Robotboy is a robot built by Professor Moshimo. He was designed to resemble a real boy. Robotboy has three activation modes: deactivation, where he resembles a doll; normal, where he is roughly Tommy Turnbull's height; and super activated, where he is twice Tommy's height, and has a plethora of machine guns and rockets. During the opening, it's stated that Robotboy was given to Tommy for Robotboy to learn how to be more like a human boy, but it is not stated how long he had been activated or why Tommy was his chosen guardian (we can presume that Moshimo's reasoning is behind Tommy being his number 1 fan)
Robotboy is roughly eighteen inches tall in normal mode, twelve in toy mode, and six foot in super activation.
Personality[]
Roboyboy is naive, and is very easily led (most often by Gus, and into certain negative situations). However, when things come down to the wire, he's often the first to react and has a fair understanding of his surroundings and circumstances.
Robotboy is over-protective of Tommy and his friends (and Robotgirl during their brief encounter) On more than one occation, he's been openly willing to do anything to keep each of them safe. If Tommy orders him to stop though, Robotboy will stop almost instantly. Robotboy's overprotectiveness is more blatant in the beginning episodes of the first season, then again near the end of the season. This cycles throughout the first three seasons that were aired.
He is shown not to like dishonesty, and has a fair bit of respect for those around him, (except for Gus). He appears to like having fun with Tommy and, on occasion, Lola.
History[]
Robotboy was created by Doctor Machimo as a force to protect the world from threats after Protoboy failed. He was then passed to Tommy to learn more about humanity, which is the base of the show. After an indeterminable amount of time, Protoboy shows up. Although he continues to show up, only the implication that at least some time has past since the last appearance gives any weight to this. Robotgirl shows up about halfway into the show.
It is uncertain of any real timeframe for Robotboy's creation or even the events of the show itself (Continuinty is not a polite suggestion here). It is implied that Protoboy was created several years before the show began, but never specified. As all episodes (That this troper knows of) appear to happen in late spring or early fall due to them still attending school, or summer if it is summer school, it can be assumed the events of the show take place in about a five month span.
Powers[]
Robotboy's powers can be sectioned by his modes of activation.
Deactive: None.
Active: Flight, Extreme strength, Super Activation
Super activation: Flight, a variety of lazers, Strength, Record Player, Speed.
Main Weaknesses: Batteries, Others in danger.
Personal relationships[]
Tommy[]
Tommy is Robotboy's keeper and best friend. They often have each others' backs, but Tommy is often the one to be saved.
Lola[]
Good friends. While they don't have a large amount of interaction, Robotboy has shown some protective tendancies around Lola, and they get along descently.
Gus[]
Friends (Often grudgingly). Gus has been known to manipulate and use Robotboy for his own gain. Due to this, Robotboy is often at odds with Gus by the end of an episode.
Robotgirl[]
Good friends. Robotgirl and Robotboy often protect each other and can be friendly antagonistic of each other. As she was built after Robotboy, Robotgirl often has to learn things from Robotboy the hard way.
Dr. Kamikazi[]
Enemy. Kamikazi has tried on many occations to reprogram Robotboy or destroy Tommy, to no avail.
Constantine[]
Enemy. As he works with Kamikazi but is not always in the area of attack, Robotboy and Constantine do not interact directly often.
Brother Bjorn[]
Enemies. Both are bent on destroying the other (as per robot fighting rules), but are perfectly equal.
Protoboy[]
Enemies. Although they were friends at first, Protoboy's attempts to cause havok and to kill Tommy stopped these attempts in their tracks. Robotboy apparently destroys Protoboy, but it is revealed in a later episode that the attempt proved futile. He returns again, this time outright eliminate Roboyboy, but fails and is, again, apparently killed. As per usual, he returned again and tried to eliminate Robotboy and Robotgirl, but was defeated once again and killed for good.
Controversy and Problems in Portral[]
Robotboy has been compared to other shows with similar characters numerous times. First Astro Boy, of which it has been referred to as a clear rip-off by some people. The similarity may be related to the fact that Astro Boy had also run on Cartoon Network about two years prior to Robotboy. Secondly, it's also been labeled rip-offs of "My Life as a Teenage Robot", a show on Nickelodeon, and "Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?", another show on Cartoon Network. On My Life as a Teenage Robot, Jenny Wakeman is a robot who acts like a normal teenager and is a superhero, which RobotBoy is, while Robot Jones is learning about the very basics of human behavior, which RobotBoy is doing as well. Lastly, Robotboy shares several very close similarities with the popular video game character Mega Man, the current mascot of the company Capcom, including a completely identical color scheme and body appearance scheme save for the face and the use of a "Brother" robot as a plotline. Also, in the episode, "Sweet Revenge", the pilot of the helicopter is seen bearing the symbol of the rebel forces from the Star Wars series.
Robotboy as a character is not exempt from controversy. Short of Kamikazi, Robotboy is one of the characters with the highest amount of controversy. Popular reasons include:
-His voice impediment.
-His coloring in comparison to other characters
Following the production of My Life as a Teenage Robot, another robot themed show, a number of companies tried to and gave up on creating their own robot themed shows.
Trivia[]
- Robotboy was reprogrammed once
- Kamikazi had given him amnesia before
- Robotboy was told what jealousy means twice (the first time was in Dog-Ra. The second time was in Valentine's Day).
- Robotboy is rarely seen speaking in his superactive form.
- Robotboy is physically able to cry though his tears are oil.
- Robots rarely having a cruched on another robot except for that one time Robotboy had fought with Mona Lethal.
- In 2006, a bumper that was shown informing the 2nd season of RobotBoy, and at the end he winked his eye.
- In the episode Fight Tommy won the first round with Robotboy's help. In the second round he fought without Robotboy's help, making Tommy use his own fighting skills when RobotBoy wasn't wearing the information transfor helmet .
- When in disguise he'll be mistaken for a real boy named Robert.
- There are two episodes called 'Runaway Robot' (one were Robotboy living with Gus, and the other where he gets tricked into thinking that Bjorn Bjornson could turn him into a real boy.)