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Kids and Cute Robots: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* As with everything, parodied on ''[[Galaxy Angel]]'', which adds to the [[Game/GalaxyAngel original]] cast a robot and two cute kids, all three of which are found incredibly annoying to the main cast.
* The venerable ''[[Gundam]]'' has more than enough kids and robots in [[Long Runner|its many incarnations]] than anyone might to wish, being essentially the [[Trope Codifier]]. Indeed, it was original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' that introduced the motif, [[The Wesley|much loved by producers and much resented by the viewers]], of three annoying rugrats with its trio of Katz, Letz and Kikka. Sure, this was justified by the ship being stuffed full of refugees, but this justification didn't make them any less annoying. It also features a cute robot in the form of Haro; however, it generally serves as little more than an advanced toy and a mascot for the Gundam franchise as a whole. Haro is actually popular enough that it is the only character to exist in more than one [[Alternate Universe]].
* For some, this ruins ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]''. For others, it doesn't really matter. For others, childlike robots with no sense of right and wrong, a curious mind, machine guns and a grenade launcher are ''terrifying.''
** They are also in the Manga, however instead of "Tachikoma" they are called "Fuchikoma" and they look a bit different, but they have the exact same personality, and abilities. They were left out of the two movies however.
* ''[[Battle of the Planets]]'', the American adaptation of ''[[Gatchaman]]'', took this trope so far as to edit in a cute robot character (in an obviously different art style) named 7-Zark-7 who is a true [[Scrappy]]. Initially he was put in because of the popularity of ''[[Star Wars]]'' at the time, but then the segments with him were used to fill up the time lost from the cuts of violence.
== Film ==
* ''[[Star Wars]] Episode I: [[The Phantom Menace]]'' features an archetypal example of this in Anakin Skywalker. He annoyed many fans for being a blatant example of an Impossibly Lucky Cute Kid -- who happened to build his own RobotBuddy (and gained another in the form of R2-D2).
** Not helped by the fact he grows up to be space Hitler.
*** Or maybe space Goering.
** This is made even worse by the fact that ''TPM'' came out in ''1999'' - ''decades'' after eye-rollers like the original ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic|Battlestar Galactica]] and assiduous subverters like ''[[Babylon 5]]'' were supposed to have turned this into a [[Dead Horse Trope]]. Trying to play the trope straight ''without'' reconstructing it led to... [[Flame War|issues]].
* Non sci-fi example: ''[[Rocky]] IV'' has a cute kid, ''and'' a frickin' robot who does chores and crap. And the sharks were jumped.
* Does a take in ''[[Robocop]] 2'', with the child crime lord who died in his arms. Also happens in the third film, when a young girl hacks an ED-209 security robot with her ([[Technology Marches On|oddly retro]])''laptop''.
== Live-Action Television ==
* ''[[RoboCop|Robocop: The Series]]'' had a young girl named Gadget who [[Kid Sidekick|hung around Murphy all the time]].
* Twiki on ''[[Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]]''.
* Boxey and Muffet (a double-whammy!) on the original ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic|Battlestar Galactica]]'' -- as seen in the page image.
** Worse than Boxey and Muffet were the gang of "boy scouts" who ended up super-powered when visiting Earth on ''[[Galactica 1980]]''.
* The 2000s ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]'' had its own Boxey in the [[Miniseries]], who appears to be a case of [[Playing With a Trope|playing with this trope]]. The son of the official sent to the armistice station, his father was killed by the returning Cylons, presumably their first victim. He appeared in one other episode, being smart-alecky to Tigh and the pilots with Starbuck, then simply [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|vanished without mention]]. Fans joked that "he was delicious". The writers claim he was adopted.
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] ''several'' times on ''[[Babylon 5]]'': A cute kid ''did'' once show up in the episode "Believers". He was killed by his own parents for religious reasons before the end of the episode. [[Littlest Cancer Patient|Another]] came in later (episode: "Confessions and Lamentations"), and her species was driven to extinction before the end of the episode.
** On the robot side, there was a sarcastic, wise-cracking AI voiced by [[Harlan Ellison]] which ultimately had its speaker shot, then got wiped from the computers.
** [[J. Michael Straczynski]] ''could'' be subtle when it suited him, but as befits the [[Trope Namer]], these were not any of those times.
* And let us not forget Will Robinson and his Robot on ''[[Lost in Space]]''.
* Sharply parodied in ''[[MST3K]]'', with Timmy Bobby Rusty (Paul Chaplin), as Dr. Forrester tries to boost the show's lagging ratings.
== Western Animation ==
* Because of a film option taken out on the Human Torch (which never materialized), one animated version of ''[[The Fantastic Four (animation)|The Fantastic Four]]'' had to replace him with "H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot".
** [[Lampshaded]] in one issue of the comic, when Reed Richards is caught building it and says he's doing it because he's sick of being asked where it is.
* Parodied in ''[[South Park]],'' when Cartman sent himself 700 years into the future to become the "time child" with his sidekick, a robotic dog whom he hates and tries to sell.
** Then there's the episode where he poses as a the "Awesome-mo 4000", initially in order to prank Butters, but later to steal some embrassing tape Butters was planning on blackmailing Cartman with. And yet, Butters is a very cute kid (being driven to blackmail only because of how evil [[Complete Monster|Cartman]] is.)
* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' gave rise to a short-lived spin-off called ''[[The Zeta Project'' about a shapeshifting robot and his wise-cracking 14-year-old girl sidekick.
* In ''[[M.A.S.K.]]'', Scott Trakker (son of the series' main character) built his own [[Robot Buddy]], T-Bob; they remain inseparable throughout the series.
** This troper warns you to be very wary of the [[Nostalgia Filter]] that comes with thinking about ''M.A.S.K.'' You might remember the awesome theme song and action of the show. Hell, you might actually want to start e-baying the original toys. However, much to my agonizing surprise, I completely forgot about the annoying kid and his robot. So much in fact that in hindsight, this show is barely watchable. YMMV though, but basically every time Venom gets away, is because Scott and T-Bot are stupid enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. AAAAARGH!
{{reflist}}
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