Media Essays: Rebooting Robotboy

Written by The Wandering Fox

It’s me again everybody, the Wandering Fox is here, and I have a real treat for you today.

You may recall that in my other essay about Robotboy I talked about a few bullet points of what I’d do to bring the show back. Ever since I revisited Robotboy, I talked with my friend KivatheDCWizard about how we’d reboot Robotboy and he shared some good ideas which I thought would make for a great essay. What follows is work based upon our ideas of how we’d bring Robotboy back.

Cutting Out

First of all we really need to look at the really problematic and annoying elements of the original show and to start with we have to cut out certain bits. Starting with Gus. The guy is annoying, disgusting, contributes bugger all to the story, is a selfish jerk, even Tommy, Robotboy and Lola don’t really like him, he is pretty much the reason why a lot of bad things happened in the show. Heck, he had Robotboy go on a rampage to find him a sweet and Robotboy just wanted to see Tommy at the hospital. Gus, you can go and bugger off to whatever hole you crawled out of, you don’t belong in this reboot of Robotboy. This was agreed with Kiva.

Dwight and Donnie will have their roles reduced. Dwight is either idiotic or encouraging of Donnie bullying Tommy and is just as bad as Donnie in the s*** Tommy goes through. He and Donnie will be very minor characters who serve as a darker drama in the background of Tommy and Debbie’s past. What you’d get most of them is they return and try to meddle in Tommy and Debbie’s daily deeds and they get their arses handed to them by Robotboy. This was agreed with Kiva.

I I’ll cut out the idiot ball that was there in the series, especially with Robotboy’s status as a secret creation of Moshimo’s that Tommy has to protect. I can’t just have Moshimo fly to Tommy’s house in his hover car in broad daylight and expect everybody to think Tommy is an ordinary kid, or Robotboy playing in the broad daylight. This will help better build the story of Robotboy as he desires to be seen and live like a real boy.

Bjorn’s mum is cut out due to sympathy, I didn’t think her abuse at Bjorn’s hands was funny. Nor am I buying the whole “Bjorn was born nasty”. Nobody is born evil.

I’ll cut out Moshimo’s own controversial creations as he created some stuff that made you think of how he was any better than Kamikaze like his own mutated animals. Moshimo will also have his age decreased to make it less creepy with him and his fiancé Miu Miu, he will be in his early forties while she’s in her thirties. Kamikaze is de aged as well to be in his fifties. The de-aging was suggested by Kiva.

Felonius Hexx is reimagined as with Gus not there anymore to upset him, he instead was bored of being a tv magician and turned to living a life of crime as he found that fun.

With robotics meant to be seen as a secret, robots like Mona Lethal aren’t publicly known until later. The villainous society is also later introduced thanks to Robotboy being a hero that the villains begin conspiring on how to make their own robots to battle Robotboy.

Moshimo won’t have his “secret” ice lair as it’s known to the public and why exactly would he stay there? Instead he and Miu Miu live in their house that flies in the first season until they settle somewhere else. Was agreed with Kiva.

The Human Fist isn’t a real hero at first. He’s at first a TV star who had the same ideals as the heroes he watched or read when he was younger and he and the InHuman Toe’s actor are buddies like in the series. They become real heroes after helping Robotboy save Tommy.

What to Work On?

With these cut out, Kiva and I thought of what to work on that the series didn’t do. The series had Lola as the daughter of an ambassador which could have worked incredibly well in developing the background universe of Robotboy as well as how Moshimo has evaded Kamikaze for so long. Lola, being the daughter of an ambassador, is seen as the “cool girl” to hang out with by Kurt and Bambi as well as other bullies but Lola ends up annoyed with their antagonising attitude towards Tommy and insulting him when he’s clearly a clever boy. Getting to know Tommy, she’s surprised he hasn’t any idea who she’s the daughter of and feels comfortable with him, even more when he finds out. Tommy treats her like a person and not as a idealised human, it’s what has her fall in love with him. Seeing Tommy’s potential and his love for Moshimo’s inventions, Lola helps introduce him to Moshimo, Lola’s parents ended up helping Moshimo host an event of advanced robotics which. Lola can see that not only is Tommy happy to meet Moshimo, but Moshimo seems to have found his own spark for mentoring again. Lola is the only other kid Moshimo can trust Robotboy with and often Robotboy goes to Lola’s house to have some tougher upgrades done as Moshimo can go there. Lola is also skilled in fighting having been given classes of fighting, with her as the daughter of an ambassador and billionaire she needs it. Lola does end up exposing Bambi as being helpful in covering Kurt’s tracks in bullying and getting friendly with Tommy just to find out what he seems to know of Robotboy. Lola is protective of her family as well as Robotboy and is happy to punch her way out against anybody who goes after those she loves. By the end she and Tommy are gifted Moshimo’s enterprise and become the leading couple in robotics with Robotboy.

The past between Moshimo and Kamikaze does need a lot of work. With Kamikaze being about a decade older than Moshimo I think I’ll go with a backstory in that the guys knew each other from their younger years studying robotics but Kamikaze became obsessed with control and causing chaos as he felt that he was the smartest man and that every other human being was beneath him and dump, wanting to turn humanity back into primates and restart them to better his ideals, hence Kamikaze also began looking at genetic splicing and tried abducting animals to experiment on. Moshimo exposed Kamikaze and the man was arrested, with him doing a lot of years in prison, but Kamikaze invented a little robot that helped him escape. While fleeing from the police, Kamikaze met Constantine who ran away from the orphanage after being bullied for his big size. Kamikaze took advantage of his big size by hiding under his coat and told Constantine where to go, the pair fleeing to an abandoned island base in the south Atlantic where he could live quietly without the Japanese police to find him. There he began to take living cells from the island’s creatures and began to mutate the cells into hideous creatures and began plotting his revenge on Moshimo. He found out that Moshimo had a lab in Japan where he was experimenting on something. Curious, he and Constantine found Protoboy there and took him in, wanting to help him get revenge on Moshimo but Protoboy was too angry so they had to turn him off. But with Protoboy Kamikaze could start making his own robots from the scrap in the base or making deals with other dodgy baddies. He wants Robotboy and have him turn evil so he can finally have revenge on Moshimo and corrupt his greatest creation. In the end Constantine gets fed up of working for him and quits, with him exposing their hiding place and Kamikaze has a final battle with Moshimo before he falls in the lava.

With Protoboy, the robot was created by Moshimo who had wanted to create the perfect guard robot but he was too aggressive. Moshimo turned him off with him hoping to try and perfect him but Kamikaze and Constantine stolen him. Though Protoboy doesn’t get why Moshimo turned him off as he believes to guard is to fight and destroy. With Kamikaze helping him “enjoy” destroying things Protoboy became obsessed with it and turned against Dr Kamikaze until he was stopped by Constantine. Protoboy was thought seen as a template for Kamikaze’s robots and was hidden in the basement of his base until he began calling out to Robotboy. I did this because how did Moshimo know of how Kamikaze taking Protoboy and why hadn’t he tried taking him back? It’s why here Moshimo doesn’t know where Kamikaze is or wether Protoboy was killed or not. Thanks to their motherboards having a similar programming Robotboy and Protoboy contacted each other and Robotboy urged him to fight and escape. Protoboy turned back on and fled the island, Robotboy finding him and happily hugged his brother and told him he was free. Protoboy was quite surprised that Moshimo went and made another robot and at first thought he made Robotboy to rescue him but after finding out Moshimo thought he died and created Robotboy, Protoboy remembered Moshimo turned him off and came to believe Moshimo made Robotboy out of spite and started to destroy everything Robotboy and Moshimo love. Robotboy ended up destroying Protoboy after he tried to murder Tommy and Debbie though Protoboy survives by scouring the digital realm and started constructing another body to have revenge on Robotboy, wants to kill Robotgirl and wants to be superior to them both, hence he creates a Protogirl who becomes his “Dear”. Protoboy wants to kill every single human which only puts him on a course to fight Robotboy, Robotgirl and Bjorn Bot. In the end Protoboy and Protogirl die with him dying to the baddie as he believed only he could kill Robotboy.

Robotboy being a secret was, uh, shall we say not so secret? He plays with Tommy in broad daylight for the public to see but the series expects us to believe Robotboy is a secret? No. It’s why in my version Robotboy has to stay hidden in Tommy’s room at first but when does go out fighting robots he becomes a source of focus which has Tommy and Lola go to great lengths to hide him. Robotboy does become frustrated at not being able to play with Tommy in the public or protect him from bullies. Robotboy comes to despise bullies after he ends up meeting Booker in the orphanage then helps beat the living stuffing out of them and ends up losing his temper when Donnie and Dwight come back to intimidate Debbie and beats them up. This ends up exposing him to Debbie and thus leaves him and Tommy separated for a bit as Debbie tries to figure out how everything was happening. This is where Robotboy meets Robotgirl and begins to learn what it means to protect and understand and after he saves her from Kamikaze he returns home to reintroduce himself to Debbie. What exposes Tommy’s as Robotboy’s friend is Protoboy who goes on the rampage in Bay Area and starts abducting those Robotboy loves, the fight on the bridge sees Robotboy, Tommy, Lola and Moshimo exposed, with the second season throwing Tommy and Debbie in the spotlight and having to relocate to a quieter place with Debbie getting work under Lola’s father, though Kurt and his father are eager to get their hands on Robotboy, Tommy is now able to work closely with Moshimo but Robotboy ends up going out to do hero work alone at first as he thinks he’s done enough harm to Tommy’s life and doesn’t want anybody bothering him. Robotboy as a public hero does open him up to more learning curves as he learns he can’t trust everybody who approaches him. In the end Robotboy becomes a trusted hero that knows well he won’t ever grow old but he has become a “good boy” in learning under Tommy and hopes to inspire other robots or humans in doing good with their powers.

Characters like Bjorn, Booker, Kurt and the Human Fist get a beefier role in the reboot, Bjorn’s backstory is that he’s a darker reflection of Tommy. He excelled at school but lived a lonely life with only his mum to care for him but he desired a brother and so he made Bjorn Bot under Moshimo. Bjorn was proud of himself at creating his own brother and saw the potential and with his great intellect at a young age he created toys that greatly sold out in the stores making him a billionaire. Moshimo was concerned for how Bjorn was letting his intellect go towards creating technology for toys when they should be for more societal means and the money Bjorn was making concerned him, with Bjorn setting his mum up in a nice cottage and told her she “done her bit” and built his own place. Bjorn thought Moshimo was being a jackass who couldn’t bare to be outshone by a boy and stopped talking to him. Upon learning of Robotboy he didn’t think much of him until he saw Protoboy trying to kill Moshimo. Figuring Robotboy was Moshimo’s creation and Tommy was his apprentice, Bjorn became filled with envy and goes after Robotboy just to stick a finger up to Moshimo.

Booker ends up becoming a friend of Tommy after he’s adopted as the show seemed to imply he was adopted by scientists. Booker kept quiet about Tommy and Robotboy and met Tommy at another science convention where Tommy and Lola were talking privately to Moshimo. Recognising the talent in Booker and his adopted parents Moshimo began to employ them with Booker helping in crafting games for Robotboy and Robotgirl and tech he could offer to himself and Tommy.

Kurt is the way he is as he’s envious Tommy has a mum but thinks that because he doesn’t have a dad it makes him the cooler boy at school and often shows off the richest things he can buy, but he ends up as more envious of Tommy after seeing he’s Robotboy’s friend and, wanting to be better than Tommy, helps his dad in trying to catch Robotboy. Bambi is a horrid girl but mostly hangs around Kurt to retain her popularity and does the same with the other wealthy kids which just angers Lola and thinks Bambi is an opportunist. Bambi is a chicken when it comes to confrontation and seeing how Kurt and his dad got their arses kicked she basically disappears.

The Human Fist, I’m naming him Chad Todd after the late Chadwick Boseman and Tony Todd while the Inhuman Toe is named Rupert after his voice actor. They’re both actors who enjoyed the fictional stories they read and made a tv show based upon their fanfics, but after Tommy was kidnapped Robotboy went to Chad for help, believing he was a real hero. Chad was surprised Robotboy came to him and at first thinking this was all for publicity he and Rupert agreed to go but upon seeing Tommy was in grave danger and Kamikaze was trying to kill him, both were afraid at first until they saw Robotboy struggling and helped out. Feeling they really did become heroes, Chad and Rupert began to have their costume props worked on so they could go and help crime fight in Bay Area, with Chad getting mechanical gauntlets while Rupert could develop nanite tech to give himself tough skin and help him swim underwater, often helping stop everyday criminals but coming to help Robotboy if he is having trouble of losing.

If there’s any original characters that will be included they’d be original villains for the series, including an alternate universe Robotboy who was made evil by an evil Moshimo. There’d be various original villains based upon iconic characters. There’d be an alien villain with Auntie Gravity who is eager to take over the planet and creates their own robot. There’d be original heroic characters as well as Booker’s own robots who I’d call Retro Boy and Sir Lancebot. Maybe even throw in a reference to Doctor Who with a character called Professor Spoons, a scientist who’s gimmick is he makes things out of spoons and fights with spoons, making the Spoon Dog and the Spoon Sword after he trained with a ninja who loved spoons. (Winks to Kiva).

With that done let’s look at the...

Tone

You can tell here that the tone of the reboot is more mature than the show. Will it go dark to the point you feel like you can’t enjoy it and feel it’s upsetting? No. As Teen Titans proved you can tell mature stories and be light hearted. Same with the Ed’s as if you rewatch that series even that has some rather mature elements to it while being a light-hearted comedy. The tone in this Robotboy is just being a bit more mature but still reminding everybody that Tommy and Lola are kids, Tommy still wants to buy comics or play a game which Robotboy enjoys, you have light hearted stuff with Robotboy trying on clothes or he eats something and has to have his gears cleaned, or Robotboy’s childish understanding of things can make for a lot of comedy. There’s no fart jokes or fat jokes, it’s a cartoon that can be fun and mature without any bull like that. It does end up dealing with darker themes like Constantine’s abuse by Kamikaze or Tommy and Debbie trying to be free of Dwight and Donnie.

The whole thing does come to a conclusion with stopping the aliens and their robots from taking over with Robotboy, Robotgirl, Protoboy, Protogirl and Bjorn Bot all teaming up to defeat the alien robot with Protoboy dying. Moshimo retires with Tommy and Lola becoming the leading pair in scientific research of robotics, Bjorn is willing to let Tommy be as long as he gets a say in the robotic paradise that Robotboy ends up making for all robots, where he can be their hero and a bridge between humans and robots, Constantine ends up moving on with his life and becomes a chef and animal caretaker to do right by everybody.

Conclusion

This would be how Kiva and I would bring Robotboy back. The animation would look a bit anime but still retain the overall visual of the series. Hope you love it. I’m the Wandering Fox and I’ll see you in another essay.

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