Rook and Bishop: Rip-offs of a rip-off?

In 2011, a Nintendo DS game called Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights was released.

With its puzzles, animated cutscenes and gameplay it was clearly inspired by the popular Layton series.

The protagonist even bares a striking resemblance to Layton himself.

In the game, there are two minor characters named Paul and Jean. Besides their names, they aren't based on any current Layton characters.

They are the stereotypical dumb henchmen to the big boss. One is tall and thin, the other is short and fat. They wear matching uniforms and sunglasses. They show up occasionally to be a slight nuisance and provide comic relief. At the end of the game they leave the Boss to become better people.

Fast forward two years later and the latest game in the Layton series comes out.

Lots of new characters are introduced but two are very close to my heart.

Rook and Bishop. The stereotypical dumb henchmen to the big boss. One is tall and thin, the other is short and fat. They wear matching uniforms and sunglasses. They show up occasionally to be a slight nuisance and provide comic relief. At the end of the game they leave the Boss to become better people

It's probably a coincidence, but it's funny to imagine that Level 5 were so mad that someone ripped off their game that they decided to steal their characters to see how they like it.

And naturally, Level 5 improved the characters.

Paul and Jean were fired by their boss for their incompetence, which led to them helping the protagonists and becoming better people.

Rook and Bishop on the other hand made the decision to quit by themselves. They never acted out of spite or because they had nowhere else to go, they wanted to be good people. This makes them more compelling characters.

(Also Rook and Bishop don't flirt with the female characters and make them uncomfortable. They just have gay little conversations with one another.)

In conclusion: Don't rip off Level 5. They will take your characters and make them better.

It's not a ripoff per se. The manzai skit format with or without the "fat guy, skinny guy" is a staple of Japanese comedy, so any remotely comedic or unserious work HAS to have a "thin gangly dude and round wide dude working off each other" combo. In fact, it's an international trope. Just look at these two idjits:

Or these two idjits:

Or maybe

In fact...

So, yeah. In works where they aren't deuteragonists, they're either a cameo of some sort (f.e. Jay and Silent Bob's appearances in any of the other Askewniverse films but their own) or the comic relief, and in a story with a bad guy with minions that's always, ALWAYS gonna be the mooks (like the pirates in the example above).

And yes, leaving the bad boss is ALSO part of that trope.

Jessily when they realize

It's when the cringe sets in about how oblivious there were? Money rations change hands between the troopers after hearing Jesse cry out "WHAAAAT" before dissolving into hysterical laughter.

this feels like a sensitivity training for how to not commit micro aggressions against vampires in your workplace

there's a really funny 3d printing controversy going on btw.

if you don't know, there's a very popular 3d printing model out there called "benchy". this is used for benchmarking your 3d printer because it's a difficult print and will help test it out.

this is so widely used that people make their own little versions of it, remixing the 3d model to make benchy look cooler and stuff. however, a new company owns the benchy license. they are sending copyright takedowns to all those who wrongfully uploaded the benchy model.

of course, this is pissing off the 3d printing community greatly. everyone loved benchy and have used it for years. so someone on reddit decided to make a new model that is designed as a 3d printing stress test. one that works a lot like benchy, and people are freely able to edit it as they please. you know what they called it?

boaty.

When you kill a healthcare ceo, it’s terrorism. When someone shoots your kid in elementary school, it’s thoughts and prayers for like a week and then they move on. It truly shows the fact that terrorism is whatever the american government wants it to mean.

R.I.P. Legend

"Deny, Defend, Depose"

Luigi sticker spotted on a Boston train

Why do they keep accidentally making him look like the coolest person alive don’t they want us to hate him

it's really funny how the NYPD perp walked Luigi Mangione as an obvious power play so they could pretend they're badasses but instead they just look like they're leading Jesus to the cross

*panting and covered in blood* hi more memes guys

I see those "every family has that one cousin who's severely mentally ill", but considering how my mom once made me promise not to tell the extended family that I had attempted suicide a week before my cousin's confirmation party (like they literally picked me up from psych ward to attend it, I changed from hospital clothes to party clothes in a truck stop bathroom on our way there) because "it would just upset people for no reason", I'm starting to suspect that some families are 100% mentally ill but everyone's pressuring their kids to not show any symptoms in front of the big family in order to save face.