The other day I was pre-autographing a box of squeezable Dilbert characters at my restaurant. We buy them with the restaurant information printed on their backs, as promotional items for potential banquet customers. (Yes, I pay for the squeeze toys.)
Anyway, as customers and employees were lusting after them, I lined them up for optimal viewing and noticed something interesting: They map perfectly into chess pieces. Check out this picture.
[missing image]
Imagine Asok the Intern instead of Catbert.
Here’s how I see it mapping:
Alice = Queen. The most powerful and capable piece.
Boss = King. He’s in charge, but largely helpless.
Dilbert = Rook. He moves in a straight path. Dilbert’s head shape and bumpy hairline even resemble a rook.
Bishop = Wally. He always has an angle, and he has a little bald head.
Dogbert = Knight. It’s the sneakiest chess piece. You never see it coming. And it’s the only animal.
Pawn = Asok the interns. He’s small and powerless and expendable.
I played some chess as a kid. When I created Dilbert, was I subconsciously influenced by the chess characters? Would any random group of six characters have a good chance of mapping to chess pieces? Is this just a routine coincidence? Is it more evidence I am a hologram programmed by my past self, and I reused code? Are the chess pieces based on some sort of universal archetype that I instinctively tapped into?
Beats me. I just think it’s freaky.
Since I know you’ll ask, the squeezable Dilbert characters are just about the coolest Dilbert-related items ever. They have that inexplicable x-factor thing where you can’t keep your hands off them. You can get them at Amazon.com, without printing on their backs.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/104-9918651-8252729?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=toys&field-keywords=Parle [no longer available]
Or order direct from the company, Parle, if you want your company name on the back.
http://parle.com/frameset.html [no longer available]
Or book a banquet at my restaurant and get a signed one for free. Just ask. www.eatatstaceys.com. (The web site will be redesigned in a few weeks. We’re working on it.)