robert, Kevin Thompson, and other football players were in on the scandal, as they got good test grades when few others did. (This scene was not part of the episode's long dream sequence.) The class seating arrangement has changed since the first two seasons. The focus shifts to Robert and the three guys nearest him when Mr. DeMartino mentions the football team, leading one to believe all four are on the team and are friends of Robert. The guy behind Robert is Tiger Guy; the guy behind Robert's best friend is Latino Lion.

15. In this "outtake" image shown at the end of Is It Fall Yet?, Robert laughs in the school cafeteria as Quinn dunks Sandi's face in her soup. This is not considered a "pure canon" image, as the characters are being portrayed as actors.

16. The fourth-wall-breaking musical "Daria!" reveals Robert in his Lawndale Lions football uniform (back row, second from left). He's about to sing with the rest of the team.

17. Robert and a few of his teammates sing in chorus (in "Daria!") after being informed their football game has been canceled because of a hurricane. The lyrics they sing are (per Outpost Daria): Well, we're not falling for their line! What if the town blew away? What would the other townships say? Would they put up a plaque to mark the day our town blew away?

18. A depressed Robert appears behind Daria and Jane in Daria's mystery-laden dream in "Murder, She Snored." The group is at Kevin's outdoor burial ceremony.

 

External Links

Daria Character Database: character page

DariaWiki: character page, with many examples of fanfiction featuring him

Sick, Sad World: character page

Daria Fandom Blog II: posts about Robert

Outpost Daria: "Planes, Trains & Automobiles: Transportation in Daria," by D.T. Dey

Outpost Daria: Transcript of "The New Kid"

Outpost Daria: Transcript of "Daria Dance Party"

Outpost Daria: Transcript of "I Loathe a Parade"

 

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Last updated 02/08/2010