Robotboy

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Robotboy (2005-2008) is an animated television series. The eponymous protagonist is the latest creation of the world-renowned scientist Professor Moshimo. Due to fears that Robotboy would be stolen by his arch-rival Dr. Kamikazi and his main henchman, Constantine, to be used to take over the world, Professor Moshimo entrusts Robotboy to 10-year-old Tommy Turnbull, his biggest fan. While being protected by Tommy and his two friends, Lola and Gus, or "G-man" as he calls himself, Robotboy learns how to behave and act as if he were a real boy.

Tropes used in Robotboy include:

• A Boy And His Robot
• Adorkable: Tommy.
• All of the Other Reindeer: "STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"
• Alpha Bitch: Bambi
• Anti-Hero: Gus is Type III
• Agony of the Feet: Happens to Tommy in "The Return of Robotgirl" when Gus puts on a fake titanium butt and dares him to kick it.
• Aint No Rule: Says a monkey can't be the goalkeeper in a kids' soccer game, apparently. Or a robot playing striker. Or a player switching teams halfway through. Or beating up the ref. Or throwing a bowling ball at your opponent. Or playing with five balls at once.
  • Come to think of it, maybe there ain't no rules, full stop.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders
• Animals Hate Him: Kamikazi. Dear God.
• Anti-Villain: Constantine is Type II/IV.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Subverted in "Kamispazi!" when Donnie gives his mom a cooked squirrel with his dad saying that he trapped and skinned it by himself...but then reveals it was actually roadkill.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In "Constantine Rising"

Tommy: (reading a package) It's from Professor Moshimo. Maybe a new gamma laser for Robotboy. Lola: Or a nuclear fusion missile. Gus: Or chocolate-covered butterballs. (Lola looks at him funny) What? It could be.

• You Fail Biology Forever:
  • The spider on Robotboy's flashlight in "The Return of Robotgirl" has four eyes instead of eight.
  • The tapeworm situation in "Tummy Trouble" -- geez, where do we start? First, tapeworms are several feet long, not one inch. Secondly, tapeworms eat their food by diffusion and active transport, not with a mouth. Third, the doctor's scan near the beginning of the episode shows the tapeworm in Gus's stomach, not his intestines where it should be. Finally, having a tapeworm in your stomach does not make you super-thin in less than a few days.
• Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: The titular monster from "Clammadon Rising".
  • Robotboy's growth capacitor thingy makes him this in "Grow No-Mo!"
  • Salvatorei (or however you spell its name), Kamikazi's supersized gerbil, in "Teasebots"
• Badass Adorable: Robotboy, so very, very much. Ditto Robotgirl.
• Badass Longcoat: Kurt
• Bad Boss: Kamikazi to Constantine
• Between My Legs: Used in Bambibot, of the titular bot.
• Big Brother Bully: Donnie Turnbull.
• Big Fancy House: Lola lives in one
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Donnie
• Bilingual Bonus: One of the signs outside Gus's house in "Metal Monster" says "verbotten", which is German for "banned". (It should actually be spelled with only one T, but that's beside the point.)
• Blond Guys Are Evil: Sure, Tommy is blonde - But so is Bjorn, Kurt, and Kurt's father...
• Blondes Are Evil: Sussie, Bambi and Princess Justine
• Break the Cutie: Off-screen, implied to have been done to Robotgirl right before "The Return of Robotgirl".
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: "Just what any school nurse would do...I took [Gus's] temperature, changed his pulse, and then, gave him a brain transplant!"
• But Not Too Black: Subverted with Lola. You wouldn't mistake her for a white girl, but her eyes are very blue. And then there's her voice...
• Butt Monkey: Dr. Kamikazi and Gus. Donnie actually calls Tommy one in "I Want That Toy!"
• Cain and Abel: Protoboy is the Cain to Robotboy's Abel.
• Character Tics: Robotboy's ears (or whatever those things on the sides of his head are) droop when he's sad.
• Chekhov's Gun: In "Kami-Chameleon", Gus shows Chupika to Tommy, his new virtual pet. Later, Tommy uses Chupika to charge Robotboy when his batteries fall out.
• Closer to Earth: Lola, especially in "The Return of Robotgirl" when she is able to help Robotgirl where Tommy, Gus and Robotboy failed.

Robotgirl: Lola explain. Robotgirl should ignore logic functions. Must get in touch with emotion functions. Trust motherboard. Robotgirl find Moshimo!

• Creepy Monotone: This is how Protoboy talks.
• Cute Machines
• Cute Mute: Miumiu, Moshimo's fiancée, but it's finally subverted at the end of "Grow No-Mo!"
• Cute Shotaro Boy: Tommy. Robotboy was also designed with this in mind.
• Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Subverted in the final episode, when the Turnbull family and the Kamikazi family end up having Thanksgiving dinner (or something resembling that) together after Tommy's mom drops by the house of Kamikazi's mom. Apparently, the two mothers knew each from before on.
• Distaff Counterpart: Robotgirl.
• Epic Fail: In "The Old Switcharobot", Robotboy-in-Protoboy's-body Super-Activates and prepares to fight Protoboy-in-Robotboy's-body...and then his arm cannon falls out.
• Precious Puppies: Subverted in "Dog-Ra", where the lost puppy adopted by Tommy turns out to be a Kamikazi robot
• Evil Counterpart: Protoboy to Robotboy, Kamikazi to Moshimo, Kurt to Tommy. Especially noticeable in the Robotboy/Protoboy case -- Robotboy was turned evil in a couple of episodes by Kamikazi, but it's always reversed by the end, and Protoboy is pretty much what Robotboy would be if Kamikazi turned him evil without Tommy finding a way to switch him back.
• Evil Redhead: Gus... well, not that evil.
• Expy: Gus is basically a child friendly Eric Cartman.
  • Robotboy himself is pretty much Astro Boy or Mega Man
    • Or Mega-Astro-Man...
  • Protoboy is pretty much Proto Man, but with Bass's coloration and personality.
  • Tommy looks awfully similar to Mac from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
    • His name isn't exactly original either...
  • Gil from the electronics store is Napoleon Dynamite.
• Face Palm: Protoboy's reaction to Robotboy stopping Robotgirl from making a Heroic Sacrifice in "The Return of Robotgirl".

Protoboy: Oh, brother. What a dummy.

• FemBot: Despite her name, Robotgirl fits more into this category than this.
• Forbidden Fruit: Gus's Freudian Excuse for his obsession with video games and other electronic toys is that his parents are Amish and forbid such things.
• For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: Averted; In the Halloween episode, Tommy disguises himself as Robotboy in order to give Robotboy a chance to dress up as something else.
• Four-Fingered Hands
• Genki Girl: Robotgirl. Subverted in "The Return of Robotgirl" when she is shown to be very sad and doesn't trust Tommy, Gus or even Robotboy due to choppy memory loss.

Robotboy: Robotgirl, it me, Robotboy! We friends. Search memory. (Robotgirl tries to punch Robotboy but misses and hits Gus instead)

• Green-Eyed Monster: In "The Old Switcharobot"

Protoboy-in-Robotboy's-body: (talking to Moshimo) You always like Robotboy better than Protoboy! Now get vengeance!

• Getting Crap Past the Radar
• Gone Horribly Right: Kamikazi attempted to turn Protoboy evil, but went too far and made Protoboy too evil to the point of being nigh-uncontrollable.
• Hair of Gold: Tommy
• Hartman Hips: Tommy's mom
• Hot Mom: Tommy's mom again
• Hulk Speak: Robotboy talk somewhat like dees (due to apparently being Japanese).
• I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Tommy's mom's reaction to the cookies Dr. Kamikazi sold her in "Traffic Slam".
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Robotboy uses it on Constantine in "Kamispazi!" to get him to tell where Kamikazi is.
• Jerkass: Gus.
  • Donnie more so.
• Jerk Jock: Kurt
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gus.
• Karma Houdini: Donnie. This is lampshaded by Tommy in a few episodes.
• Kick the Dog: Kurt throwing a ball at some random crippled kid in "Kami-Chameleon".
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Tommy's dad, Kurt's dad, and Constantine all have one.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Robotboy in "Rowho?"
• Last-Name Basis:

Kurt: Hey, Turnbull. Who told you you could breathe my air? Get him, guys!

• Leitmotif: Kamikazi has his own.
• Limited Wardrobe: Lola even wears her blue dress when she goes to bed. The only time she's ever been seen wearing a completely different outfit is when she went bowling, oddly enough.
  • She wore a soccer uniform when she was on Tommy's soccer team.
  • She also wore Liederhosen in one ep, but it was for a dance number she was going to do.
• Large Ham: Dr. Kamikazi
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Being hit by lightning doesn't do any damage to Robotboy, it just recharges him to full.
• Losing Your Head: Inverted in "Stuck On You", where Klaus von Afoncügel steals Robotboy's body parts and leaves him with just a head.
• Love Triangle: Lola loves Tommy, who loves Bambi (who dates Kurt). The whole thing was toned down considerably in the third and fourth season, mind you.
• Mad Scientist: Kamikazi again
• Magic Pants: Lola's dress, in the episode "Gus' Mix".
• May-December Romance: Moshimo is much older than his fiancée.
• Missing Mom: Lola's mother is never shown.
• Nice Hat: Kurt and one of his cronies have them, and Tommy's dad sports one in "Foot Brawl".
• Nightmare Sequence: Donnie has a pretty long one in "Donnie Turnbull's Day Off" that involves fish medicine, his mom, and Robotboy's bed.
• Nobody Calls Me Chicken

Robotboy: That ice cream. Gus like. Eat much. (Robotgirl takes a carton out of the freezer) Robotboy: No! Food bad for robots! Robotgirl: Robotboy afraid eat ice cream? Robotboy: No afraid! Robotgirl: Robotgirl sorry scare Robotboy. Robotboy: Robotboy no afraid!

• Obliviously Evil: Robotboy pulls this off in "Clammadon Rising" and "Grow No-Mo!"
• Oblivious to Love: Tommy to Lola.
• Ocular Gushers: Robotboy in "Crying Time" after he watches the ending of a sad play, and Robotgirl in "The Return of Robotgirl" after Gus tells her she looks terrible. Did we mention they both cry oil instead of water?
• Panty Shot: Several kids in "The Donnienator"; Lola in "Traffic Slam."
  • And then there was the quick shot in Traffic Slam where they didn't show her panties, if you know what I mean.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Robotboy puts on a jacket with a giant hood to conceal his ear drums in "Kami-Chameleon" pretending to be a student. Tommy is not amused.

Tommy: Robotboy, what are you doing here? I told you to go home. Robotboy: No-o-o! Robotboy like school!

• Parental Favoritism: Tommy's dad obviously prefers Donnie.
• People Zoo: Auntie Gravitee's intergalactic freakshow. Apparently, Gus is the only human who's freaky enough to fit in there.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Robotboy and Robotgirl.
• Pinocchio Syndrome: Robotboy wanting to become more human is a recurring theme, especially in seasons three and four.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Robotboy and Robotgirl. Averted with Protoboy, since he's a little bigger than both of them.
• Psycho Prototype: Protoboy. Even before Kamikazi made him evil, he was still one hell of a nutjob -- this is seen in a flashback when Moshimo first activated him and Protoboy's immediate reaction was to beat him up.
• Psychic Powers: Robotboy's probability calculator in "The Soothsayer".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Robotboy's Super-Activated form. Protoboy has them 24/7.
• Retcon: In "Brother," Moshimo says that his first encounter with Kamikazi was when he kidnapped Protoboy. Later, in "The Legend of Brainy Yak," Moshimo relates his childhood as a yak herder in the Alps, and notes that a young Kamikazi made fun of one of his yaks.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Robotboy. He's even passed for a human kid at least twice.
• Rogues Gallery: After a while, Robotboy got himself a fairly impressive one. Villains that have appeared in more than one episode includes: Dr. Kamikazi, Klaus von Afoncügel, Bjorn Bjornson, Kurt's father, Felonius Hex, General Yakitori, Principal Culpepper and Protoboy.
• Robot Buddy: Robotboy.
• Robot Kid
• Scarecrow Solution: Used very briefly when Gus pretends to be another Moshimo robot in "The Return of Robotgirl" to distract Protoboy, but it only works for a few seconds.

Gus: Oops, busted.

• Secret Keeper: Tommy, Gus and Lola
• Shaped Like Itself: "Good morning, class. I'm Kurt's father. You can call me...Kurt's father."
• Shout-Out: One episode is titled "Journey to the Center of the Gus".
  • Gus's virtual pet in "Kami-Chameleon", Chupika, looks a lot like a Tamagotchi.
• Show Within a Show: The Human Fist.
• Slapstick Knows No Gender: Poor Lola.
• Sleep Mode Size: Robotboy's deactivated form.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Lance Cosgrove, a self-absorbed investigate reporter who keeps making up the most ridiculous tabloid explainations for anything Robotboy is involved in. Both Tommy's and Lola's dads love watching his show because they think he's So Bad He's Good.
• Smug Snake: Bjorn
• Spikes of Villainy: On Donnie's wristband.
• Spoiled Sweet: Lola. Not always that sweet, but she's still a very good friend.
• Stock Sound Effects: The "wheeeeeeeeee" noise heard in "Clammadon Rising" when Clammadon zaps Robotboy and turns him back to Sleep Mode Size.
• Stock Footage: Robotboy's transformation sequence.
• Stop Copying Me: Utilized in "Donnie Turnbull's Day Off" when Robotboy pretends to be an ordinary toy around Donnie when Tommy is out of the house.

(Donnie picks up Robotboy) Donnie: Who are you? What's your deal? Robotboy: (mechanically) I robot toy. Donnie: (laughs) What a stupid voice! Robotboy: Ha. What a stupid voice. Donnie: Hey! Shut your face! Robotboy: Hey. Shut your face. Donnie: (shakes Robotboy) I said, zip it, freak! Robotboy: Zip it, freak. Zip it, freak. Zip it, freak. Zip it, freak. Zip it -- (Donnie hits Robotboy and is met with a punch to the face)

• Strong Family Resemblance: Played with. Tommy looks like his mom, but not his dad or Donnie -- and Donnie doesn't look like their dad either.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Dr. Kamikazi is a master of this trope. He cameras even managed to tap into Tommy's dreams...
• Talk to the Fist: Robotgirl punches Gus in the face at least three times in "The Return of Robotgirl".
• Ted Baxter: Gus -- an example would be when he tries to show Robotboy how to win a girl over and ends up making Robotgirl cry.
• Temporary Bulk Change: A side-effect of the tapeworm living in Gus's stomach in "Tummy Trouble". Of course, Gus becomes his normal fat self again at the end.
• Third Person Person: Moshimo's robots.
• Telescoping Robot
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Robotgirl. Bow? Check. Pink where Ro is blue? Check. Skirt? Check. Eyelashes? Check.
  • Walter the (apparently male) tapeworm from "Tummy Trouble" inverts this with pink coloration, eyelashes and a high voice.
• Three Amigos: Tommy, Gus and Lola
• Transformation Sequence: Robotboy, Robotgirl and Protoboy all get a pretty awesome one.
• Troll: The function of the Teasebots in "Teasebots".

"Hello, ugly! You're so ugly, when you entered an ugly contest, they said, 'Sorry, no professionals.' Thank you very much!" "You're so ugly you made an onion cry. Thank you!" "You're so ugly, when you walk by a toilet, it flushes! Thank you very much!"

• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Applies more to Moshimo and his fiancée than to Tommy's parents.
• Undying Loyalty: Robotboy and Robotgirl to Moshimo, to the point where they (or at least Robotgirl) would willingly sacrifice themselves for him as proven in "The Return of Robotgirl".
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In the episode "Kami-Chameleon", two of the teachers have weird limbs and different voices (they're actually Kamikazi's cronies in disguise) and Robotboy shows up in gym pretending to be a student.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Tommy and Gus.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Gus in "Traffic Slam", Tommy's mom in "Kamispazi!", and, bizarrely enough, Robotboy in "Gus's Big Mouth".
• What Does Tommy See In Bambi?: Seriously, look at how she treated him at the beginning of "Crying Time"! One scene later, Robotboy says what we're all thinking:

Robotboy: Bambi bad. Robotboy smash Bambi!

• Would Hit a Girl: Kurt in the soccer episode gives Lola a rough bodycheck.
  • In "The Return of Robotgirl", Protoboy kicks Robotgirl in the chest/stomach hard enough to knock her batteries out.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Averted in "Traffic Slam" when Tommy's mom kicks Lola in the face for trying to take her cookies.
  • Also Kamikazi, who threatens to do...: "Well, I can't actually say it, but it's very evil!"