Wednesday, May 24, 2006

A fabulous link I Stumbled Upon the other day - how Hobbes grew to become Tyler Durden. It isn't every day that you get two of your fave characters to meet on the same timeline!

Extending the logic of the argument, I can see how in a parallel universe, Calvin would grow up to be the-engineer-who-calls-himself-Dilbert. Calvin, in a remarkable change in form, overcomes his weakness in Math, and uses his near-genius IQ to transform himself to Dilbert, the engineer. He is ashamed of what he has become, so he changes his appearance - hides behind dorky glasses and an ever upturned tie (though the hair spikes still remain, muted to engineer standards, of course) Pl see exhibit below. His playfulness has toned down, but his sarcasm has become more evolved - that's only natural when your playground has evolved from calvinosaurs to elbonian mp3 players. He still hates authority - Calvin's dislike towards Ms.Wormwood's figure of authority is further deepened by Calvin/Dilbert's exposure to the Pointy Haired Boss - and his anti-social tendencies have gone from bad to worse - as Dilbert's biographer, Scott Adams, says: He's got the social skills of a mousepad and he'd rather surf the Internet than Waikiki.

Hobbes has morphed as well - in the dog-eat-dog world of corporatedom, he became Dogbert. Now that's not what his biographer says about his origins, but it's obviously a way for a square Dilbert to explain the existence of a strange talking dog. Look no further than Adams' description of Dogbert:

Genetically he may be a dog, but Dogbert is no man's best friend. He treats people with disdain, reserving special contempt for Dilbert, who's no master--or match--for Dogbert. (Although he wouldn't admit it, if push came to shove, he'd protect the bumbler. And never let him forget it).

Calvin was never a match for Hobbes, and that hasn't changed. Hobbes/Dogbert, however, would protect Calvin/Dilbert if it really came down to it - old friends can't be forgotten that easily.

What of Sue Derkins? She never forgot Calvin, and worse, never forgave him for his G.R.O.S.S. behavior. Seeing how Calvin had gotten over his fear of math, and became an engineer, she gravitated towards engineering herself. Sue's industrious and conventional self took to engineering like a Calvin to dinosaurs, and she followed Calvin/Dilbert to his cubicledom, in the process, changing her name to Alice and her appearance to something out of Godzilla, only a lot smaller. As the only female engineer in cubicledom, she aims to torment Calvin/Dilbert by being out of his reach. Unfortunately for her, that didn't happen... however, she hangs around with the eternal hope of having the last laugh. Her description is a perfect indicator of her Sue-ness: She (Alice) has a quick temper when confronted with the idiocy of her co-workers. Sue's temper in the face of Calvin's idiocy has only multiplied to encompass the whole office now.

Calvin is dead, long live Calvin!

6 Comments:

Blogger dhoomketu said...

And then Moe took the benefit of reservations to enter the same engineering company and became Wally. His only redeeming feature is his cynicism, which he acquired after finally getting clobbered by Calvin.

7:28 PM  
Blogger Mr. D said...

Blogging Aaa? Good, good.

11:14 PM  
Blogger The Invizible Man said...

@ DK2
Which also explains why Asok joined the gang... he wishes to take revenge on Moe/Wally for being such a reserved guy. Asok must have thought, "When I had to put so much fight to get into the Eye Eye Tee, why is he getting the reservation and taking the patli gali, ra?"

@ Mr.D
What to do? Need to write...

12:15 AM  
Blogger FifthBeatle said...

haha! nice analogy, dude! and a meshing together of two of my favorite comic strips... [now if only you can bring in Senor Garfield into this!]

6:32 PM  
Blogger The Invizible Man said...

Thanks, mate :)
Senor Garfield? Can't see who else could be the cutting edge Catbert?! Garfield/Catbert's doing to Dilbert's organization what Garfield usually does to Jon Arbuckle!!

12:22 AM  
Blogger ptb said...

Nice analogy. But if these two strips were to be the same thing as you pointed, then the rest of the comic strip fraternity would vie for anti-trust legislation ala Microsoft. :-)

10:59 AM  

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