Editing Cueball

{{Infobox character
| image            = Cueball.png
| imagesize        = 200px
| caption          = '
| first_appearance = [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]]
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Cueball|Comics featuring Cueball]].''
:''For the named Cueball, see [[Rob]].''
:''For Cueball's girlfriend, see [[Megan]].''</noinclude>

'''Cueball''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. He is distinguished from other characters by having no distinguishing features, including no obvious hair or hat, although this may just be a normally neat-and-short hair, or even shaven, that can still become ungroomed hair if [[3151: Window Screen|allowed to do so]], rather than total [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta|or partial]] baldness.

[[600: Android Boyfriend|<!-- randomly picked a single example, feel free to change/add to; there are 'back of head' tufts, 'crown' tufts and 'forelock' tufts seen, perhaps even clearly formed from the completion of the off-eggshaped 'oval', but each generally 'makes sense' as a head pointing in various directions, somehow -->Early comics' depictions]] might even have been drawn to deliberately suggest a subtle tuft of hair, without the head displaying an actual hairstyle or [[Hairy|obvious strands]]. Though predominantly identified by being also hatless, he ''may'' also notably wear something on his head if [[3158: Shielding Chart|there is reason to do so]], while still being clearly the Cueball character through related context.

Several of the [[:Category:Cancer|comics about cancer]] have Cueball representing Randall and Megan representing's his fiancée and later wife. Cueball may also be refering to Megan as his wife in [[3237: Husband and Wife]].

Notwithstanding these complications, this name is unofficial but used here. Like other [[xkcd]] characters, Cueball doesn't necessarily represent the same character from comic to comic. Instead, he represents a generic {{w|everyman}}. In several comics, there are [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|multiple Cueballs]], any of whom can be called Cueball. Early [[xkcd]] comics featured Cueball-style characters who occasionally included facial features (e.g., [[18: Snapple]]), since [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] hadn't standardized his character design early in the comic's run. Several of the [[:Category:Cancer|comics about cancer]] also have Cueball representing Randall himself. 

In [[3164: Metric Tip]], Cueball was given an official height of 5'9".

==Name==
The character is rarely actually referred to as "Cueball" on [[xkcd]], but never in the comic image, title text, or visible metadata. The name was developed by early contributions to [[explain xkcd]], referring to the visual similarity of Cueball's head to a {{w|billiard ball}}. [[Transcript|Randall's transcripts]] usually refer to the character as "Person 1" and similar denominations, but they sometimes specifically call him "Cueball", such as in [[1324: Weather]]'s [https://xkcd.com/1324/info.0.json official transcript]. A few comics give Cueball a first name, but only the name [[Rob]] appears several times ([[:Category:Comics featuring Rob|13 in total]]) for a Cueball.

There have been many debates about whether all other Cueballs should be retroactively renamed "Rob" on this wiki. Following the same logic that resulted in the "[[Cutie]]" character being renamed Megan, an argument can be advanced for renaming Cueball as Rob. As it stands, however, it seems the community has not agreed with this logic, with an argument against the name change being the abundance of comics with multiple Cueballs. The topic was discussed at length at the following [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]] topics:
* [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Cueball/Rob|Proposals § Cueball/Rob]]
* [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Merge Cueball & Rob|Proposals § Merge Cueball & Rob]]
* [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Re-proposing merging Cueball and Rob|Proposals § Re-proposing merging Cueball and Rob]]
* [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#New character category for blonde woman news reporter (from 1699)|Proposals § New character category for blonde woman news reporter (from 1699)]]


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