Dilbert: Difference between revisions

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Scott Adams' cult newspaper comic about Dilbert, an engineer cog in a soulless and bureaucratic corporation. The strip is principally a [[Satire]] of the corporate world.

 

Can be found at the main website [http://www.dilbert.com/ here.]

 

* [[Acronym Confusion]]:

"The Viet Cong are sick of breakfast in bed?" }}

* [[Affectionate Gesture to the Head]]: In one strip, the Pointy-Haired Boss is criticizing Dilbert's work (while not being overly specific as to what's wrong). As Dilbert becomes more frustrated, the boss asks Dilbert to "come here so I may pat your head in a condescending manner".

'''Dilbert''': I didn't want to leave empty handed. }}

* [[Against My Religion]]: In one strip, Dilbert is summoned to jury duty, and one of the potential jurors claims he cannot serve because it's against his religion, as "only God may judge". This is played for humor when another juror, realizing he can get out of jury duty, quickly claims to have just switched religions.

** In another comic, Dilbert asks a woman out and she responds with this trope. When he says he's flexible, she explains that's not the issue...

'''Dogbert:''' Where do you think I go every Sunday? }}

** There's also the time their {{spoiler|Spam Filter became self aware and forced them to make an army of killer robots.}}

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Dilbert's garbage man is a scientist and philosopher, and likely the most intelligent character in the strip. When he was first introduced, he was supposed to be the world's smartest man who just happened to be a garbage man for reasons that only made sense to his superintelligent self ("I think it was the glamour of the job that first intrigued me...")

* [[Anonymous Ringer]]: Elbonia, albeit Adams has repeatedly denied that he has a certain country in mind. Elbonia is just how he thinks most Americans see the rest of the world (or at least "countries without cable TV"): as backwards idiots wading around in mud.

* [[Anticlimax Cut]]:

'''Liz''': How long has your internet connection at work been broken? }}

* [[Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?]]

'''Dilbert:''' Gee, that sounds a lot harder than my idea of gluing a little picture of Dick Tracy on each watch. }}

* [[Art Evolution]]: Dilbert's hair originally looked more like a crew cut, and the boss was originally taller, jowlier, and lacked his trademark pointy hair.

* [[Brain Drain]]: The company that Dilbert work on often suffers from this, as talented employees move on to better companies.

** Also, In one episode of the animated version, Dilbert manages to get recruited by Nirvana Corporation, the great company that's always steals the best and brightest from his old company. {{spoiler|of course, [[Status Quo Is God]] - so at the end of the episode he's back in his old cubicle again.}}

'''Dogbert''': [[Take That|Law school]]. }}

* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]]: From the TV show: "The class covers sitting in your chair, pointing towards the elevator, shooing smokers away from the lobby, and killing an intruder with your thumb."

** The animated version simply uses really, really terrible airplanes.

* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Catbert

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: The [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] and (perhaps) the CEO

* [[Chess Motifs]]: The continual, seemingly haphazard process of office relocations made the employees feel like pawns. Then the PHB brought in [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-11-27/ the new dress code].

** Not just the business world, though - whenever the strip touches on anything outside of business, it makes it look just as bleak.

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: A necessary tactic when your managers and co-workers are chronically incompetent, actively malicious, or both -- i.e. all the time at Dilbert's workplace. Even [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2000-11-05/ generic Ted] and [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-09-15/ lazy Wally] know how to bust out this trope, and Dilbert lampshaded it at least once when he was [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1992-09-06/ too prepared]. Alice [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2003-09-07/ certainly doesn't mess around], either.

** Alice killed the PHB in a recent arc (as of 2011), but to fill the power vacuum she ripped ''another'' PHB out of a parallel reality to serve as their PHB. Also classifies as [[Status Quo Is God]].

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Dilbert, especially with his infamous Power Point presentations on the department's various new issues. Dogbert as well, when talking to Dilbert. And Alice, every single time she says a word to the PHB. And Carol, like, all the time. In fact, Deadpan Snark is the mode all the intelligent characters switch to ''every'' time they start talking about work.

*** Indeed, in several papers they were [[Bowdlerize|changed into the "Cubicle Police"]]

* [[Exotic Entree]]: Dilbert is temporarily transferred to Marketing, which appears to be a 24-7 Toga party. Lunch that day is barbecued unicorn.

* [[Expressive Hair]]: Dilbert's 'do becomes pointy and jagged when he is under stress.

'''Woman''': It doesn't matter. I'm old and you must do as I say. }}

* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: At least for Dilbert and most of his coworkers. They only ever succeed either at petty tasks they get no satisfaction from or by redefining victory conditions to get a perverse sense of satisfaction from failing the right way. In fact, the PHB's assignments to Dilbert are constructed so that [[Failure Is the Only Option]] before it's started (usually not on purpose).

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: The Elbonian right-handed and left-handed supremacists.

* [[Fisher Kingdom]]

* [[Flanderization]]: The strip as a whole Flanderized into focusing solely on Dilbert's office life. Dilbert himself went through reverse Flanderization, starting out as a socially inept nerd but later becoming [[The Everyman]].

* [[Funny Foreigner]]: Elbonians

* [[Geeky Turn On]]

* [[The Generic Guy]]: Ted.

* [[Godwin's Law]]: Parodied:

'''Dilbert''': ''(annoyed)'' Hey, I debated you last night! }}

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Phil, Prince of Insufficient Light, Supreme Ruler of Heck

* [[Heads-Tails-Edge]]: When Ratbert gets psychic powers.

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: Dogbert. Also Wally to a lesser degree. To clarify, Wally is at least as sociopathic as Dogbert, but he's not as heroic. But on the other hand, Wally's sociopathy tends to manifest in milder, less harmful ways. Usually.

* [[Hollywood Dateless]]: Dilbert does get a lot of first dates, but they almost always end badly. He did have an actual relationship several years ago, but there were constant references to this violating the very laws of nature. (Also [[Word of God|Adams discovered he couldn't draw the girlfriend character to look older than twelve.]])

* [[Homemade Inventions]]: Dilbert regularly built these in the early days.

* [[Inventor of the Mundane]]: Dilbert's great-grandfather was the inventor of sliced bread, the greatest thing since unsliced bread.

* [[It's a Long Story]]: A favourite parody device.

'''Dogbert''': What did I say that sounded like "Tell me about your day"? }}

* [[It's Been Done]] Dilbert's [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1989-07-27/ Max-10 energy transfer model].

* [[Karma Houdini]]: As part of the strip's point that the Corporation is soulless and unstoppable in its efforts to suck you in, the Pointy-Haired Boss and Catbert are shown doing exactly what they want to underlings with no fear of repercussion (e.g., Alice accuses the Pointy-Haired Boss of sexism to no avail and Catbert has done things that would normally lead to a lawsuit).

* [["Kick Me" Prank]]: Dilbert ''thinks'' his co-workers have put a sign on his back, and leaves work early to avoid being slapped on the back constantly. Turned out there was no sign, but the men's room was out of paper towels and they were using Dilbert's shirt to dry their hands.

* [[Large Ham]]: Comp-U-Comp. "''[[Silence, You Fool|SIIIILENCE!]]''"

* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: [http://www.dilbert.com/2011-10-20/ In this strip]

'''PHB''': Me too. It feels like some sort of forbidden knowledge. }}

* [[Lopsided Dichotomy]]: In "The Dilbert Principle", Scott Adams describes the two possible results of a career in engineering:

Reward: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. }}

** At the end of a Dilbert arc, Dilbert wonders why he's sitting naked in a trash can, and Dogbert explains:

* [[Make Me Wanna Shout]]: When Loud Howard gets hysterical, his voice is known to hurl people backward several feet and cause building walls to crumble.

* [[Marshmallow Dream]]: Wally has a strange dream about getting smarter by willing it so, with his forehead expanding to match, and wakes up with his pillow missing. As Dilbert comments,

* [[Meaningful Name]]: The company Dilbert and co work for is called "Path-E-Tech Management", due to a number of mergers. Overlaps with [[Fail O'Suckyname]].

** Also, Mordac, the Preventer of Information Services, has a name that is very nearly a reversal of CD-ROM.

*** LOUD HOWARD! Elbonians are an interesting example, and then you have the animalberts. If Catbert's a cat and Dogbert's a dog, does that make Dilbert a pickle?

* [[Megaton Punch]]: Alice has an interesting one: She'll tell someone that she'll do ''something'' to them so hard that an odd effect will happen, such as snapping someone's suspenders so hard they'll end up in next Thursday, or punch an MBA so hard that everyone with an MBA will feel it. The actual action is skipped, but the end panel implies that what she speaks is truth.

** The final panel of one such strip is actually captioned "Next Thursday", and features Alice's antagonist slumped unconscious across the threshold of a time portal!

* [[Monkeys on a Typewriter]]: According to Dogbert, Dilbert's poem could be written by three monkeys in ten minutes.

* [[Motionless Makeover]]: Dogbert [http://www.dilbert.com/fast/1993-06-21/ takes advantage of Dilbert being in a "game trance" and stacks dishes on his head.]

* [[Multi Boobage]]: This [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-01-18/ strip]

* [[Mundane Utility]]: In an early strip, Dilbert invents an antigravity chemical, which is marketed as...uh...that is...look, [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1991-02-26/ just read it.]

** Then again, the competitors are usually spoken of as being better than their company in every way.

* [[Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List]]: [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2000-01-09/ "Your pros are..waffles, eggs, bananas and milk."]

* [[Only Sane Man]]: [[Sanity Ball|Seems to drift around.]] The boss even plays the role once in a while.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2004-12-12/ One-time, but hey, it works.]

* [[Overly Narrow Superlative]]: Dogbert as a film reviewer is asked how much he'd need to be bribed say a New-Years-release comedy film is "funniest movie this year so far".

* [[Paintball Episode]]: In one strip, the [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] signs the team up for a paintball course as a "team building exercise", but instead of them going out to a paintballing field, he interprets it as hunting them in the office with a paintball gun, without them being aware of it. Obviously, they don't have on any protective gear, and in the confines of office spaces it would've been difficult to avoid "point blank" shots, both of which are major no-nos.

** In one episode of the animated series, Alice starts one of these. In Dilbert's house. For an off-site meeting. She is notably one of the only ones who has protective gear aside from eyewear.

* [[Painting the Medium]]:

(''Dogbert and Dilbert speak in empty speech bubbles.'') }}

* [[Paranoia Fuel]]: Invoked by Dogbert as part of a scheme to dissuade people from returning faulty products; the security questions asked by the product recall phone-in are "What is your home address?" and "When do you shower?"

** One strip had phone operators instructed to tell people that instead of getting an empty box, the customers had received an "invisible robot who was somewhere in the room, watching them."

* [[Petting Zoo People]]: In one arc, the 'Curse of Dogbert' turned everyone who sent or received a chain letter into an anthropomorphic dog.

* [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]: [[Trope Namer]]

* [[That Poor Plant]]: Wally's office plant, during the arc where he dumped his coffee grounds into it.

* [[Puss in Boots]]: Dogbert.

* [[Remix Comic]]: The website invites people to make Mashups of strips.

* [[Ruritania]]: Elbonia again.

* [[Safe, Sane, and Consensual]]: In one strip (28 August 2010), the [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] is trying to make people believe that slave labor is okay by pretending that "slave" really refers to the BDSM kind of slavery rather then economical exploitation of poor people. See the [[Happiness in Slavery]] page illustration.

* [[Sapient Cetaceans]]: strips had him trapped miles from shore while dolphins taunted him for hours ("Let's ask the humming fish to do the Jaws theme song...").

'''Dogbert:''' What's your problem, some kind of copyright infringement? }}

** To ''[[Top Gear]]'' in the 16th May 2010 strip, when the Pointy-Haired Boss introduces "software genius" Wolfgang {{spoiler|(actually Wally)}}:

* [[Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon]]: [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-07-19/ Parodied].

* [[The Slacker]]: Wally.

* [[Status Quo Is God]]: Very much so.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: Adams loves these; perhaps the best ever followed a sequence when Dilbert invented tubular luggage out of "Pringles" cans and Dogbert referred to it as "Dorkage". This led to a strip where Dogbert [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|addressed the readers directly]].

* [[Sure Why Not]]: Catbert was initially just someone who tried to eat Ratbert. Adams then started getting fanmail for more 'Catbert'. He never actually ''named'' the cat; still, given the response and how his use of [[Theme Naming]] could lead to this, he kept the cat and gave him a perfect job. His reasoning being that if your entire fanbase spontaneously and unanimously names a character for you, you should probably keep him.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]:

'''PHB ([[Oh Crap|wide-eyed]]):''' Excuse me, I have to go make a phone call... }}

* [[Talking Animal]]

* [[They Killed Kenny]]: A variation appears in the form of Ted the Generic Guy. He is repeatedly fired for more or less ridiculous reasons, only to be back to be fired again in true [[Negative Continuity]] style. (He also died in at least [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2006-05-07/ two] [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-15/ strips].) Either there are a lot of guys named Ted, or this trope is in play. The cartoon implies that Ted is so generic, nobody can find or identify him, so other people get the blame for his work.

** The cartoon actually comes right out and says that there may be more than one Ted in the company, nobody really knows.

''Ted the Generic Guy:'' Well, it's Ted, but not the Ted you're thinking of. }}

* [[Trust-Building Blunder]]: Though in this case, the person at fault wasn't the person catching (Dilbert) but the one falling (the boss, who fell ''forwards'', prompting Dogbert to remark that maybe trust isn't the issue here).

** It apparently makes perfect sense, but you have to be the smartest man in the world to understand why.

* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-10-14/ This strip].

* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1989-09-15/ "Oh, carp."]

** [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1989-07-23/ "Oh, worms!"]

** [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1989-10-22/ "Oh phlegm!"]

* [[Video Phone]]: One strip involves Dilbert being the first person in the city to own a videophone. He then sits next to the phone, waiting for someone else to buy one so he can call them.

* [[Windmill Crusader]]: Many surreal jokes based on the premise that one character lives in his own little reality. Sadly, this is often a character who has power - or who gains power by enforcing her crazy perceptions on others.

* [[Windmill Political]]: While also playing it straight sometimes, Dilbert is famous for a deconstruction of this trope: Dogbert openly advises people to pick a harmless person and make him seem like a threat. Then destroy him, and have people reward you for saving you from the "threat". (The deconstruction part is that Dogbert is completely open and public with his cynicism, thus defeating the purpose.)

** This is a variation on one of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. The book is in play.

* [[X Days Since...]]: there's a strip where somebody is putting up a sign that reads "8 days since the last accident", and then falls off the office chair he was using as a step stool.

'''Worker''': No, it was ironic when it happened 8 days ago. }}

* [[You Answered Your Own Question]]: During a sales presentation in [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-06-04/ this strip]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Nineties]]

[[Category:Newspaper Comics]]

[[Category:The Eighties]]