Ponytail

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Ponytail

First appearance 84: National Language
Appearances 439
For a list of comics, see Comics featuring Ponytail.

Ponytail is a stick figure character in xkcd. She is the second-most common female character, though far less common than Megan. She is distinguished from other characters by her blond hair arranged in a ponytail. Like Cueball and Megan, she doesn't necessarily represent the same character from comic to comic.

Name[edit]

Ponytail doesn't have a recurring name like Megan or Rob (for a few instances of Cueball). But a few times a Ponytail character has been given a name used only in a single comic. For instance, she is called Joanna in 322: Pix Plz, Sarah in 84: National Language (which may be about a real-life friend of Randall), Harding in 402: 1,000 Miles North, Doctor Adams in 1954: Impostor Syndrome and 2527: New Nobel Prizes. She is also called Sasha in What if Phone Keypad

Characteristics[edit]

Doctor Ponytail

Ponytail was originally mainly a filler character, showing up when two females were needed or when a large group of people is present. But she has appeared increasingly often, including without (for example) Megan present in the comic. She is rarely used more than once in a comic (as opposed to Cueball), although there are two different Ponytails in 673: The Sun in different panels.

In 2040: Sibling-in-Law, she was used to describe Cueball's sister in a quasi-family tree; however, other Ponytail characters were used in the same strip. In 1018: Good Cop, Dadaist Cop, she says she has small bones. Oftentimes, she appeared as a police officer or security guard, usually with a male police officer as her counterpart, as in 1018: Good Cop, Dadaist Cop, 1113: Killed in Action, and 1251: Anti-Glass.

She seems to be less typically nerdy than Megan. In the comics in which she has a specific role, she tends to be well-educated, such as in 451: Impostor as an engineer, or as a doctor. Ponytail has appeared multiple times as a doctor in a coat, and she also depicts Randall's wife's doctor during her battle with cancer as chronicled in 1141: Two Years. For a full list, see Category:Doctor Ponytail.