Dial

Dial
Species	Radio mic
Age	About the same as RGB
Gender	Male
Relationships	Hate (Employer)
Introduced	Page 62
Current Whereabouts	???
Tarot card	The Hierophant
Relationships
Family	RGB (Cousin)

"Well, it's been a blast, fellas, but it's gettin' late. Maybe I'll tune in later!"

Dial is a radio-microphone-headed monster first appearing in Chapter 4 of the comic, on page 62. He is the cousin of RGB, and agent of Hate, though it seems that he may not have much choice in that matter.

Story

Dial's story up until the point where we meet him in-comic is unknown. However, we do know that he was once a former Hero, and if we take that he is in fact a "relative" of RGB, this implies he may have once been a living human. Likely a radio host. Certain sketches imply he died sometime after his cousin.

We first meet Dial on the road, as dusk approaches. He enthusiastically greets RGB and Hero, picking up the latter and declaring her a "prize fighter this time round". He then inquires into RGB's latest plans, and predicts that those never end anywhere but trouble. The group then goes their separate ways.

We next see Dial reacting to the newly-restored sun in the sky with a sense of bewilderment.

Some time later, as Hero and RGB make their way through the Marketplace, Dial approaches TOby, who had been knocked down at his post by a gust of wind. After a short guessing-game and ramble on the subject of new scenery, he reveals he's been sent by "Her" to relocate TOby. He offers the ragdoll the opportunity to stay up on the bookshelf, on the condition that he "gives up". TOby refuses, and Dial drops him into the unknown abyss below, telling him to "Say howdy to the ferryman for me!".

Back in the white room, Dial remarks that it felt like a year since Hero and RGB had gotten through the market, watching their journey through surveillance throughout The World of Make Believe. However, the train has made it impossible for Dial to see Hero and RGB's progress during the Sands of Regret, forcing him to leave and pursue them himself.

Eventually, after a long journey, Dial makes it to the Sands of Regret and has to make do with a pair of skis to cross the empty desert. Musing to himself that Hate had finally gotten impatient, he states that he's looking for the train that he saw in the camera footage. He turns around and sees a vial, similar to the ones RGB used and a black lantern. Using the lantern, it reveals to him a set of train tracks, allowing Dial to follow where he thinks the train might have gone. Two chapters later, Dial is busy singing to himself while digging a hole. His attention is briefly diverted when he notices a giant black cross bar with strings attached to it, watching it ascend and fly away to parts unknown. He resumes digging the hole, oblivious to the prescence of an Idea, before he notices that the hole is now filled with a dark liquid. His song continues as the comic focuses on Click and Ratfink's feverish search for Click's remaining body parts.

Appearance

In-comic

Dial is a tall, skinny monster with skeletal arms and an old-time radio microphone for a head, all of which are golden metal in colour. His clothing consists of a green jacket, a white shirt with a golden chain around around his neck, a fingerless red glove on his right hand, and white sneakers with red patterns on them. Once he starts looking for RGB and Hero in the desert, he's also seen with brown wooden skis and a sparkly pink cowboy hat, and no longer wears the chain necklace.

Human

As always, the human designs for the comic's characters are of debatable canon, however, as Dial is a relative of RGB it is possible that he may have once been alive.

As a human, dial features the same physical build and fashion sense as his monster counterpart, with the addition of red wavy hair (roughly the same length and texture as his cousin's) and large square glasses. He's often depicted with a lit cigarette, and appears to be a radio host.

Dialogue

His speech bubbles are pinkish and blocky. His voice, according to Mod, is like Robin Williams performing an exaggerated Southern American accent

Trivia

• Mod has had a few difficulties with keeping his glove on the correct hand. In several pages, and old versions of pages, Dial can be seen wearing it on his left rather than his right.
• Dial was most likely in Brooklyn when he found out about someone's (RGB's?) death, as ModMad drew him reading Obituaries once on Tumblr with the tags "I was in Brooklyn when I found out . jpeg".
• Dial's represents hate in he's insincere, manipulative and only pretends to nice to RGB and Hero while secretly hating them. It's also implied that he has little choice in serving Hate because he can literally hear her voice in his head; despite this, he's willing to throw TOby off a bridge when the puppet refuses Dial's offer of relocation and tells him to go to hell. Dial's clothes are green, fitting in with Hero's statement that "heroes wear green" but the glove on his hand is red, referencing the Red Right Hand trope in which characters have a physical trait that marks them as evil or antagonistic. Dial is also a radio show host or least has the mannerisms of one, referencing how Dial is a smooth talker who often tries to manipulate others for his (or Hate's) gain.
• During Casting, Dial's speech bubbles are coloured teal instead of magenta. This was likely done so that his speech bubbles wouldn't blend in with the red sky background.