List of Dilbert characters
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- See also: List of minor characters in Dilbert
The following is a list of main characters in the Dilbert series:
Contents |
[edit] Dilbert
The main character in the strip, Dilbert is a stereotypical technically-minded single male. He is usually pictured wearing a white dress shirt, black trousers and a red-and-black striped tie which inexplicably curves upward (though it flattens when he meets Antina, an extra-masculine female co-worker; Adams has said that the phallic symbolism was intentional in Seven Years of Highly Defective People. Adams has also claimed that it might be a metaphor for Dilbert's inability to control his environment.). In old Dilbert strips, his neck was long shaped. Over time, his neck has become smaller. Dilbert received his Masters degree in electrical engineering from MIT; he understands engineering well and has good ideas, but has a poor social life. Neither attractive nor blessed with tremendous social graces, Dilbert is capable but ignored at work, and struggles with his romantic life. While he is frequently seen having dates with eligible women, his dates almost invariably end in disaster, usually in surreal and bizarre ways. Dilbert loves computers and technology and will spend much of his free time playing with such things. Two comic strips show the tie pointed downward, which, according to Adams,[1] was a secret message to readers of his newsletter that Dilbert had "lost his innocence" with his girlfriend, Liz.
[edit] Pointy-Haired Boss
The manager of Dilbert and the other engineers; his real name is never mentioned. In earlier strips the Boss was depicted as a stereotypical late-middle-aged balding middle manager; it was not until later that he developed his signature "pointy hair". He is hopelessly incompetent at management and is very bombastic. He does not understand technical issues but always tries to disguise this, usually by using buzzwords he also does not understand. The Boss treats his employees alternately with disdain or neglect; he is narcissistic, using them to his own ends regardless of the consequences to them. Adams himself wrote that "He's not sadistic, just uncaring." The Boss's level of intelligence varies from near-vegetative to perceptive and clever, depending on the strip's comic needs. His utter lack of ethics, however, is perfectly consistent. His brother is a demon named Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light, and according to Adams[2] the pointy hair is intended to remind one of devil's horns.
[edit] Wally
One of the oldest engineers. Originally was a worker trying to get fired to get a severance package. He hates work and avoids it whenever he can. He often carries a cup of coffee, calmly sipping from it even in the midst of chaos or office-shaking revelations. Wally is even more socially inept than Dilbert, and references to his lack of personal hygiene are not uncommon. Like the Pointy-Haired Boss, Wally is utterly lacking in ethics and will take advantage of any situation to maximize his personal gain while doing the least possible amount of honest work. Squat and balding, Wally is almost invariably portrayed wearing a short sleeved dress shirt and tie. Adams has stated that Wally was based on a Pacific Bell coworker of his who was interested in a generous employee buy-out program -- for the company's worst employees. This had the effect of causing this man -- whom Adams describes as "one of the more brilliant people I've met" -- to work hard at being incompetent, rude, and generally poor at his job to qualify for the buy-out program. Adams has said that this inspired the basic laziness and amorality of Wally's character. Despite these personality traits Wally is accepted as part of Dilbert, Alice and Asok's clique. Although his relationship with Alice is often antagonistic and Dilbert occasionally denies being his friend, their actions show at least a certain acceptance of him.
[edit] Alice
One of the more competent engineers. Alice has a huge, triangular hairstyle. She is often frustrated at her work not getting proper recognition, which she believes is due to her gender. She also has a short, often violent temper, sometimes putting her "Fist of Death" to use, even against the Pointy Haired Boss. Alice originally depicted a series of female characters, like Ted the Generic guy, and appeared for a time as the current Alice with a somewhat more normal hair style before, like the Boss, she finally developed her signature triangular hair. Alice is claimed to be based upon a woman that Scott Adams worked with named Anita, who is described as sharing Alice's "pink suit, fluffy hair, technical proficiency, coffee obsession and take-no-crap attitude."
[edit] Asok
Pronounced "Ah-SHOOK" A young intern. He works very hard but does not always get proper recognition. Asok is intensely intelligent but naive about corporate life; the shattering of his illusions are frequent comic fodder. Asok is Indian, and has graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). The others, especially the Boss, often unwittingly trample on his cultural beliefs. If Asok mentions this, he is normally ignored. Asok's test scores (a perfect 1600 on the old SAT) and the fact his IQ is 240, show that he is the smartest member of the engineering team. There are a few jokes about him having psychic powers which he learned at the IIT. (Examples are: telekinesis; being able to move objects with ones mind, etc.) Yet despite his intelligence, ethics and mystical powers, Asok sometimes takes advice from Wally in the arts of shiftlessness and passing-the-buck, and Dilbert in surviving the office bureaucracy. He died while test piloting the company's prototype moon shuttle. Dilbert cloned his body, but because Carol put candy in his DNA jar, he is part Snickers bar. By random luck (which Dilbert was hoping for), Asok's soul reincarnated into his new body. Luckily, his studies of Guided Reincarnation and Advanced Shapeshifting at IIT allowed him to assume his usual form.
[edit] Dogbert
Dilbert's pet dog (if such a subordinate appellation can be applied to him). Dogbert is a megalomaniac intellectual, planning to one day conquer the world and enslave all humans. He once succeeded, but got bored and quit. Often seen in high ranking consultant jobs, he constantly abuses his power and fools the management of Dilbert's company, though considering the intelligence of the company's management in general and Dilbert's boss in particular, this is not very hard to do. Dogbert also enjoys pulling scams on unsuspecting, and usually dull customers to steal their money. However, despite Dogbert's cynical exterior, he has been known to pull his master out of some tight jams. Dogbert's nature as a pet was more emphasized during the earlier years of the strip; as the strip progressed, references to his acting like a dog became less common, although he still wags his tail when he perpetrates his scams. When an older Dilbert arrives while time-traveling from the future, he refers to Dogbert as "majesty", indicating that Dogbert will one day indeed rule the world...again, and make worshipping him retroactive so he could boss around time travelers.
[edit] Ratbert
A rat formerly used as a laboratory test animal. A cheerful pollyanna character, and something of a nitwit though he does make the occasional brilliant observation. He usually gets all the lowest and most menial jobs (e.g. temp). Ratbert is originally disliked by Dilbert for being a rat, but is later accepted as a member of the family. He was not originally intended as a regular character, but because of his popularity with readers he was kept.
[edit] Catbert
The company's evil feline Human Resources director. Although he was originally just supposed to be around for a few strips, the fans named him and demanded more of him. He derives sadistic pleasure from seeing employees worry about their jobs, and particularly enjoys tormenting Wally. Merely mentioning the term "layoffs" causes him to purr with delight. Unlike Dogbert, Catbert has no apparent owner, but retains all of the qualities of a cat, and frequently purrs or sheds or performs other acts of "catness". He is particularly cooperative and friendly with the Pointy Haired Boss.
[edit] Carol
The misanthropic and bitter secretary of the Pointy-Haired Boss, who hates her boss and all of her co-workers. Originally a minor character in the company where Dilbert, Alice, Asok, and Wally work, her character's popularity as the "secretary from hell" grew enough to the point where she was given entire storylines to herself in the strip. The Boss has made it clear that Carol will never be promoted past secretary even though she currently holds her MBA.[3]
[edit] Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light
A minor demon who punishes people for small crimes by "darning them to heck" with his "pitchspoon", a parody of Satan (the "Prince of Darkness"). Ostensibly, Phil is eventually revealed to be the Pointy-Haired Boss's brother. Adams is inconsistent with his depictions of Phil; he sometimes has horns and sometimes does not, and sometimes carries a pitchfork rather than a spoon. Adams has stated that the inconsistency is because he sometimes forgets that Phil is not supposed to have a cape or a pitchfork.
[edit] Elbonians
People from a fictional Fourth World nation, used as a parody of outsourcing. Their culture is radically different from Western culture, and their patriarchy often annoys Alice. Their country is covered in waist-deep mud which they keep wet using expensive bottled water as revealed in one strip. The main vehicle of their national airline is essentially a giant slingshot. At one point, the French declare war on Elbonia because they tried to launch a French satellite with the town slingshot before Dilbert can intercede; the satellite flattens the French Embassy. Elbonia was first described as an Eastern European nation. Elbonia's traditional hats, long beards, male-centric culture and technological backwardness suggest it is modeled after a Third World Islamic society, such as Afghanistan; it is also similar to Post-Soviet States in its headwear and former communism. Scott Adams stated in Seven Years of Highly Defective People that Elbonia was created to allow for a foreign nation inoffensive to people outside the United States, and is based on the average American's perception of any country without cable TV. Despite this, Adams has been accused of racism several times.
[edit] Bob the Dinosaur
A vegetarian dinosaur who is the wedgie enforcer at the office. He was found after Dilbert calculated that dinosaurs could not be extinct, and they therefore must be in hiding. Bob is found hidden behind the couch. Bob has a wife (Dawn) and son (Rex), who also live in Dilbert's house, but they are seen far less frequently than he is, since most of his time is spent at Dilbert's office, where his wedgie duty is constantly needed while working with incompetent co-workers, salesmen, or clients.
[edit] References
- ^ Seven Years of Highly Defective People
- ^ Seven Years of Highly Defective People
- ^ http://people.csail.mit.edu/adonovan/dilbert/show.php?day=3&month=10&year=1999
