King Dice
- For the in-game character, see King Dice.
"Who will be the first lucky contestant to... ROLL THE DICE?!"
—King Dice, Roll the Dice
King Dice is a con-artist and The Devil's (presumably former) right-hand man, as well as his self-proclaimed number one. He is a major antagonist in The Cuphead Show! He was also the former game host of the show Roll the Dice. He is voiced by Wayne Brady and Kazuya Nakai.
Profile
Appearance
In The Cuphead Show!, his design stays the same as in the game, but with small changes. The buttons on his waistcoat are black, his bowtie is fuchsia purple, the collar of his tailcoat is in a darker shade of purple, and his eyelids are silver. His shoes also have a different design.
Personality
King Dice's personality isn't really all that different from his original game counterpart. While much more charismatic than his portrayal in the game, he is no less deceitful and manipulative, as shown with his "prize" for the "winners" of his game show being them having their souls sucked out and sent to The Devil, and then having their bodies shoved out the door in front of a sign saying "thanks for playing." His deceiving nature is also shown in "Release the Demons!", where he manipulates some of the demons he's forced to work with into killing each other so he can be the last one standing and get Cuphead's soul for his boss.
Of course, unlike in the game, King Dice is more prone to underestimating Cuphead, as when he appeared on his show, he thought he would easily snatch up his soul for the Devil. This also brings out a more impatient and violent side to him, as Dice becomes incredibly angry and irritated from Cuphead's antics and tries to make him go into the "prize room" by brute force after reaching the end of his rope.
King Dice is also shown to have an egotistical streak, even flirting with his own reflection before heading out on stage. The three things King Dice cares about are himself, his title as the Devil's "Number One", and his gameshow. In "Release the Demons!" he kills the demons he's supposed to be working with just to steal all the glory for Cuphead's capture, showing how heinous and desperate he is when It comes to competition, especially considering how horrified he was when the Devil had accidentally incinerated his finest demons earlier. This makes him somewhat of a hypocrite.
Powers and Abilities
- Manipulation: In his appearances, he is shown to be a master manipulator and con artist, able to successfully trick people into playing a game where the "prize" is that they lose their souls. Another example of his deceitfulness is shown in "Release the Demons!", where he successfully manipulates some of the demons he's forced to work with into killing each other just to steal all the glory for Cuphead's capture.
- Dancing: He is shown to be adept at dancing, more notably shown in "Roll the Dice", where he performs a perfectly choreographed dance routine during the introduction of the game show. He performs the same dance again in "Release the Demons!"
- Singing: It is implied that he has some singing skills, given the fact that there are several pictures in his dressing room that show him singing onstage. The most from him is some quick scatting in his introduction and second appearance, but he doesn't burst out into song the way other characters do.
- Conducting: He shows familiarity with conducting, able to conduct his band in his gameshow, both with and without a baton.
- Rotational head: He often spins around while onstage. Disturbingly, sometimes his head doesn't rotate with the rest of his body or the other way around.
Appearances
Season One
"Roll the Dice"
King Dice hosts the titular game show Roll The Dice. As people tune into the show via radio, the band cues the host King Dice to begin the show. Looking for the first contestant, the spotlight lands on Telephone, making him the first contestant of the night. King Dice explains that Telephone has to get through three rounds in order to enter into the "mystery prize" room: the Tune round, the Trivia round, and the Dice round. Telephone makes it through the rounds with ease, with the final round being the easiest: the contestant can roll any number on the dice to win. When Telephone inevitably wins, King Dice lets him enter the "mystery prize" room as they enter break. Inside the room, Telephone finds it mostly empty except for a menacing furnace, which sucks his soul straight into Inkwell Hell. A trap door drops Telephone into an alley with a sign that smugly says "Thanks for Playing!"
During break, King Dice is getting polished and ready for the next segment. After his mirror image flatters him, he goes back on stage, passing a wanted poster for Cuphead sent by the Devil. Just as King Dice is about to pick another "contestant", Cuphead and Mugman enter as the tire they were chasing keeps rolling away from them. The spotlight shines on Cuphead and he is announced as the next contestant. An excited Cuphead runs on stage, immediately grabbing King Dice's leg, much to the latter's annoyance. As King Dice asks Cuphead to introduce himself, Cuphead grabs the microphone and begins listing random things that he likes. King Dice tries to grab back the microphone, but Cuphead keeps talking, accidentally criticizing King Dice, blowing a raspberry, and trying to remember a joke. During this, King Dice notices the wanted poster and that Cuphead is wanted by the Devil, so he commences a break so he can speak to the Devil.
The Devil is taking a bath when Henchman tells that King Dice is calling him. Annoyed, the Devil responds and King Dice says that he has Cuphead. The Devil is happy for his "Number One" finding Cuphead, but warns King Dice that he "hates disappointment". King Dice goes back on the stage to begin the game, choosing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as the song for the tune round. However, Cuphead is unable to remember the song, mistaking it for "Sprinkle, Sprinkle, Mr. Car," much to the annoyance of Elder Kettle (who is listening via his radio). Cuphead decides to use his helpline and asks Mugman for help, only to remember that Mugman has terrible stage fright. Accepting defeat, Cuphead declares that he lost. However, before he can walk out, King Dice convinces the audience that since his helpline was frozen in terror, he should get another chance. King Dice secretly asks for Cuphead's favorite song, and he orders the band to play it. Cuphead is confused why they are playing the song, but King Dice gets him to say the name of the song, "The Daring Young Man on the Trapeze," letting Cuphead win the round.
As the audience applauds, the Trivia Round begins, with Cuphead still getting on King Dice's nerves. King Dice asks Cuphead what cave the "dreaded Poodoo Cave Monster" lives in, purposefully saying the name of the monster in the question. As Cuphead once again dcannot figure out the answer, King Dice gets Cuphead to think out loud and say "Poodoo" as his answer, getting it right once again. Mugman is still frozen in terror as Cuphead makes it into the final round to Roll any number, which is impossible to lose. As Cuphead prepares to roll the dice, he remembers the joke and tells it to the audience, then declaring they will "be right back." However, King Dice, visibly annoyed, announces that they are not on break and yells at Cuphead to roll the dice. As the audience grows anticipated with excitement, Cuphead finally rolls the dice. However, Cuphead rolled too hard, and the dice broke from their restraints and shattered on the floor. King Dice is surprised at the outcome of events and Cuphead announces that he has lost. Still needing Cuphead to win, King Dice makes up that breaking the dice also means that Cuphead wins and tries to shove Cuphead into the mystery surprise room. The audience begin to see that the show is rigged and start booing at King Dice. Upon hearing this, Cuphead decides to leave with Mugman (still frozen in terror) with their dignities still intact. King Dice, now beyond mad, breaks a piece of the set and charges at Cuphead and Mugman, only for the tire to bounce and knock over King Dice. The tire also gets Cuphead and Mugman and rolls them outside the set. Henchmen arrives via elevator and says that the Devil wants to see King Dice. Defeated, King Dice sighs.
In the elevator, Henchman asks for King Dice's autograph, to which King Dice declines. Upon arriving at Inkwell Hell. The Devil yells at King Dice for failing him and letting Cuphead get away, disappointing him. The Devil announces that King Dice is no longer his Number One and demotes him from hosting his show. Instead, Henchman now hosts Roll the Dice, although he is shown to be incompetent at dancing and gets stuck in a band member's tuba as the episode ends.
Season 2
"Release the Demons!"
King Dice returns in this episode where he is first seen entering a cave after the Devil accidentally disintegrates his finest demons. When King Dice came across the remains of the demons, he was left startled upon notice. After having to comply with his third finest ranking demons, the Devil releases them from the underworld before King Dice realizes he is also required to get Cuphead's soul, as he too runs out from the gates of the underworld. When he arrives at the corn maze, that Cuphead and Mugman are at, he eliminates the demons one by one so he can catch Cuphead himself. However, his actions are discovered by Henchman, who immediately reports to the Devil that King Dice is the only one left, though Henchman didn't tell him that the latter had killed all of them. King Dice is then shown dancing in triumph through a magic mirror. later, he places himself above the maze exit with a net waiting for the opportunity to kidnap Cuphead. Unfortunately for him, however, when he noticed the Four Horsemen, which the Devil also released, King Dice turned very pale, leaving him frozen with fear. Later, when two visitors noticed him, they proceeded to call him lame.
Relationships
The Devil
Although he is supposed to be his self-proclaimed Number One, the Devil doesn't really seem to pay attention to King Dice, sometimes even forgetting who he is, until he tells him that he has captured Cuphead (which is not true). The Devil finally calls him his Number One, but not without warning him that he "hates disappointment". When he learns that King Dice has let Cuphead escape, he threatens him without restraint, then tells him that he is no longer his Number One and fires him as the host of Roll the Dice. King Dice seemingly tries to have a chill and easygoing approach towards his boss, though, The Devil seems to have more respect for Henchman than him.
Despite serving him, King Dice can be seen as a foil to the Devil in the show: both are villainous soul stealers in positions of power, but while the Devil is dreaded and feared by the residents of Inkwell Isles, King Dice is a villain with good publicity and adored by the masses. Their soul stealing tactics are exact opposites; the Devil's carnival steals the souls of those that lose the games there, while King Dice's game show steals the souls of the winning contestants. The Devil's first instinct to getting Cuphead's soul is to chase him down and attack him with fire, while King Dice only resorts to violence as a last resort. Neither of them like Cuphead, but the Devil slowly (albeit temporarily) bonds with him over their shared sense of humour while King Dice progressively hates him more and more as Cuphead continues to fail his (rigged) game show.
Headwriter Deeki Deke believes that the Devil enjoys it when Dice feels like he has something to prove.
Henchman
According to the Devil, Henchman is a big fan of King Dice's show and never misses an episode. In "Roll the Dice", when The Devil wants to see King Dice, Henchman asks for his autograph, to which King Dice indignantly declines. Both of them seem to be somewhat alarmed about the Devil's anger, though King Dice didn't seem to realize the danger as seen in "Release the Demons!" where he has a baffled look on his face when Henchman pulls him aside during the Devil's tirade about Cuphead.
In some ways, King Dice can be seen as a foil to Henchman as well: both are the nearest the Devil has to minions/ sidekicks (since he goes through his other mooks in rapid succession), however, while Henchman is a dopey and clumsy assistant who tries to mediate his boss and his surbordinates, King Dice is devious and charismatic, and will gladly manipulate and backstab the Devil's other lackeys to maintain his own credibility. Also, while King Dice is deluded into thinking he is on special terms with the Devil (who treats him as an annoyance at best), Henchman is closest to having a genuine, if unflaunted, friendship with the Devil.
Head writer Deeki Deke once said on Twitter that King Dice might actually hold a one-sided resentment towards Henchman for his proximity to the Devil and that, since Henchman took over and hosted Roll the Dice, it's highly unlikely for King Dice to give him an autograph.
Cuphead
Like Mugman, Elder Kettle, and the other residents of the Inkwell Isles, Cuphead is a big fan of the show "Roll the Dice", and its host King Dice. So when he accidentally finds himself on the set of the show and King Dice picks him to be the next contestant, he gets overexcited, runs over to the host to hug his leg, and admits that he cannot believe he is standing next to "the" King Dice. Cuphead has no idea that the purpose of the game is to have his soul stolen by entering the mystery room, nor does he know that King Dice works for the Devil, the one who wants his soul. Throughout the game, he remains very enthusiastic, even sometimes takes the place of King Dice as the host, without realizing that the latter becomes more and more aggressive towards him. He also does not know that King Dice tried to physically attack him when he lost, to force him into the mystery room.
In "Release the Demons!", wanting to get back in his boss's good graces, he goes with the demons to chase Cuphead down. Wanting the glory for himself, he eliminates the demons and makes an attempt to kidnap Cuphead as he and Mugman venture through the maze; He is later thwarted when the devil send the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Trivia
- King Dice's singing and dancing when he is introduced in "Roll the Dice" reference performer Cab Calloway. Calloway appeared in several 1930s Fleischer cartoons (notably, Minnie the Moocher and Snow-White) in the form of rotoscoped animated characters.
- Near the end of "Roll the Dice", the Devil deems him to be his right-hand man no longer and gives the position to Henchman. In "Release the Demons!" he seems to have either regained his position or be in denial about having been fired as the Devil doesn't deign to refer to him as such. Even so, he was still among the fiercest demons the Devil originally summoned to claim Cuphead's soul.
- That said, head writer Deeki Deke, in response to a question regarding King Dice's presence, implied that he may have invited himself rather than having been summoned directly.
- Wayne Brady is a game show host in real life, most notably in Don't Forget the Lyrics! and Let's Make a Deal. (How fitting!)
- The song that Telephone has to guess in his "Name that Tune" segment is "Little Brown Jug", a song about having fun by drinking alcohol. This is likely a nod to King Dice serving the Devil, the embodiment of all vice (especially since the series seems to be set in the Prohibition era, when alcohol was outright illegal in the USA).
- The name "King" may not be his title, but actually his first name.
- Sometimes, Dice's moustache rumples at different emotions, more notably shown in "Roll the Dice". It is usually when he is shocked or anxious.
- Despite the change in what he represents in the show, traces of his game incarnation can be seen, namely having playing cards as his assistants, which is a reference to his attack in his battle from the game.
- According to Cuphead, King Dice is "way shorter in-person." This could be a slight nod to his in-game counterpart, where he is depicted as being quite giant during his boss fight.
- In the Polish dub, he is translated as Król Kostek, however in the Polish translation of the game he is named Kościkról.
- So far, unlike in the game, King Dice didn't make any bets with the Devil.
- He and the Devil are opposites in regards of appearance; They have opposite colour schemes, as King Dice's is primarily made out of purples and white in contrast to the Devil, who is mostly black and yellow. King Dice is also impeccably dressed head to toe and well-kept, while the Devil is naked with messy fur and long, yellow nails.
Gallery
King Dice pale with fear after noticing the Four Horsemen.
Videos
- The Cuphead Show! - Calling All Bosses - Netflix
- The Cuphead Show! w- Wayne Brady as King Dice - GEEKED Sneak Peek - Netflix