List of minor characters in Dilbert
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This is a list of minor characters from the Dilbert comic strip.
[edit] The World's Smartest Garbageman
Philosopher and scientist. Sometimes solves extremely complex problems for Dilbert. When Mother Nature had three deer shoot Dilbert, he saved Dilbert's life by repairing a cloning device that Dilbert had thrown out. In the TV show, it was revealed that he was the only garbageman in the entire city, and was able to accomplish this by traveling from house to house instantaneously with wormholes. The World's Smartest Garbageman owns a working phaser, as well as an "anti-stupidious gun" which destroys the stupid part of a person while leaving the rest intact. Adams claims that the irony of a genius working as a garbage man is that we really have no right to question his choice of careers as we are not as smart as him.
[edit] Dilbert's Mom
Also known as 'Dilmom', she is homely but intelligent. She's often selfish and openly uncaring towards her son. In the TV series she states that, although she loved him, she did not actually like him. She wanted Dilbert to work on typewriters. She has nearly the same technical knowledge as Dilbert... although it may be the other way around. She is obsessed with Scrabble, and has been accused of cheating with "counterfeit vowels". In the TV series, she dances a jig after playing a high-value word.
[edit] Dilbert's Dad
Also known as Dadbert. An unseen character in the comic strip, although he does appear in the animated series, in which his appearance is like that of Mammy-Two-Shoes from Tom and Jerry or Wilson from Home Improvement. He lives at the all-you-can-eat restaurant in the mall because he hasn't eaten all he can eat.
[edit] Bob, Dawn, and Rex, the Dinosaurs
Not extinct, just (usually) hiding. Bob issues wedgies to the deserving, and is often a lackey in Dogbert's schemes. He told Dilbert he was a thesaurus, although later admitted it was a joke. Dawn claims to be a "nobodysaurus" (a pun on "nobody saw us"). Since Bob and Dawn appear to be different species, Rex is presumably a hybrid. Bob cannot tell the difference between Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings, as he revealed in one strip when he told Dilbert that dinosaurs are incapable of lying. Dawn and Rex are seldom seen, while Bob is a semi-regular member of the cast. It is possible that Bob is just more outgoing.
[edit] Carol
The PHB's misanthropic and bitter secretary. She has attempted to rid herself of the PHB in several different ways, including sending him on trips to New York City with several stopovers in countries experiencing violent rebellions, holding a press conference to announce that the PHB was a serial killer, and shooting him multiple times with a crossbow. Carol feels she is underappreciated and demeaned by her job. She orders office supplies nobody will use such as green pens so she doesn't have to restock or hand out supplies. Many of her antics resemble those of the office ladies in the movie 9 to 5. Carol has children who occasionally appear, but there is little continuity between these appearances. In one strip she brings her son Smokey the Biter and daughter Tess the Yeller to work. In later strips she has a son and a daughter, both named Traylor. Her son, Traylor, appears in the 02 April 2004 strip when she's at work because he has an unnamed disease that leaves him covered with spots. He bites the PHB, who also becomes covered with similar spots. Her daughter, Traylor, appears in the 26 March 2006 strip where Carol brings her to work so she can learn about working in a corporate environment. In the 30 October 2000 strip, she also mentions an unnamed son of hers who is flunking all his classes.
Carol's most devious plot to rid the workplace of the PHB was training him to be helpless. She would do every simple task she could for him, and planned to send him on a one-way flight to South Korea. Before he left, she intended to tell the PHB that speaking English was punished with death in South Korea. (Adams claims to have gotten hate mail due to this.)
[edit] Ted, the Generic Guy
Never the focus of events himself, but appears wherever an otherwise-insignificant employee character is required. People who have known him for years still cannot describe him. He has taken on various roles, and often does not speak. The TV show points out something that was already implied in Seven Years of Highly Defective People: there may be more than one Ted, but since they're all generic, there's no way to know for sure.
[edit] Tina, the Brittle Tech Writer
A radical feminist, but less inclined to react than Alice. She once had a crush on Dilbert, but it ended when she was darned to Heck By Phil. Tina feels that her job (writing and editing product instructions) is not appreciated by anyone in the company. However, it is implied that Tina is merely blaming gender discrimination for her work problems instead of her own incompetence (she once thought of blaming immigrants when she learned that Alice is the highest paid person).
In response to allegations that Scott Adams portrayed Tina in a sexist fashion, Adams also created the character of Antina (according to Seven Years of Highly Defective People, the name stands for antidote to Tina), who didn't act or look like a woman, for one strip. According to Seven Years, a large number of readers thought he was referring to lesbians with the character.
[edit] Mordac
Preventer of Information Technology. His job is to refuse all requests for new computer hardware and the like. Mordac once dated Ming. Once, he changed Dilbert's password to the entire text of The Da Vinci Code, excluding the parts he didn't believe. He also configured Alice's screensaver to log her out after two seconds of inactivity, which she then avoided by using a bobbing bird toy. Note that he no longer has his trademark glasses.
It may or may not be intentional that Mordac's name is almost a reversal of CD-ROM.
As a side note, his original name was only "Mordac the Preventer".
[edit] Zimbu
A monkey who humiliates Dilbert and Wally by constantly outperforming them. He uses his tail to operate the computer mouse while using both hands to type and is therefore the fastest programmer at the company. Not unlike Dogbert, he appears to be superior to human as a species. This could be yet another indicator that Scott Adams does not think much of humans as a species. This is also supported by some of his comments in the Seven Years of Highly Defective People: "I support equal rights for pets" (80) and "Imagine an advanced race of aliens who talk to the average human; do you think they'll be impressed?" (112). Zimbu also appeared in the TV show, helping Wally prevent the company's computers from crashing on Y2K.
[edit] The Useless Guy
A person who never works at all. He would rather take up the space of other coworkers and eat their donuts. Sometimes he will clip out articles and publications and leave them on other people's chairs. He makes an appearance in the TV series in Y2K.
[edit] Loud Howard
Another coworker who, despite appearing in just a few comic strips (on 21 April 1995 and 17 March 2006, and again by popular request on 11 October 2006), became a regular character in the TV series. In the series, Loud Howard is incapable of speaking quietly, and his overpowering voice often breaks anything and everything around him, including people's eardrums. When he sneezes, it is highly advisable to take cover, as the resulting blast has blown the flesh off of people, leaving only a skeleton (at least in the marketing folks).
[edit] Ming
Ming is the Webmistress. She once dated Mordac and Dilbert. Like most people at Dilbert's company who control one of the tools he needs to do his job, Ming is sadistic and often creates regulations and procedures just to complicate things.
[edit] Sourpuss
The Office Sourpuss hired by the Pointy-Haired Boss because "every office has one" — as the name suggests, he is very pessimistic. Appeared from December 7 – 10 2005 as an engineer.
[edit] Accounting trolls
Sadistic trolls from the accounting department whose bodies are 95% saliva. As Dogbert shows, their brains are so hard-wired that seeing someone wearing a baseball cap backwards causes their heads to explode, which he referred to as a "paradigm shifting without a clutch." The trolls' accounting offices resemble a cavernous Hell. They were originally ruled by a witch who turned Dilbert into an accounting troll but was destroyed when Dilbert, assigned to budget erasing, erased the accounting department's budget. The company apparently employs human accountants to interact with other people since most accountants who appear outside the department are human.
[edit] Stan
The all-too-slick marketer. Temporarily turned into a weasel (4 July 1995) by the power of suggestion when Dilbert told him he could alter his DNA through his LAN. Dilbert eventually changed him back into a human by telling him about a rumour of a focus group, who might have said something which, taken out of context, could imply that he wasn't becoming a weasel.
[edit] Scott Adams
From January 2–7 of 2006, a series of strips featured Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams trapped in Dilbert's world where he had to escape by going through the Yellow Sticky Note Road and meet the wizard of landfill. Scott also was anonymously portrayed in these earlier strips:
- Page 112, Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless: Dogbert comments on Scott's new humor book.
- 23–24 April 1998: as a cartoonist at a trade show Dilbert attended.
[edit] Hammerhead Bob
Summoner and buttinski of long, boring conversations. He has a spring-loaded butt, handy for inserting himself into other people's discussions. He also uses ESP to read people's thoughts. Has appeared in six strips as of December 3, 2005.
[edit] Bill Gates
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has appeared several times in Dilbert. He once forced Dilbert to take a job as his towel boy after Dilbert buys unnamed a Microsoft product (his house shows up to "assimilate" Dilbert, in a manner similar to a borg cube). Gates is normally seen in a Star Trek-like setting where he issues orders such as "Launch the competition keeper missiles" from a Captain's chair. Luckily, Dogbert is always ready with interception missiles.
[edit] Specter of Unpaid Overtime
Visits Dilbert at the office, saying he is there to rake up the sticky notes; aspires to the role of a Grim Reaper, so he hits Dilbert with a rake. When Dilbert tells Dogbert, Dogbert says that "I only enjoy stories when it involves you getting hit by a rake." Dilbert replies that that is the only time when he's been hit by a rake. Dogbert then plans to tell the gardener (unseen character) that Dilbert insulted his wife. First appeared 25 October 2005.
[edit] Topper
Man who has been known to "one-up" conversations. He cannot start a conversation, as it "ruins his system". He has appeared several times, in 2001 on the 1st of January to the 4th. He then reappeared on 24 August 2004, in 2005 from the 16-19 of August and 12 December, and on 22 April 2006. Topper has been known to pick on everyone in the office, including Alice and the Boss and his One-upmanship ensures that he is unbeatable in a conversation.
[edit] Bottleneck Bill
Shaped like a bottle and, true to his namesake, believes that "anything worth doing is worth delaying". His neck is made of titanium, as he reveals when Alice tries to strangle him. Bill wears a hat in the shape of a bottle cap on his head, and he appears twice the size of his co-workers when sitting down
[edit] Lola
Seems to be the perfect mate for Dilbert, beautiful, loves Star Trek and wishes to no longer date men who can do better than her. The only problem is she is high maintenance, mean spirited and has the mouth of a sailor. Nevertheless, Dilbert knows he can't do better so he puts up with her. Appeared from the 2nd - 7th May 2005.
[edit] Steve
Steve is a decorated United States Army combat veteran. He first appeared on September 5, 2006. Steve is cruel to the other workers. He rescently appeared in a strip with Topper; during a meeting, Steve talks about a mission where he took RPG fire from the roof and Topper tops it off by saying "he killed 900 insurgents with his bare hands".
[edit] Liz
Dilbert's girlfriend from 1994 to 1996. He met her at a soccer game, where she rebounded a ball off his head to score a goal. Adams eventually had her break up with him, after she started dating other men. She is Dilbert's longest ever relationship; in a series of rather ambiguous strips, it is suggested that Dilbert almost lost his virginity with her (Seven Years of Highly Defective People). Scott Adams clarified in a user interview that Dilbert is still a virgin and will remain so for a while. She is an engineer for another company. She also got along well with Dogbert.
[edit] Baby
Appeared in four strips in 2006 from January 25 - 28th. He can hypnotise people with his cuteness. He is a baby in the time-zone that Dilbert stays in because he has jet lag. He was an engineer, but was transferred to sales by Catbert because "no-one wants to hurt a baby,"
[edit] Techno Bill
One of the most popular characters that was shown briefly in 1992. Techno Bill wears a belt of electronic tools & uses auto-dialing to defeat Dilbert's lesser assortment of personal electronic devices. He was voiced by Phil Hartman in the Desktop Diversions game "Techno Raiders."
[edit] Ishan
Attempts to take over Dilbert's office and use it as a base to recreate the Ottoman empire.
[edit] Bingo
Dogbert's former friend, current arch-rival. In the early days of the strip, Scott Adams was told that Dogbert had to have a nemesis if the strip were ever going to be animated. Adams drew nine strips about Bingo, but never released them; the strip went in a different direction, turning into the work-oriented comic it is today.
In the first strip, Ratbert asks Dogbert about when he and Dilbert met. Dogbert recalls being at the pound, where a teenaged Dilbert adopted him (apparently because he looked "pretty"). Bingo was later adopted by a dairy farm.
At the farm, Bingo created an army of very stupid cows, and used it to kidnap Dogbert. Using caller ID and Ruebert the robot, Dilbert tracked down and rescued Dogbert. Although Dilbert described the endeavor as a "certain-death rescue mission", all got out safely.
The strips are wordy and exposition-heavy, and Adams remarks that "if you hate them you're in good company with the other six billion inhabitants of Earth."
[edit] Ruebert
Ruebert was a robot Dilbert threw away, but which his garbageman rebooted. It taunted and irritated Dilbert because it did not have the Robot's Code (loosely based on Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics).
Dogbert put a shame module into his system and turned him into a worrying, guilt-ridden machine.
He then created a female robot that dumped him immediately. Ruebert would return in the Origin strips.
[edit] Cyrus the Virus
Cyrus is a man who attacks and replaces members of a company with old goons. He demotes PHB to engineer for a while until he is eliminated and the old boss is promoted back.
[edit] Mother Nature
Mother Nature killed Dilbert in 1990, using him as an unorthodox example as punishment for littering. Dilbert was revived a month later when his garbageman cloned him from his garbage.
[edit] Captain Bob
Captain Bob is an airline pilot and cannibal who eats people by crashing into a mountain repeatedly. Bob tricks people into being whacked by a tenderizer and uses Worcestershire sauce all over their bodies. He is ultimately stopped when Dogbert hits his face with a snowball, causing his ovoid body to roll down the mountain.
[edit] Mr. Goodenrich
The main boss who speaks the horrible truth with a smile (very bad).
[edit] Dates
Dilbert has many dating problems so he goes on blind dates. Among those he dated:
- A dog
- A two-headed telepath
- A woman with "puppetitis"
- A large woman he called Jabba the Date
- A supermodel that didn't eat so she was a skeleton
- A witch
- The lady at the library reference desk
His failure is similar to Jon Arbuckle in Garfield.
[edit] Wally Clones
Adams in the beginning used people that looked like Wally. Many of them are:
- Les: A stunted man with a short-temper from New York City. Name is pronounced Lez
- Norman: A victim to a woman with a large nose by being "snorted"
- Bud: A worker who acted like he had been with the company for many years. Actually was only there a week before he changed
[edit] Bank of Ethel
At the beginning, Dilbert had his money at the Bank of Ethel, a place that has lewd acts, steals money, charges a lot, and is evil. Bit bankers appear as a woman with glasses who never cares about people, like the bank itself. Somehow, Dilbert got common sense and finally stopped doing anything there.
[edit] Miscellaneous
There are many others that were created and are known, like:
- Noriko: A young girl that looked like one of Adams' girlfriends when she was in kindergarten.
- Uncle Ned: A relative that shoots everything, even his neighbors, and posts their heads as trophies.
- Scapegoat: A goat briefly employed at the company that everyone blamed for their problems (he once gets shot, and is blamed for being in the way).
- Turnaround CEO: A demon-like figure hired to turn around the poor performance of Dilbert's company; he uses Dilbert as a mole in order to find out what the company's problems really are.
- Bullysaurus: The bully to Bob. Once, after Bob tried to cultivate a zit as a third eye, used a zit cream. This is his only appearance in the strip.
- Floyd Remora: A man with a trumpet-like mouth who lives by claiming partial credit for the success of others while contributing nothing. Similar to a leech.
- Another Floyd: A man who takes his anger out on everyone. Becomes one of Dilbert's many accidental victims.
- Pig: A recurring pig in Elbonia.
- Camping Carl: A coworker of Dilbert, who spends the day carrying around his coffee cup and complaining about all the work he has to do.
- One-Dimensional Ed: A coworker of Dilbert, who tends to shout everything he says, and does not listen to anyone.
[edit] External links
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| Characters: | Alice • Asok • Catbert • Dilbert • Dogbert • Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light • Pointy-Haired Boss • Ratbert • Wally • Minor characters |
| In other media: | Animated series • Books • Plop: The Hairless Elbonian |
| Terms: | Cow-orker • Imaginary productivity |
| Other: | Scott Adams • Dogbert's New Ruling Class • Elbonia • Dilberito |
