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* AndIMustScream: Undoubtely in one of the scenes where we see RoboCop's creation from his point of view. We see Bob Morton and Donald Johnson asking scientists if he'll remember his memories as Alex Murphy, to be replied they'll wipe out his mind. That's followed with both executives complaining about scientists having saved one of Murphy's arms and ordering them to replace that living arm with a bionic one. The scene ends with one of the scientists ordering to turn off RoboCop in order to operate him.
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* AndIMustScream: Undoubtely in one of the scenes where we see RoboCop's creation from his point of view. We see Bob Morton and Donald Johnson asking Johnson, the first complaining because scientists saved Murphy's left arm and after this asking if he'll remember his memories as Alex Murphy, he understand what he's saying, to be replied it does not mind as they'll wipe out his mind. That's This is followed with both executives complaining about scientists having saved one of Murphy's arms and ordering them to replace that living by Morton asking Johson if he thinks they'd remove the arm with a bionic one. to what he replies they can do whatever they want as he's legally dead. The scene finally ends with one of the scientists Morton ordering to turn off RoboCop in order to operate him.remove the left arm and Murphy/Robo being shutted down for surgery.
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* AndIMustScream: Likely when seeing RoboCop's creation from his point of view. We see Bob Morton and Donald Johnson asking scientists if he'll remember his memories as Alex Murphy, to be replied they'll wipe out his mind. That's followed with both executives complaining about scientists having saved one of Murphy's arms, ordering them to replace that living arm with a bionic one. The scene ends with one of the scientists ordering to turn off Murphy/RoboCop in order to operate him.
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* AndIMustScream: Likely when seeing Undoubtely in one of the scenes where we see RoboCop's creation from his point of view. We see Bob Morton and Donald Johnson asking scientists if he'll remember his memories as Alex Murphy, to be replied they'll wipe out his mind. That's followed with both executives complaining about scientists having saved one of Murphy's arms, arms and ordering them to replace that living arm with a bionic one. The scene ends with one of the scientists ordering to turn off Murphy/RoboCop RoboCop in order to operate him.
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* AndIMustScream: Likely when seeing RoboCop's creation from his point of view. We see Bob Morton and Donald Johnson asking scientists if he'll remember his memories as Alex Murphy, to be replied they'll wipe out his mind. That's followed with both executives complaining about scientists having saved one of Murphy's arms, ordering them to replace that living arm with a bionic one. The scene ends with one of the scientists ordering to turn off Murphy/RoboCop in order to operate him.
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It Got Worse de-wicking.
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** Detroit. Full of crime and {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. ItGotWorse when the cops went on strike in the first film, and by the time of the third film it's even ''worse'', with people in danger of having wrecking balls tear through their house ''while they're still living there.''
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** Detroit. Full of crime and {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. ItGotWorse It got worse when the cops went on strike in the first film, and by the time of the third film it's even ''worse'', with people in danger of having wrecking balls tear through their house ''while they're still living there.''
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** However Robert John Burke is taller than Peter Weller. The reason nobody noticed was because the [=RoboCop=] suit worn in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was originally built for ''[=RoboCop=]'' 2. He complained that wearing it was painful after a short time.
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** However Robert John Burke is taller than Peter Weller. The reason nobody noticed was because the [=RoboCop=] suit worn in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was originally built for ''[=RoboCop=]'' 2. He complained that wearing it was painful after a short time. time.
* OutOfCharacterAlert: How Lewis and Robocop's primary technician promptly realize something is very wrong after Robocop is rebuilt in the second film; Robocop says he's "touched" remarks on it being "a beautiful day" and he calls the captain by his first name; all things Murphy would never do.
* OutOfCharacterAlert: How Lewis and Robocop's primary technician promptly realize something is very wrong after Robocop is rebuilt in the second film; Robocop says he's "touched" remarks on it being "a beautiful day" and he calls the captain by his first name; all things Murphy would never do.
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* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: How Lewis and Robocop's primary technician promptly realize something is very wrong after Robocop is rebuilt in the second film; Robocop says he's "touched" remarks on it being "a beautiful day" and he calls the captain by his first name; all things Murphy would never do.
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** The Amazon War appears to have kept going since the first film to the third film, with Cain have been a solider in that war.
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** The Amazon War conflict appears to have kept going since the first film to the third film, with Cain have having been a solider in that war.war before being court martial.
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* AnAsskickingChristmas: Kinda hard to notice but ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' does take place around the Christmas season.
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** In the second movie, when Lois steals an armored car and rams Cain into a wall.
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** In the second movie, when Lois Lewis steals an armored car and rams Cain into a wall.
** The Amazon War appears to have kept going since the first film to the third film, with Cain have been a solider in that war.
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'''Negotiatior:''' "Hey, no problem, Miller. You let the Mayor go, we'll even throw in a Blaupunkt."
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* EvillyAffable: Clarence Boddicker.
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* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played with in first film, as a Murphy family photo is shown long after Murphy had become [=RoboCop=]. In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Murphy asks if Anne has a family, with her reminding him she has a brother but survives. However, [[spoiler:she dies in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'']].
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* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played with in first film, as a Murphy family photo is shown long after Murphy had become [=RoboCop=]. In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', 3'', Murphy asks if Anne has a family, with her reminding him she has a brother but survives. However, [[spoiler:she that never calls her. [[spoiler:She tragically dies in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'']].a couple of scenes later.]]
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* HotScientist: Though not the same character, the recurring female technician in the original movies with Dr. Maria Lazarus being the most notable one. Dr. Faxx is a villainous example.
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->''"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."''
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[[AC:Serve the public trust]]\\
[[AC:Protect the innocent]]\\
[[AC:Uphold the law]]
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** Emil at the gas station. When Robocop uses the "dead or alive" speech, Emil is surprised to hear that from a cop again and figures out who the new cop is.
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** The gang taking Robocop apart in ''Robocop 2'' is reminiscent to the death (via dismemberment) of Murphy in ''Robocop''.
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* CreatorCameo: Executive producer Jon Davison is the voice of ED-209.
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* CreatorCameo: Executive Paul Verhoeven plays a dancer at a disco, and executive producer Jon Davison is the voice of ED-209.
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* CreatorCameo: Executive producer Jon Davison is the voice of ED-209.
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The title character's design was loosely based on the {{Toku}} MetalHeroes series, particularly ''SpaceSheriffGavan'', which Paul Verhoven apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan. Funnily enough, the reference came full circle in 1989 when Toei released ''KidouKeijiJiban'', also a cyborg police officer who operated under a set of directives.
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The title character's design was loosely based on the {{Toku}} MetalHeroes series, particularly ''SpaceSheriffGavan'', which Paul Verhoven or somebody else involved in the production (accounts vary) apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan. Funnily enough, the reference came full circle in 1989 when Toei released ''KidouKeijiJiban'', also a cyborg police officer who operated under a set of directives.
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* DisproportionateRetribution: ED-209 is ''made'' of this trope.
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* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The multitudinous additional directives they added to [=RoboCop=] in the second movie. [[hottip:*:DIRECTIVE 233: Restrain hostile feelings. - DIRECTIVE 234: Promote positive attitude. - DIRECTIVE 235: Suppress aggressiveness. - DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values. - DIRECTIVE 238: Avoid destructive behavior. - DIRECTIVE 239: Be accessible. - DIRECTIVE 240: Participate in group activities. - DIRECTIVE 241: Avoid interpersonal conflicts. - DIRECTIVE 242: Avoid premature value judgments. - DIRECTIVE 243: Pool opinions before expressing yourself. - DIRECTIVE 244: Discourage feelings of negativity and hostility. - DIRECTIVE 245: If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't talk. - DIRECTIVE 246: Don't rush traffic lights. - DIRECTIVE 247: Don't run through puddles and splash pedestrians or other cars. - DIRECTIVE 248: Don't say that you are always prompt when you are not. - DIRECTIVE 249: Don't be oversensitive to the hostility and negativity of others. - DIRECTIVE 250: Don't walk across a ballroom floor swinging your arms. - DIRECTIVE 254: Encourage awareness. - DIRECTIVE 256: Discourage harsh language. - DIRECTIVE 258: Commend sincere efforts. - DIRECTIVE 261: Talk things out. - DIRECTIVE 262: [[TakeThat Avoid Orion meetings]]. - DIRECTIVE 266: Smile. - DIRECTIVE 267: Keep an open mind. - DIRECTIVE 268: Encourage participation. - DIRECTIVE 273: Avoid stereotyping. - DIRECTIVE 278: Seek non-violent solutions.]]
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* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The multitudinous additional directives they added to [=RoboCop=] in the second movie. [[hottip:*:DIRECTIVE [[labelnote:*]]DIRECTIVE 233: Restrain hostile feelings. - DIRECTIVE 234: Promote positive attitude. - DIRECTIVE 235: Suppress aggressiveness. - DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values. - DIRECTIVE 238: Avoid destructive behavior. - DIRECTIVE 239: Be accessible. - DIRECTIVE 240: Participate in group activities. - DIRECTIVE 241: Avoid interpersonal conflicts. - DIRECTIVE 242: Avoid premature value judgments. - DIRECTIVE 243: Pool opinions before expressing yourself. - DIRECTIVE 244: Discourage feelings of negativity and hostility. - DIRECTIVE 245: If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't talk. - DIRECTIVE 246: Don't rush traffic lights. - DIRECTIVE 247: Don't run through puddles and splash pedestrians or other cars. - DIRECTIVE 248: Don't say that you are always prompt when you are not. - DIRECTIVE 249: Don't be oversensitive to the hostility and negativity of others. - DIRECTIVE 250: Don't walk across a ballroom floor swinging your arms. - DIRECTIVE 254: Encourage awareness. - DIRECTIVE 256: Discourage harsh language. - DIRECTIVE 258: Commend sincere efforts. - DIRECTIVE 261: Talk things out. - DIRECTIVE 262: [[TakeThat Avoid Orion meetings]]. - DIRECTIVE 266: Smile. - DIRECTIVE 267: Keep an open mind. - DIRECTIVE 268: Encourage participation. - DIRECTIVE 273: Avoid stereotyping. - DIRECTIVE 278: Seek non-violent solutions.]][[/labelnote]]
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* DonutMessWithACop: In the third movie, a man tries to hold up a donut shop, only to have several cops aim their guns at him. The man then drops his gun and the clerk behind the counter quips, "[[WhatAnIdiot So what's it like being a rocket scientist]]?"
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* DonutMessWithACop: In the third movie, a man tries to hold up a donut shop, only to have several cops aim their guns at him. The man then drops his gun and the clerk behind the counter quips, "[[WhatAnIdiot "[[DeadpanSnarker So what's it like like]] being [[ThisAintRocketSurgery a rocket scientist]]?"
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* PlayingAgainstType: Prior to playing Dick Jones, Ronny Cox played nice guys. However, Dick Jones also set up a new type for him, as proven by [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]] and [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Vilos Cohaagen]]. Kurtwood Smith was also known for slightly more refined and elegant characters (while still bad guys) and not the unsophisticated thug Boddicker was.
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* PlayingAgainstType: Prior to playing Dick Jones, Ronny Cox played nice guys. However, Dick Jones also set up a new type for him, as proven by [[StargateSG1 [[Series/StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]] and [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Vilos Cohaagen]]. Kurtwood Smith was also known for slightly more refined and elegant characters (while still bad guys) and not the unsophisticated thug Boddicker was.
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* EasterEgg: At the end of the first film's credit, you can see the following statement:
--> This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries and its unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution by enforcement droids.
--> This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries and its unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution by enforcement droids.
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** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' was shot in [[GreaterHouston Houston]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in {{Atlanta}}, using many of the buildings that would soon be torn down to make room for the facilities for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in {{Atlanta}}, using many of the buildings that would soon be torn down to make room for the facilities for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
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** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' was shot in [[GreaterHouston Houston]].
UsefulNotes/{{Houston}}.
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in{{Atlanta}}, UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, using many of the buildings that would soon be torn down to make room for the facilities for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in
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* TheCameo: In ''Robocop 2'', Frank Miller plays a chemist named...[[TheDanza Frank]]
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* TheCameo: In ''Robocop 2'', Frank Miller plays a chemist named...[[TheDanza Frank]]Frank]].
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* AfterActionHealingDrama: In the ER after he's shot.
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The title character's design was loosely based on the {{Toku}} MetalHeroes series, particularly Space Sheriff Gavan, which Paul Verhoven apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan.
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The title character's design was loosely based on the {{Toku}} MetalHeroes series, particularly Space Sheriff Gavan, ''SpaceSheriffGavan'', which Paul Verhoven apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan.
Japan. Funnily enough, the reference came full circle in 1989 when Toei released ''KidouKeijiJiban'', also a cyborg police officer who operated under a set of directives.
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* CallBack: [=McDagget's=] death at the end of the third movie is actually quite similar to Bob Morton's in the first -- they're both wounded in the legs, left desperately crawling towards an active explosive device and trying to disarm, and ultimately failing.
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* CallBack: [=McDagget's=] The third movie has several of them.
** [=McDaggett's=] death at the end of the third movie is actually quite similar to Bob Morton's in the first -- they're both wounded in the legs, left desperately crawling towards an active explosive device and trying to disarm, and ultimatelyfailing.failing.
** Lewis is introduced in ''3'' chewing gum and blowing bubbles, much like the original film.
** Robo startles Lewis by popping out the dataspike on his hand, much like he did to another officer in the original.
** The scene where Robo is rebuilt after being injured by a grenade is almost identical to his "birth" scene in the original, right down to the engineers in both films accidentally screwing up and then presenting him with a new part.
** The scene where Robo interrogates [=McDaggett=]'s lieutenant is identical to the Boddicker drug lab interrogation scene in the original, right down to the same camera angles.
** Robo confronts a pair of Splatterpunks harassing a young girl via a shot where a large shadow is seen on a wall, much like his confrontation of the two thugs attempting to rape a woman in the original.
** [=McDaggett's=] death at the end of the third movie is actually quite similar to Bob Morton's in the first -- they're both wounded in the legs, left desperately crawling towards an active explosive device and trying to disarm, and ultimately
** Lewis is introduced in ''3'' chewing gum and blowing bubbles, much like the original film.
** Robo startles Lewis by popping out the dataspike on his hand, much like he did to another officer in the original.
** The scene where Robo is rebuilt after being injured by a grenade is almost identical to his "birth" scene in the original, right down to the engineers in both films accidentally screwing up and then presenting him with a new part.
** The scene where Robo interrogates [=McDaggett=]'s lieutenant is identical to the Boddicker drug lab interrogation scene in the original, right down to the same camera angles.
** Robo confronts a pair of Splatterpunks harassing a young girl via a shot where a large shadow is seen on a wall, much like his confrontation of the two thugs attempting to rape a woman in the original.
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** The "I'd Buy That for a Dollar!" guy makes a cameo in the third film.
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** Bixby Snyder (the "I'd Buy That for a Dollar!" guy) makes a cameo appearance.
** Cecil (one of the police officers in Reed's precinct, who was freaked out by the dataspike in the data storage room) appears in the third film when Robo returns to the station to stop [=McDaggett=]'s squad. In addition, one of the officers who attempted to stop Hedgecock from opening fire on Robo in the parking garage (in the original) returns in a scene where he threatens to walkout.
** Cecil (one of the police officers in Reed's precinct, who was freaked out by the dataspike in the data storage room) appears in the third film when Robo returns to the station to stop [=McDaggett=]'s squad. In addition, one of the officers who attempted to stop Hedgecock from opening fire on Robo in the parking garage (in the original) returns in a scene where he threatens to walkout.
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Directed by Paul Verhoeven, ''[=RoboCop=]'' is a gritty, ultra-violent, [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] film which features a great deal of social commentary and political satire on such subjects as capitalism, privatization, the environment and public apathy. The film works as pure summer entertainment as well, with taut action sequences, impressive production design, and memorable characters. Its smash success spawned a whole series of sequels and spin-offs while providing a huge shot in the arm for the SuperHero film genre that the embaressing failure of ''Superman IV'' almost sunk in the same year.
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Directed by Paul Verhoeven, ''[=RoboCop=]'' is a gritty, ultra-violent, [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] film which features a great deal of social commentary and political satire on such subjects as capitalism, privatization, the environment and public apathy. The film works as pure summer entertainment as well, with taut action sequences, impressive production design, and memorable characters. Its smash success spawned a whole series of sequels and spin-offs while providing a huge shot in the arm for the SuperHero film genre that the embaressing box-office failure of ''Superman IV'' almost sunk in the same year.
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** Murphy himself displayed this when he attempted DualWeilding a pair of handguns during a car chase. At a distance of less than 20 feet, he barely managed to hit the van, never mind any of the passengers. Contrast to Robo's expert marksmanship.
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** Murphy himself displayed this when he attempted DualWeilding a pair of handguns to fire GunsAkimbo during a car chase. At a distance of less than 20 feet, he barely managed to hit the van, never mind any of the passengers. Contrast to Robo's expert marksmanship.
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** Murphy himself displayed this when he attempted DualWeilding a pair of handguns during a car chase. At a distance of less than 20 feet, he barely managed to hit the van, never mind any of the passengers. Contrast to Robo's expert marksmanship.
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A {{Continuity Reboot}} is set for release in 2013, directed by José Padilha. The movie will star [[TheKilling Joel Kinnaman]] as Alex Murphy with supporting roles played by SamuelLJackson, HughLaurie, and GaryOldman. A [[ViralMarketing mock website for the company]], now called [[http://www.omnicorp.com/ OmniCorp]] has been revealed.
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A {{Continuity Reboot}} is set for release in 2013, directed by José Padilha. The movie will star [[TheKilling Joel Kinnaman]] as Alex Murphy with supporting roles played by SamuelLJackson, HughLaurie, MichaelKeaton, GaryOldman, and GaryOldman.JackieEarleHaley. A [[ViralMarketing mock website for the company]], now called [[http://www.omnicorp.com/ OmniCorp]] has been revealed.
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** Cain, reduced to a brain and two floating eyeballs, [[AndIMustScream forced to silently watch]] as the doctors casually chat over his disembodied, empty head with its slack face contorted in a rictus of horror. If he wasn't already insane, that would have done it.
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*** One of the street punks in one of the movies lampshades this, shouting "Shoot him in the mouth!" It likely wouldn't matter... Murphy's face is just a layer of flesh stuck atop his new metal cranium, getting shot there would probably only hurt his marketability.
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[[quoteright:334:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robocop_poster_3003.jpg]]
->''"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."''
'''''[=RoboCop=]''''' (1987) is a SciFi / CyberPunk film set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in a CrapsackWorld version of {{Detroit}}, where the [[LawEnforcementInc police force has been privatized]] and handed over to [[MegaCorp Omni Consumer Products]] (OCP). Officer Alex Murphy (PeterWeller) is trailing a vicious criminal gang led by Clarence Boddicker when he is separated from his partner, Anne Lewis. Boddicker (KurtwoodSmith) and his cronies overwhelm Murphy, then take delight in [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill unloading their]] [[SawedOffShotgun shotguns]] [[LudicrousGibs into him]].
After Murphy is pronounced dead, OCP takes his remains and effectively resurrects him as the NighInvulnerable cyborg police officer [=RoboCop=]. His mind is [[LaserGuidedAmnesia supposedly wiped]], but signs indicate that the wipe job wasn't perfect. When Murphy ''does'' start looking for revenge against his killers, he discovers that top OCP executive Dick Jones is connected to Boddicker -- and that Jones has meddled with Murphy's programming to ensure his own survival.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, ''[=RoboCop=]'' is a gritty, ultra-violent, [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] film which features a great deal of social commentary and political satire on such subjects as capitalism, privatization, the environment and public apathy. The film works as pure summer entertainment as well, with taut action sequences, impressive production design, and memorable characters. Its smash success spawned a whole series of sequels and spin-offs while providing a huge shot in the arm for the SuperHero film genre that the embaressing failure of ''Superman IV'' almost sunk in the same year.
The first sequel, ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' (1990), was even [[DarkerAndEdgier more violent and edgier]] than the first, going so far as to include a child as one of the primary villains. The plot involves the spread of a new drug called NUKE, considered ''the'' most addictive narcotic in history, as the police department is on strike. [=RoboCop=] struggles to stem the flow by going after Cain, a drug kingpin with a messiah complex.
Meanwhile, OCP has failed to replicate their success creating the first [=RoboCop=]. After several failed attempts, an unscrupulous executive in OCP hypothesizes that the mind of a criminal with a strong desire for power and immortality could survive the procedure. When [=RoboCop=] finally takes Cain down, OCP immediately sticks Cain's brain in "[=RoboCop=] 2" and counts on his addiction to NUKE as a RestrainingBolt. (You get no points on guessing how long he stays loyal.) Now [=RoboCop=] must face his EvilCounterpart -- who is far more heavily armed than himself.
Relying too heavily on raw violence and shock value while having less of the satirical humor that defined its predecessor, the sequel was not as popular as the original film. FrankMiller wrote the original screenplay; although the script was heavily altered to fit a movie format, his influence in the themes of the film can be identified, including scenes in which a focus group attempts to make [=RoboCop=] more family-friendly (rendering him unable to do his job). Miller later turned his original vision of the film into a comic book series (''Frank Miller's [=RoboCop=]'').
''[=RoboCop=] 3'' substituted the adult violence for something more tame, since the film was rated PG-13. The third film has OCP working to finish what they've been trying to do in the first two movies -- tear down Detroit, a city they deem as "beyond saving", and rebuild it as Delta City. As usual, it comes down to Murphy vs. OCP. [=RoboCop=] (now played by Robert John Burke) finds himself working to keep OCP from forcibly removing citizens to make way for "a better Detroit", and along the way, he [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot gets a jetpack and fights robot ninjas]]. Too mild in the action and edging into kiddie-film territory, this film bombed both financially and critically.
Despite the very adult material, the character of ''[=RoboCop=]'' has the general makings of a classic SuperheroOrigin story, and as such, the character has appeared in at least four different incarnations on TV. In all of them, to one degree or another, the ultraviolence and corporate/political satire is stripped away in favor of superheroics and corny humor:
* ''Robocop: The Animated Series'': AnimatedAdaptation, 1988. Like the above. Also introduced a [[MerchandiseDriven toyetic]] group of [[SideKick sidekicks]] called the Ultra Police. At least some of the stories were good.
* ''Robocop: The Series'': Live action, 1994. Gave Robo a holographic woman partner, a kid sidekick, and a variety of gadgets. On the other hand, it was occasionally hysterical. "I can't believe it! He's a Milken Scholar!"
* ''Robocop: Alpha Commando'': Animated, 1998. Which was less than well received. Filled the world with smartass AIs.
* ''RobocopPrimeDirectives'': Live-Action, Miniseries, 2000. Focused more on the franchise's dark and satirical elements as opposed to the more family friendly 1994 series. Received an ambivalent response.
A {{Continuity Reboot}} is set for release in 2013, directed by José Padilha. The movie will star [[TheKilling Joel Kinnaman]] as Alex Murphy with supporting roles played by SamuelLJackson, HughLaurie, and GaryOldman. A [[ViralMarketing mock website for the company]], now called [[http://www.omnicorp.com/ OmniCorp]] has been revealed.
The title character's design was loosely based on the {{Toku}} MetalHeroes series, particularly Space Sheriff Gavan, which Paul Verhoven apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan.
One more thing: there was also a series of videogames produced for home consoles and the arcade, mostly adhering to what is now referred to as the "run and gun" format. [[hottip:*:The ZXSpectrum version is recognised as one of the most successful -- and NintendoHard -- games on that system.]] In addition to the [=RoboCop=]-only games, there was also a crossover game with another famous film franchise: ''[=RoboCop=] versus TheTerminator''.
----
!!The film series provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Tropes A-I]]
* AbandonedWarehouse: The site of the first confrontation between Murphy and Boddicker's gang [[spoiler: and the last one]].
* ActionGirl: Lewis, although she's a FauxActionGirl for the first part of the movie.
* ActorAllusion: Inverted in the second movie - Belinda Bauer stars as psychologist Dr. Faxx, and later went on to become a qualified psychologist herself.
* AIIsACrapshoot: ED-209; not because they're evil, but because they're very, very dumb. Subverted with [=RoboCop=] himself; he doesn't rebel against OCP because he's a cyborg, but because he regains his human memories.
* AllCrimesAreEqual: ED-209 advanced dangerously on [=RoboCop=] for being illegally parked on private property at the end of the first film. ([[spoiler:Not that it worked out that well for him on this occasion.]])
* AndShowItToYou: ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' -- Robo does this to Cain. Instead of the heart, Robo uses the brain. Presumably, we're talking wi-fi here.
* AntagonistTitle: ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' is technically one, as Cain is turned into a cyborg called [=RoboCop=] 2 by the OCP.
* AnArmAndALeg: All over the place, especially Murphy's gruesome death.
* ArtificialGravity: Played for laughs. The gravity on the space station (which is an [[KillSat orbital defense platform]] instead of the peaceful use of the ISS today) malfunctions when the President visits.
* ArmorIsUseless: Averted and also played straight throughout all three films.
** In the first movie the standard issue body armor of the police provides minimal protection and Alex was deliberately stripped of the armor before Boddicker's group slaughtered him. Robocop's titanium/kevlar armor seems more than adequate for protection against small arms fire and gas explosions, but once [[DentedIron the armor is dented]] by the ED-209 heavy weapons he is slightly more vulnerable when the police are turned on him.
** In the second movie Robocop is fired at with varying degrees of man portable weaponry including a rocket launcher or two and he still keeps on going. However a .50 caliber M2 is enough to take his hand off and a jackhammer is sufficient to disassemble him (eventually).
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Bob Morton]] in the first movie.
* ATeamFiring
** All those assault cannons in the first movie's climax, and [=RoboCop=] doesn't take a ''single hit''. In general, Robo takes a heck of a lot of hits to the chest and none to that few inches of face, though there's at least one scene where he shields his face with an arm.
** Averted throughout the movie by other enemies, though. The confrontation with ED-209 and the subsequent arrival of the SWAT teams and police see [=RoboCop=] barely survive after being targeted mercilessly with assault cannons, machine guns, shotguns and a couple of rockets.
* AttackDrone: ED-209.
* AttemptedRape: One of the first crime victims rescued by Murphy after his transformation into [=RoboCop=] is a DistressedDamsel being threatened by two men. He disables the first with a GroinAttack.
* BackFromTheDead: Murphy; Cain.
* BarrierBustingBlow: [=RoboCop=] punches through a wall to grab Boddicker.
** In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Robo politely knocks on the (armoured) drug kitchen door. When the guard comes to check the viewport, Robo's fist comes through to wallop him in the solar plexus.
* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults: Bob Mortin insults his boss in the bathroom [[RightBehindMe only to discover he's been listening in the cubicle all along.]]
* BetterThanNew: After Murphy is pronounced dead, OCP takes his remains and resurrects him using cybernetic[=/=]robotic technology into the NighInvulnerable [=RoboCop=], though he'll never be human again.
* {{BFG}}: Boddicker and crew eventually are supplied with the Cobra Assault Cannon. The props were built from Barrett Model 82 .50 caliber rifles, and they're quite explosive. They use the Cobra against [=RoboCop=] in the first movie, and Robo uses one himself in ''[=RoboCop=] 2''. In the third movie, [=RoboCop=] got arm mounted weapon attachments which combined a machine gun, a flamethrower and even a grenade launcher.
* BigBad: Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones in ''[=RoboCop=]'', Cain in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', [=McDagget=] in ''[=RoboCop=] 3.''
* BigBadDuumvirate: Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones.
* BigDamnHeroes: The climax of ''[=RoboCop=] 3'', when the citizens resistance is about to be overwhelmed against the mercenaries until [=RoboCop=] comes screaming out the sky with his jetpack on to provide air support.
* BlackComedy: The [[KentBrockmanNews newscasts]].
** Bobby wasn't necessarily killed. We see him get shot in the legs and thrown onto the windshield of a Ford Taurus, but people have survived worse injuries in RealLife.
* BloodyHilarious
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Robo in the second film when he stops some kids from playing with an open fire hydrant. He attempts to dispatch some old adages of homespun wisdom, but botches several of the sayings.
* BodyHorror
** A plot point in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' involves the failed attempts to build a NewAndImproved cyborg. The minds used would be so horrified by what they had become that they would commit suicide in hilarious ways.
** The first time Robo takes his helmet off, he says to his partner: "You may not like what you are about to see." Murphy's face is the only visible organic part of him, and from the looks of his head, has been ''grafted'' onto a completely synthetic skull.
** [=RoboCop=] ends up in a pile of pieces after his first, failed attempt to get Cain.
** Boddicker's goon Emil drives through an industrial-strength tank of [[HollywoodAcid acidic toxic waste]]. Unfortunately for Emil, ''[[NauseaFuel he survives]]'' long enough to get splattered.
** And, of course, Murphy getting shredded apart by shells and bullets in the first part of the first film.
* BoomHeadshot: Murphy dies after getting shot in the head (which, after getting several of his limbs blown off and shot multiple times, is almost a MercyKill).
* {{Bowdlerized}}: The TV edit used for a ABC Sunday Night Movie in the early 90s cut half the movie and overdubbed the rest: "Ladies, leave!" and "You finked on the wrong guy."
** The Mexican Spanish dub has a minor one: When in the news break talk about a war between Mexico and the U.S., the Mexican dub replaces the dialogue with about a war in the Middle East instead. (Oddly, the original dialogue was uncensored in the subbed version). [[MexicanAmericanWar It's very obvious why they changed that line.]]
* BottomlessMagazines: Nobody in this movie ever seems to reload their guns, even [=RoboCop=] and his machine pistol.[[hottip:*:Murphy actually reloads the Auto-9 a grand total of one time in all three movies, in what is, hilariously, the scene in which he probably fires it the ''least.'']]
* BrainInAJar: Cain, at least temporarily, while they're preparing his robot body. He, though, still has his [[EyeScream Eyes]] attached to his brain. As a result, he sees his own face that's been cut off of his body, with the surgeon casually holding it like a coffee cup. All of these are just trope filled giving examples of BodyHorror.
* BrokenFaceplate: [=RoboCop=]'s visor gets smashed open by ED-209, allowing the audience to see the fear and surprise on his face during a close-up.
* BuddyCopShow: Not a show, precisely, but the Murphy & Lewis dynamic held through all three movies. And unlike most BuddyCopShow situations, they were good buddies from the start, rather than rubbing each other the wrong way.
* CallBack: [=McDagget's=] death at the end of the third movie is actually quite similar to Bob Morton's in the first -- they're both wounded in the legs, left desperately crawling towards an active explosive device and trying to disarm, and ultimately failing.
* CaliforniaDoubling: None of the films have been shot in Detroit.
** Most of the first movie was shot in [[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' was shot in [[GreaterHouston Houston]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in {{Atlanta}}, using many of the buildings that would soon be torn down to make room for the facilities for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
* CameBackStrong: Alex Murphy is killed in action and later reconstructed as an implacable crime-fighting machine.
* TheCameo: In ''Robocop 2'', Frank Miller plays a chemist named...[[TheDanza Frank]]
* CaptainObvious: Lampshaded in the 3rd movie.
-->'''Random Officer:''' "Hey, that's a battered yellow van!"\\
'''Lewis:''' "No shit, Sherlock!"
* CarChase: Robo chasing Daggett in a [[FlashedBadgeHijack borrowed]] pimpmobile in ''3''.
* CarFu
** Emil should have known not to play CarFu around vats of [[HollywoodAcid industrial chemicals]]. After getting horribly disfigured by the stuff, he's finished off by getting run over himself and bursts into noxious slime.
** In the second movie, when Lois steals an armored car and rams Cain into a wall.
* CharacterTics: Murphy had several that carried over into his cyborg persona. For example, he learned how to spin his pistol to impersonate ''T.J. Lazer'', the hero of his son's favourite show. Upon remembering his human life his deadpan sense of humor returns.
* CharacterTitle
* ChekhovsGun
** The unknown 4th Directive in the first movie, along with [=RoboCop=]'s computer jack that takes on the form of a spike emerging from his fist which he uses to [[spoiler:dispatch Boddicker]].
** The third film had [=RoboCop=]'s jetpack, stolen by the resistance from a warehouse group simply because it looked expensive. Later explained exactly what it was by Dr. Lazarus. As well as the little kid with a portable hacking computer. Directive 4 rears its head again, too... until the rebels delete it.
* ChickenWalker: The ED-209, which proves to be its Achilles Heel.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: [=RoboCop=] in the second movie, after he's saddled with a couple hundred politically-correct directives.
* ClusterFBomb: The convenience store robber, upon [=RoboCop=]'s entrance: "Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me!"
* TheCommandments: [=RoboCop=]'s four directives.
* ContinuityNod
** The "I'd Buy That for a Dollar!" guy makes a cameo in the third film.
** In the second film, Murphy brings one of the Cobra Rifles used on him from the first to his confrontation with [=RoboCain=], though it does not cause much damage.
* CoolGun: [=RoboCop=]'s heavily modified Beretta 93R, referred to as the "Auto-9".
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: Commander Cash, from the TV show.
** Robo himself has a few OCP logos on him, along with an OCP-001 serial number. Plus, whenever he gets smashed up it's OCP's money that pays for the rebuild (or not).
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Practically every member of OCP, but notably Johnson (who appears in all three films). In the first film, he's an ambiguous (but generally moral) employee who advises Bob Morton and gives Murphy a "thumbs-up" sign at the end. In the second he's head of the Robocop project and still a generally decent guy, but is willing to throw the far more amoral Dr. Faxx under the bus and participate in forging evidence to do just that. By the third, he's transformed into an unlikable douchebag who threatens to cut Sergeant Reed's pension if he doesn't comply with OCP's order to gentrify the Cadillac Heights district. He also [[KarmaHoudini survives the film and doesn't lose his job]] (unlike the CEO, who's fired at the end).
-->'''Johnson:''' Of course, there won't be any trouble from the dead ones.\\
'''The Old Man:''' They'll have relatives. They ''always do''.
** Possibly subverted in the third movie. [[spoiler:It's implied that Kanemitsu is being lied to about what's really going on in Detroit by both the remnants of OCP and The head of Rehabs. He bows his head to [=RoboCop=] at the end of the film]].
* CrapsackWorld
** Detroit. Full of crime and {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. ItGotWorse when the cops went on strike in the first film, and by the time of the third film it's even ''worse'', with people in danger of having wrecking balls tear through their house ''while they're still living there.''
** And it's not just limited to Detroit, either. In the first film, an orbiting defense satellite misfires and causes thousands of acres of forest to burn in California, killing several when it also sweeps through some homes, as well as two former US Presidents. In the second film, ED-209s are deployed in five major cities despite its continuing malfunctions; and a nuclear power plant in the Amazon goes critical, irradiating the entire rainforest.
** Also from the second film, it seems that skin cancer due the lack of ozone layer is a pretty common problem. And, of course, the chemicals you can buy to protect you from that, are also highly carcinogenic!
* CrucifiedHeroShot: Murphy's death. The [=RoboCop=] = cyborg!Jesus metaphor is extended throughout the film (see: getting pierced by a spear, walking on water).
* CurbStompBattle: [=RoboCop=] versus the ED-209 near the end of the first film. Especially satisfying because their earlier fight wasn't concluded.
* CursedWithAwesome: Being mostly immortal and mostly invulnerable comes with a heavy price.
* {{Cyberpunk}}
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Averted. At first OCP believes Murphy no longer retains any traces of his humanity, but it turns out he does as he regains his memories of his old self.
* DaChief: Sergeant Reed.
* DeadpanSnarker: The hostage negotiator in the first film.
-->'''Miller:''' "How about cruise control? Does it come with cruise control?"\\
'''Negotiatior:''' "Hey, no problem, Miller. You let the Mayor go, we'll even throw in a Blaupunkt."
** There's also [=RoboCop=] to some extent, notably when he is usually damaged in someway or has done some damage.
* {{Defictionalization}}: There is a real life company called Omni Consumer Products. They specialize in... making Defictionalized products. In an nicely full circle manner, the company's owner gave 25,000 dollars to a project seeking to build a statue of [=RoboCop=] in Detroit.
* DestinationDefenestration: Jones' death. After holding the president of OCP hostage, he's blown out the window by [=RoboCop=] and plummets to the ground.
* {{Determinator}}: After numerous [[EpicFail Epic Fails]] at attempting to build a second law enforcement cyborg, Faxx speculates that it was Murphy's intense devotion to duty that's keeping him from eating a bullet.
* DirtForcefield: Robo's always squeaky clean until the third act, wherein he gets heavily damaged.
* DirtyCop: "You sold us out, Officer Duffy! You're a rotten cop!"
* DonutMessWithACop: In the third movie, a man tries to hold up a donut shop, only to have several cops aim their guns at him. The man then drops his gun and the clerk behind the counter quips, "[[WhatAnIdiot So what's it like being a rocket scientist]]?"
* DramaticUnmask
** Robo removing his helmet in the first movie. "You may not like what you're going to see."
** In the second movie, a prototype of [=RoboCop=] 2 removes his face-plate and helmet... and reveals to be nothing more than a bloody, screaming skull, which then collapses.
** [=RoboCain=]'s screen-for-a-face also pulls this on his former girlfriend.
* {{Dystopia}}: Detroit's crumbling hellscapes and glittering skyscrapers represented everything that is wrong with America in TheEighties.
* EmergencyTransformation: Murphy.
* EnfantTerrible: While there are plenty of [[KidsAreCruel cruel kids]] in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Hob, the youngest member of Cain's cult, makes them look innocent in comparison. He's not above killing cops and uses his age to avoid getting gunned down by [[WouldntHurtAChild RoboCop]]. Later in the film, he almost manages to [[spoiler:buy Detroit by making a deal with the mayor. Then [=RoboCain=] shows up...]]
* EngineeredPublicConfession: "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake." This ends up [[spoiler:biting Dick Jones in the ass.]] What makes this particularly stupid on his part is that he knows ''damn well'' [=RoboCop=] is capable of recording everything he says (he even bitches out ''Boddicker'' for telling [=RoboCop=] about his involvement in the first place), but he didn't expect him to survive his ensuing fight with ED-209, the SWAT team and Boddicker's gang.
** However, the whole Jones/Boddicker/Morton subplot serves a storytelling purpose, specifically the GreyAndGrayMorality question of responsibility for Murphy's death, in a very neat way. Boddicker carries the ultimate blame as the man who did the deed, Dick Jones as Boddicker's paymaster is the BigBad behind the crimewave Murphy was responding to at the beginning of the story - but it is heavily implied if not outright stated - that Bob Morton himself carries a significant share of the responsibility by placing Murphy in the firing line in the first place (having identified him as a possible candidate for the RoboCop program and transferring him to the most dangerous precinct in the city). By having Jones order Boddicker to kill Morton, the writers essentially ensure that everyone directly responsible for Murphy's death is dead themselves by the end of the movie, without having to answer the morality question outright.
* EpicFail: The ED-209 attempts to descend a set of stairs in the OCP building, despite the fact that its feet are too big to go down the steps.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Old Man, Chairman of OCP. He does have a real name, it's just that people insist on calling him that behind his back.
* EvilGloating: Boddicker's gang loves this.
* EvillyAffable: Clarence Boddicker.
* ExactWords: In the sequel, when the criminals are cutting the corrupt cop open.
-->'''Angie''': "[[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo You said you were just gonna scare him!]]"\\
'''Cain''': "[[ColdBloodedTorture Doesn't he look scared?]]"
* ExecutiveMeddling: In-universe examples.
** Directive 4 in ''[=RoboCop=] 1'', which Dick Jones describes as his "own little contribution."
** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' has some in-world meddling with Murphy's ''brain''. OCP in the second movie saddles him with many dozens of politically correct [[RestrainingBolt software directives]]. These directives may work fine for creating corporate executives or cubicle mice, but for "rules of engagement for the one-cyborg high threat response unit in the most [[CrapSackWorld corrupt and brutal city we know]]", they were maddening. Of course, the politically correct directives in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' were a TakeThat against MoralGuardians.
* ExecutiveSuiteFight: In the climax of the film, [=RoboCop=] storms OCP's headquarters in an attempt to arrest Jones.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: After tracking down Boddicker, [=RoboCop=] gets his revenge by casually [[WindowPain throwing him through several panes of glass.]]
* FacePalm: The Old Man's response to the failed [=RoboCop=] prototypes in the 2nd movie.
* FanserviceExtra: Twice in the first movie. Apparently cops in the future have co-ed locker rooms. Later on, when [=RoboCop=] goes into a club to collect Leon, a woman is seen dancing topless.
** Used deliberately in a cut sequence from the second film, to show how Robo has come to terms with the fact that his is just a machine. While walking through the OCP police station, Robo comes across the co-ed locker room, where an unnamed female officer is showering naked. Robo stops and stares for a few moments, then continues on his way.
* FantasticDrug: NUKE in the second movie. Although in this case, the viewer is ''supposed'' to treat the made-up NUKE as being every bit as egregious as real-life heroin or PCP.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played with in first film, as a Murphy family photo is shown long after Murphy had become [=RoboCop=]. In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Murphy asks if Anne has a family, with her reminding him she has a brother but survives. However, [[spoiler:she dies in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'']].
* FingerTwitchingRevival: When [=RoboCop=] wakes up and leaves the police station.
* {{Fingore}}: Among the many mutilations inflicted on him before his death, Boddicker's crew starts out by blowing off Murphy's right hand with a shotgun.
* FiringOneHanded: All over the place, although it's justified for [=RoboCop=] since he's much stronger than a normal human and has an auto-targeting system.
* FlawExploitation: Hob uses Angie's addiction to Nuke to keep her in line after Cain's absence. Dr. Faxx uses Cain's addiction to Nuke to control him once he's revived...but not for long.
* FlippingTheBird: Implied to a degree, [=RoboCop=]'s six-inch data jack emerges from his fist and he brandishes it to a computer tech when he opposed Robo accessing files on his death and Boddicker's gang.
* GangstaStyle: One of Boddicker's mooks holds up a gas station by holding a SMG this way.
* GatlingGood: [=RoboCain=].
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The ED-209's first demonstration.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Alex Murphy is portrayed as a NiceGuy. Since that murderous robot blowing away criminals is still him...
* GoodNightSweetPrince: Painfully parodied by one of Boddicker's goons.
* {{Gorn}}: A notorious example.
* GoryDiscretionShot: More often than not the violence was shown, but several times in the second movie, we simply got strong hints as to how awful the violence being done was, such as [[spoiler:a doctor showing us Cain's agonized face after the skull holding it was sliced away]]. Used to ''great'' effect when [[spoiler:Murphy is stripped down by Cain and his goons;]] we don't see what it looks like until they're done, but we see the process involving jackhammers, sledgehammers, and their own casual view of the process ''all from Murphy's perspective.'' It is a dark inversion of his "rebirth" in the first movie, and references the visuals of that scene.
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The news broadcasts imply the ColdWar is still ongoing and South Africa is still an apartheid state.
* GroinAttack
** You're trying to take down a would-be rapist who's holding his victim hostage. He's using her as a human shield. What do you do? Shoot between the ''hostage's'' legs and neuter the guy.
** In the first movie a psychopath tries to kick [=RoboCop=] between the legs, with [[BallsOfSteel predictably self-defeating results]].
* GunsAkimbo: Subverted, as human Murphy tries to shoot up the Boddicker gang's panel truck this way and fails spectacularly.
* GunTwirling: Murphy is seen practicing spinning his service pistol a few times, a move he learned to impress his son (who saw it on a TV show). As [=RoboCop=], it becomes his signature.
** Points for safety. You can see that Murphy had removed the clip (and presumably any chambered round) before trying to practice his twirling.
* TheGunslinger: Subverted in that the human Murphy was a notably crappy shot in the first movie. About the only remotely gunslinger-like move he could pull off was the trigger-guard gun spin, and that only because he forced himself to learn it to impress his son. Robo's ImprobableAimingSkills are strictly programming (well, all except the spin).
* HandCannon: Robo, natch, as well as many of the bad guys. Murphy's gun is a Beretta 93R fully automatic pistol, modified to look even bigger and spit foot-long flames with every three-round burst. Note that the real Beretta 93R cannot fire in full-automatic; only single and three-round burst.
* HeroicBSOD: In the second movie, when Robo encounters the kid villain, he has a full BSOD with flashbacks to his son.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: [=RoboCop=] dodges several of ED-209's rockets in their first encounter.
* HollywoodAcid: The toxic waste Emil takes a bath in.
* HollywoodSilencer: When Boddicker shoots Morton, he fits a silencer first so his pistol is barely audible.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** Dick Jones and his Directive 4.
*** Since he is the "number 2 guy around here," he tries to take the one guy who could terminate him hostage. "Dick, you're fired!" takes on a whole new meaning.
** Dr. Faxx used a deadly criminal as a test subject for Robocain (he ended up acting like the criminal he used to be); then she tried to keep him in check with Nuke (may have worked if he was fully human and his body, not just his mind, actually craved it); then tried to use feminine wiles to avoid responsibility (she was the most likely OCP scapegoat anyway, as she authorized the use of Cain's brain).
* HonorBeforeReason: Oddly enough, Otomo [[spoiler: the android]] seems to adhere to this. He could have killed Robocop effortlessly several times, but the first time waits until Robo turns to face him, and the second time waits until he's on his feet again.
* HookersAndBlow: Plenty of both.
* IdiotBall: We don't see the actual decision on screen, only its consequences. Still, whoever it was who [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace decided to load a prototype law enforcement robot that the design team had to know was flaky and unreliable with live ammo for a demonstration]] in front of OCP's board of directors can not be the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
** Unless it was Donald Johnson, in which case he qualifies as a MagnificentBastard instead.
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: In the first movie, the chief of police declares:
--> "And there will be no strike! We are not plumbers! We are ''police officers!''"
* ImMelting: Emil. And very messily at that.
* ImmuneToBullets: Not the villains, but [[http://qdb.us/28294 the hero]].
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the climax of the first film, none of the criminals can hit [=RoboCop=] with their {{BFG}}s, even when they cause massive explosions.
** That kind of makes sense in context, though -- as a rule, street hoods haven't generally practiced a lot with heavy anti-materiel rifles, and thus won't be sterling marksmen with them.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Justified in that Robo's are all software. The human Murphy empties four magazines at a speeding panel truck and only manages to hit with one round. When the software craps out after Robo's run-in with Directive 4, he's right back to being unable to hit the broad side of a barn, and Lewis has to help him reprogram himself.
** Murphy was firing with two small calibre handguns at an armored car that held half a dozen criminals with much bigger weapons while being in a police car that had to keep constantly moving to dodge their fire. It's amazing he managed to hit one of them at all.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Most notably the data jack.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted with Hob, the youngest member of Cain's cult, who gets gunned down behind a truck door while trying to hide from [=RoboCain=].]]
* InfernalRetaliation: Two Splatterpunks freak out in ''3'' when they set [=RoboCop=] on fire and he just keeps coming after them.
* InferredHolocaust: At the end of the third film, a '''thermo'''-failsafe explosive is set off, which destroys the OCP building in an explosion that also consumes much of the downtown Detroit area. None of the characters remark on this (as it's the end of the film), and the viewer is supposed to be happy that Robo and his friends stopped the corporation from bulldozing Old Detroit, while ignoring that dozens (if not hundreds) of people were just murdered in a massive explosion that took out the biggest and tallest building in the city.
** Possibly mitigated by the earlier parts of the movie. The scenes of walking through the OCP building show it as half-deserted from layoffs, departures, and suicides. It's implied by the end that the building may have cleared out completely, and if the neighborhood was one that was also going to be rehabbed, it may have been emptied as well.
* InfraredXRayCamera: Robo has one of these in the first movie.
* InstantDeathBullet: Typically about as thoroughly averted as humanly possible. Murphy gets shot dozens of times by Boddicker in the first film. At the end, he puts a couple dozen bullets in Dick Jones, but Jones is killed when he gets knocked back through a window and falls around 100 stories to his death.
* ItIsDehumanizing: Murphy is referred to by OCP as "it" after his transformation.
* ItsPersonal: [=RoboCop=]'s fight with Boddicker.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes J-R]]
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: In the third film OCP is in the process of being bought out by Japanese investors who are just as ruthless as their American counterparts.
* JustAMachine: What OCP believes until Murphy proves them wrong.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Otomo's WeaponOfChoice in the third film, complete with CleanCut.
* KentBrockmanNews: The news anchors in the first film. ''Especially'' in the first segment, when talking about the police officer shot by Boddicker's gang.
* KidsAreCruel: In the second movie, [[TeenageWasteland almost all kids shown]] on screen are little monsters who enjoy violence and law-breaking. Yet it's implied that Robo's programming won't allow him to target a child.
** It may very well be Murphy's conscience, not the programing (at least before he's filled with [[RestrainingBolt stupid directives]]).
* KillSat
* KnightInShiningArmor: Kevlar/Titanium laminated armour, to be precise. With nifty purple-on-blue highlights.
* LawEnforcementInc: The Detroit police force has been privatized, [[MegaCorp which is why OCP wields such an incredible degree of control over them.]]
* LicensedGame: Many, including a CrossOver: ''RobocopVsTerminator''. The original [=DataEast=] arcade game is considered to be an exception to TheProblemWithLicensedGames.
* LockAndLoadMontage: Murphy does this a few times, including before the climactic fight with Boddicker's gang.
* LudicrousGibs: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXfh4hENKs ED-209 vs Kenny in the Boardroom]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKklmovf0Js Emil vs. HollywoodAcid.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VclFEwUGdY0 Murphy vs. giggling thugs with shotguns.]] Warning: the videos are graphic.
* LullDestruction: According to WordOfGod the creative team wanted a full 10 seconds of silence and blank screen between the moment of Murphy's death and the first flash of static marking the start of his resurrection. The executive team had other ideas.
* MadeOfPlasticine: Emil splats reeeaaal good.
* MeaningfulName: Otomo means "attendant" or "companion". This makes sense, since one of the reasons Japan wants to [[spoiler: develop robots is to care for their growing population of elderly]]. On the other hand, it could also be a StealthPun, [[spoiler: "Otomo-tan"... automaton]].
* MegaCorp: Omni Consumer Products -- OCP.
* MessianicArchetype: [[http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2010/04/paul-verhoeven-robocop-was-a-jesus-metaphor Robo's the American Jesus.]]
* MexicanStandoff
* MightyGlacier: Robocop.
* MoreDakka: The ED-209 series in general. Autocannon and anti-tank rockets on a police robot: seemingly excessive, until we get to know this future Detroit. [[hottip:*:The ED-209 was going to be marketed to the millitary after the police trial.]] In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Robo's Auto-9 relative to the standard-issue DPD service pistols.
* MotherlyScientist: Dr. Lazarus in ''Robocop 3''.
* MotorCity
* MotorcycleJousting: Alex Murphy has a joust with Cain in ''[[=RoboCop=] 2'': Murphy on a motorcycle, Cain in an armored car.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The scientific staff are all named after politicians, the cops are all named after serial killers.
* NerdGlasses: Many of OCP's staff, as well as the gas station attendant [=RoboCop=] saves from a criminal.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [=RoboCop=] is always on the receiving end of these, putting him out of commission for awhile in every movie.
* NoOSHACompliance. In general the many factories where fights occur are perilous places. In particular: the big tank of acid placed right alongside a narrow service road, no barriers, nothing.
** Also, why the ''hell'' would ED-209 be fully armed for a demo in a company board room?
* NotHimself: In the second movie, when Robo starts showing off his new Politically Correct programming:
-->'''Lewis:''' "Hit the gas, Murphy."\\
'''Robo:''' "The posted limit is 35. We should set an example, Ann. Your hair looks lovely that way."\\
'''Lewis:''' ''(frowns)'' "It's OCP, they did something to you."\\
'''Robo:''' "I'm fine. Isn't the moon wonderful tonight?"\\
'''Lewis:''' "It's still daytime."\\
'''Robo:''' "It's the thought that counts."\\
'''Lewis:''' ''(rolls her eyes)'' "Oh, Jesus, we're heading back to the station, that's all there is to it."
* NumberedSequels
* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: The first three play it straight, the others are more of a RestrainingBolt. The first film's [[spoiler:initially unknown fourth directive is a plot point.]]
* OhCrap
** Involving ED-209, which is a heavily armed MiniMecha. An OCP executive, Kenny, is asked to simulate a "typical arrest and disarming procedure" during a board meeting.
-->'''ED-209:''' "Put down your weapon. You have twenty seconds to comply."\\
'''Dick Jones:''' "I think you'd better do what he says, Mr. Kenny."\\
(Kenny drops the Desert Eagle.)"\\
'''ED-209:''' "[[{{Unwinnable}} You now have fifteen seconds to comply]]."\\
(Kenny, understandably, freaks out.)
** The final fight between Boddicker and [=RoboCop=]:
-->'''Boddicker:''' "Okay, I give up."\\
''(drops his gun)''\\
'''[=RoboCop=]:''' "[[ItsPersonal I'm not arresting you anymore.]]"
** Dick Jones' face when he's fired. [[spoiler: Then fired upon.]]
** The man who attempted to hold up the donut shop in the third movie had such reaction when the cops in the donut shop pointed their guns at him.
* OminousMultipleScreens: In OCP's board room.
* OneManArmy: Being impervious to small arms fire and wielding some incredible firepower of his own, Robocop can just walk into a drug den and gun everyone down without breaking stride.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Daniel O'Herlihy's character in the first two movies is only known as "the Old Man". Likewise, Rip Torn's character in the third movie is only referred to as "the CEO". This also extended to the various TV series--David Gardner's character in ''The Series'' and Tedde Moore's character in ''Prime Driectives'' are, respectively, referred to only as "The OCP Chairman" and "The Old Woman".
* OnlySaneMan: OCP Executive Johnson in the second movie. He's the only one who realizes that loading Robocop down with a senselessly complex command program will cripple him and he's one of two men who '''does''' see the problem with giving a mass-murdering drug lord an indestructible robot body.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Dr. Faxx. She manages to sound broadly American only a handful of times. The rest she swings between vaguely English, Irish, even German and French on a few occasions. What nationality is the actress? Australian.
* OrphanedPunchline: "I'd buy ''that'' for a dollar!" We only hear it in isolation, but the characters are familiar with the show: to them it's hilarious.
* TheOtherDarrin: Because of the costume and general similarity between [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000693/ Peter Weller]] and [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0121559/ Robert John Burke]], it isn't too noticeable, aside from the voice.
** However Robert John Burke is taller than Peter Weller. The reason nobody noticed was because the [=RoboCop=] suit worn in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was originally built for ''[=RoboCop=]'' 2. He complained that wearing it was painful after a short time.
* OutOfTheInferno: [=RoboCop=] walking out of the exploded gas station in the first movie.
* OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture
* PhonyNewscast: The film has a series of newscasts where horrible events are described during the news in an upbeat fashion. For example, when a police officer is brutally gunned down, the reporter cheers on the cop, saying how he's rooting for the officer to live.
* QuirkyMiniBossSquad: Clarence's henchmen.
* ParodyCommercial: Piles of them, throughout all of the movies.
* PietaPlagiarism: [[spoiler:Shortly before Lewis's death scene in ''[=RoboCop=] 3''.]]
* PinPullingTeeth: Clarence starts a futuristic timer grenade like this, while playing Dick's recorded message to Bob.
* PlayingAgainstType: Prior to playing Dick Jones, Ronny Cox played nice guys. However, Dick Jones also set up a new type for him, as proven by [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]] and [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Vilos Cohaagen]]. Kurtwood Smith was also known for slightly more refined and elegant characters (while still bad guys) and not the unsophisticated thug Boddicker was.
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The multitudinous additional directives they added to [=RoboCop=] in the second movie. [[hottip:*:DIRECTIVE 233: Restrain hostile feelings. - DIRECTIVE 234: Promote positive attitude. - DIRECTIVE 235: Suppress aggressiveness. - DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values. - DIRECTIVE 238: Avoid destructive behavior. - DIRECTIVE 239: Be accessible. - DIRECTIVE 240: Participate in group activities. - DIRECTIVE 241: Avoid interpersonal conflicts. - DIRECTIVE 242: Avoid premature value judgments. - DIRECTIVE 243: Pool opinions before expressing yourself. - DIRECTIVE 244: Discourage feelings of negativity and hostility. - DIRECTIVE 245: If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't talk. - DIRECTIVE 246: Don't rush traffic lights. - DIRECTIVE 247: Don't run through puddles and splash pedestrians or other cars. - DIRECTIVE 248: Don't say that you are always prompt when you are not. - DIRECTIVE 249: Don't be oversensitive to the hostility and negativity of others. - DIRECTIVE 250: Don't walk across a ballroom floor swinging your arms. - DIRECTIVE 254: Encourage awareness. - DIRECTIVE 256: Discourage harsh language. - DIRECTIVE 258: Commend sincere efforts. - DIRECTIVE 261: Talk things out. - DIRECTIVE 262: [[TakeThat Avoid Orion meetings]]. - DIRECTIVE 266: Smile. - DIRECTIVE 267: Keep an open mind. - DIRECTIVE 268: Encourage participation. - DIRECTIVE 273: Avoid stereotyping. - DIRECTIVE 278: Seek non-violent solutions.]]
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
** "Your move, creep!" [[hottip:*:Actually a post-ass kicking one liner]]
** "Dead or alive, you're coming with me!"
** "Cain, let's step outside!"
* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Everything from the police and hospitals to space exploration has been privatized, most of it being run by a MegaCorp.
* PsychoForHire: In the third movie, the Rehabs are hiring AxCrazy street punks to the dirty work for them.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The OCP banners are red with a white circle, black company logo inside it. Clarence Boddicker wears glasses resembling those worn by Heinrich Himmler -- a deliberate move according to {{Word of God}}. The company's private army wear totalitarian longcoats and caps.
** The whole thing is taken further with the Rehab troops in the third film.
* RailingKill: Several when [=RoboCop=] shoots up Boddicker's drug lab.
* ReadingYourRights
** First film. [=RoboCop=] catches Boddicker, and reads him his rights while repeatedly [[WindowPain tossing him through windows]]. In the commentary, the crew confess that they were terrified that real-world cops would react badly to that scene. They did a test screening and it was a roaring success. Boddicker being an AssholeVictim probably helped.
** In the second film, [=RoboCop=] reads the Miranda warning to a dead body, and is astonished when Lewis points it out. He was reading him his [[StealthPun last rights]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Old Man in the first movie, just about the only OCP bigwig with [[EvenEvilHasStandards any sort of moral standard]], especially if compared to young upstarts. In the sequels, he inexplicably becomes a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive typical corporate douchebag]].
* RecklessGunUsage: All over the place. It's not surprising that the ED-209 malfunctioned and killed an unarmed civilian if it's built by a corporation that's stupid enough to a) do a demonstration with its cannons fully loaded and b) give a loaded handgun to a guy who doesn't know how to use it, who then throws it on the floor.
* RefugeInAudacity: The extreme violence and political satire in the film. It's established early on when a hapless junior exec is gunned down by a poorly programmed ED-209 and everyone involved has a sort of "[[FacePalm Not again]]" attitude about what happened.
* RestrainingBolt
** First movie: [=RoboCop=]'s classified 4th directive.
** Second movie: [=RoboCop=]'s politically-correct directives. Cain's addiction to NUKE.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Otomo in the third film. In the first, people are lead to believe Robocop is completely robotic.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Main plot of the first movie.
* RoboCam: Numerous scenes are shown from [=RoboCop=]'s POV, complete with scanlines, subtle pixelation, HUD messages and when Robo is hurt, interference. The HUD is justified, since [=RoboCop=] is technically still human and would need some information displayed to help him make decisions. Mecha-Cain appears to run on an early version of [=MacOS=], complete with skull logo in the upper left.
* RuleOfCool: Quite a lot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes S-Z]]
* SaveTheDayTurnAway: The second film features a corporately enforced example.
* ScaleModelDestruction: The second movie combines a massive model of New Detroit and a drug kingpin Robocop ForMassiveDamage.
* TheScapegoat: After the battle royale at the end of the second movie, the Old Man is well-aware that OCP is going to be on the hook for all the carnage. To save the company, Johnson suggests scapegoating [[spoiler:Faxx]] and making it appear they had been kept completely out of the loop on the project.
* ShootingSuperman: [=RoboCop=] gets this a ''lot.'' The bad guys eventually wise up in the first film and take him on with anti-tank rifles, but that doesn't stop every other dumb crook in the franchise from unloading their tiny pistols at him.
* ShowWithinAShow
** ''I'd Buy That For a Dollar'' [[hottip:*:The show is actually named 'It's not My Problem', the line is merely the show's catchphrase]]
** ''Media Break'' [[hottip:*:It sure has.]]
** ''T.J. Lazer''
* ShownTheirWork
** Many setting details are correct despite the films being shot elsewhere. The first was filmed in Dallas, the second was filmed in Houston, and the third was filmed in Atlanta.
*** The DPD precinct system -- it is organised by geography not the usual precinct numbers.
*** The local hospitals. There really is a Henry Ford Hospital that's a Level 1 trauma center.
*** The neighborhoods: "Cadillac Heights" from the third movie is apparently somewhere in the old Black Bottom, across Woodward from the university district and just south of Hamtramck.
** The trauma team that works on Murphy as he dies is a real trauma team, and their dialog was mostly ad-libbed. In the commentary, the writers say they wished they could have come up with a line like "Let's shock a flat line and quit."
* SoftGlass: The first movie has plenty of things being thrown through glass, including Robo himself.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Lewis realizes that [=RoboCop=] is Alex Murphy when she sees him performing the gun-spin move he learned from the T.J. Lazer television show during a demonstration at the precinct's shooting range.
* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: How Lewis and Robocop's primary technician promptly realize something is very wrong after Robocop is rebuilt in the second film; Robocop says he's "touched" remarks on it being "a beautiful day" and he calls the captain by his first name; all things Murphy would never do.
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler: Anne Lewis]] in ''[=RoboCop=] 3''.
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In the first movie, the CEO of Omni Consumer Products is merely an amoral old man who really doesn't do anything outright villainous, but shows little empathy for others. In the sequel, he's a flat-out CorruptCorporateExecutive.
* {{Superhero}}: [=RoboCop=] is a superhero in all [[NotUsingTheZWord but name]]. He can get up moments after a fifteen-storey fall when his organics should be shmooshed.
* SuperCop: Chances are, if you mention the phrase to anyone, and they know of [=RoboCop=], he's the first thing that they'll think of.
** In fact, [=RoboCop=] is called exactly that in the first film, when he first shows off his computer-enhanced aiming skills at the firing range.
* SuperPrototype: As a cyborg police officer, Murphy is the first attempt and the only success.
* SuperToughness: [=RoboCop=]
* TakeThat: The [[KillSat SDI Defense Satellite]] misfiring in the first movie. The incident killed two former presidents. One is understandable but two seems like carelessness. At the time the movie was filmed, there were two former american presidents living in California where the fictional laser struck. RonaldReagan and RichardNixon.
* ThatManIsDead: In a more complex way, [=RoboCop=] tells Murphy's wife that Murphy is dead and they gave [=RoboCop=] Murphy's face as a way of honoring the fallen officer. Sadly, we know he's still in there somewhere because he lies to his wife to order to let her go. He may not be dead, but he is no longer her husband.
* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: The president is the OnlySaneMan at OCP.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill
** Kenney's death at the opening of ''[=RoboCop=]''. Poor guy was more lead than flesh by the time they shut ED-209 down.
*** Especially in the Director's cut, where ED continually blasts Kenney's lifeless corpse as it lies on the table.
** Murphy's death.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: The first film ends with RoboCop telling "The Old Man" his name is Murphy. By the end of the third film, he gets this way with what's left of OCP.
-->'''RoboCop''': My friends call me Murphy. You call me RoboCop.
* ThisIsWhatTheBuildingWillLookLike: Delta City.
* TinMan: In the second movie, there's a scene where Robo has to convince Mrs. Murphy that he is just a machine, and has none of her husband's memories. However, saying this to her is too much for him: he can't even make eye contact upon telling her, "I don't know you".
* TooDumbToLive: Faxx with idea of taking [[AxCrazy death row inmates]] and giving them a cyborg body. At least the chief cyborg engineer called her out on that one. Alas she managed to convince the Old Man to allow her access to Cain.
* TrashcanBonfire: In the street of Detroit as [=RoboCop=] approaches Cain's drug factory.
* TrenchCoatWarfare: One of the criminals in the first film pulls an assault rifle out of his coat before holding up a convenience store. When [=RoboCop=] shows up, he bends the barrel in half.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: A good chunk of which they got right [[MotorCity at least as far as the setting was concerned:]]
** Bankrupt industries.
** The criminally corrupt city government and the flat broke police department.
** The rampant Detroit crime rate, though thankfully not the street scenes out of Hieronymus Bosch.
** The gas-guzzling cars.
** The rise of CD's as the norm of visual media, as shown in Bob Morton's chilling death scene.
** The PDA/GPS that Jones and Boddicker use to track Robo's movements through the city. It even looks like a Palm V-series.
** Rampagingly sensationalistic "news entertainment".
** Increasing privatization in "hospitals, prisons, space exploration".
* TechMarchesOn: Played straight and averted. The DPD Records Department apparently still stores everything on reel-to-reel tape, and the one human-usable computer not sitting in a rack features a painfully slow and kludgy GUI. Over at OCP, we have the giant wall o' monitors in the board room, all of which are [=CRTs=]; the media center sports a VHS player. On the other hand, as shown by the playing of Dick's final taunts to Rob as he died, [=CDs=] (or similarly designed [=DVDs=]) do seem to have become the norm of visual media.
* TVHeadRobot: Cain
* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: One of the greatest of debates, ''RobocopVsTerminator'' -- who will win? An excellent graphic novel and a video game. [[spoiler: [=RoboCop=] wins, but only because of a bizarre, but logical, time travel plot involving no less than three timeline alterations.]]
* UnorthodoxHolstering: Murphy's cool spinning trick, which he later refines as [=RoboCop=] (he can store his pistol in his leg armor).
* UnusualUserInterface: [=RoboCop=]'s computer input jack that's built into his glove. Also see RoboCam.
* UsedFuture: Future!Detroit is (even more) crime-ridden, dirty, polluted and desolate.
* WasOnceAMan
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Murphy beats up Boddicker almost to the point of death, but when Boddicker thinks he's going to kill him, he remembers his directives and arrests him instead.
* WeCanRebuildHim: Murphy's return from ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill. Also in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' after Cain's gang is done with him.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: OCP regards [=RoboCop=] as a piece of equipment that they own. Typical is Holzgang's utter disregard for [=RoboCop=]'s agony after he's been torn apart by Cain's gang. "Nah, it's just the back-up generator making him twitch."
* WeaksauceWeakness: ED-209's is ''stairs,'' with far too broad legs to manage the narrow and steep steps. Of course, the entire design of the ED-209 was basically a lot of show and little fine tuning for both versatility and AI programming.
-->'''Dick Jones''': I had a guaranteed military sale with ED-209. Renovation program. Spare parts for 25 years. Who cares if it worked or not?
* WelcomeToHell: Murphy gets this as a welcome to the precinct.
* WindowPain: See ExtremeMeleeRevenge.
* YouAreTooLate: When Lewis arrives just after Murphy has been killed.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: As [=RoboCop=], Murphy visits his old home and discovers his family no longer lives there, and it's planned to be turned into a model housing development.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: "Can you fly, Bobby boy?"
* {{Zeerust}} -- the [[ProductPlacement Ford Taurus wagons]] used as police cars looked amazingly futuristic in 1987. Now, a lot less so.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The television shows]]
* AlternateContinuity: The series splits into two (or three, depending on your view) continuities after the second film. The 1994 series and ''Prime Directives'' both ignore the events of the third film in favor of keeping OCP and the threat of bulldozing Old Detroit, although it's still unclear if the two series are meant to be tied into the same continuity (considering that one was a syndicated children's show and the other a violent homage to the original).
* AnimatedAdaptation: What else does one do with R-rated movies?
* BoardToDeath: Damian Lowe in ''Prime Directives'' spearheads the project for developing a fully-functional A.I., called SAINT. After sending a team after [=RoboCop=] after the Old Woman had forbidden it, Damian gets fired and uses SAINT to kill the Old Woman and the Board.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Similar to its predecessors, the 1994 TV series (and ''Prime Directives'') use Canadian locations as a stand-in for Detroit.
* ClearMyName: One epsiode of ''The Series'' and most of ''Prime Driectives'' find Robo having to do this.
* ConsummateLiar: The mayor turns out to be so experienced in politics that ''anything'' he says, no matter how blatantly true or false it is, cannot be confirmed to be true or false under lie detector analysis. Even claiming to be AbrahamLincoln registers as having a 50% chance of being true, when he's subjected to a lie detector ''functionally identical to [=RoboCop=]'s''.
** In the '94 series episode "Robo Vs. Commander Cash", Robo has trouble arresting Rex Jones (an OCP researcher who's disguised as the titular cartoon character) because he claims that Robo "doesn't fight other superheroes" due to "cartoon law". Due to his overriding directives, Robo identifies Jones' statements as factual (and he turns out to be right).
* ContinuityNod: In the first movie, [=RoboCop=] ends up bodily throwing people out of his way when trying to access the department archive computers for information. In the show, whenever he turns up in that part of the station, everyone hurriedly gets out of his way.
* CrapsackWorld: What Detroit has turned into in the ''Prime Directives'' series. Robo is practically out of date, crime and poverty is worse than ever, anarchists are storming the OCP building and everyone is a CorruptCorporateExecutive.
* DeadpanSnarker: ''Alpha Commando'' turned Murphy into one.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The end of the ''Prime Directives'' series. Detroit is now stuck in the dark age, and several people have died to stop the corrupted S.A.I.N.T. computer program from activating and destroying the city (including Robo's former partner), but everyone's favorite cyborg policeman does get to make up for lost time with his son and continue in his role as a protector, free of his overriding directives.
* EverythingsFunkierWithDisco: In one episode of the '94 series, Diana is corrupted by a virus that causes her to transform herself and her workstation into a full Disco club.
* ExactWords: In one episode, an escaping villain has his car computer guide him out of the city, avoiding all traffic jams and tollbooths. Diana has the computer guide him to a police roadblock.
-->'''Diana:''' "This service has been brought to you by... [=RoboCop=]! ''Sucker!''"
* FamilyFriendlyFirearms
* {{Frame-up}}: See "Clear My Name".
* {{Getting Crap Past the Radar}}: At least with ''[=RoboCop=]: Alpha Commando''. It had a few BodyHorror moments, such as the scene in "Doppleganger" where the clones melt. Also, in "H-2-Uh-Oh", two of the characters had a literal moment of scenery nudity (namely because of a chemical that turned them into living puddles, and obviously their clothes can't be worn by living puddles). And this was all in what was supposed to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids a kids program]]!
* {{Hologram}}/VirtualGhost: OCP secretary Diana, whose memory was uploaded to the OCP supercomputer after her death in the pilot episode.
* HyperspaceArsenal: ''Alpha Commando'' makes [=RoboCop=] look a lot like InspectorGadget.
** The '94 series does this as well: aside from extra ammunition (as referred to in the episode "Provision 22"), Robo carries several types of both non-lethal and lethal ordinance (mines, airbags), coolant and other devices/gadgets that would be used in any given episode, all stored in his left leg.
* IHaveYourWife: A villain kidnaps Robo's wife from his old life. The item he is to steal is a ray gun that causes heart attacks, called the Heartbreaker. Initially, his built-in RestrainingBolt stops him, using ObstructiveCodeOfConduct three, "uphold the law". Of course, as soon as Robo pictures his wife in danger, directive two -- "protect the innocent" -- overrides this.
* LawEnforcementInc: Inverted; in the 1994 series, Robo often works ''against'' his employers to protect average citizens (including his wife and son).
* LighterAndSofter: Following up on ''[=RoboCop=] 3'', the '94 series was dulled down to appear to family audiences (and, indeed, it was shown in syndication in Canada on weekends at pre-watershed timeslots). [=RoboCop=] didn't kill (he used gadgets to incapacitate them), the humor was dulled down and the plots became cartoonish.
* LivingLieDetector: Robo gains the ability to discern whether a person is lying or not through their vocal inflections. Unfortunately it is not infallable -- see ConsummateLiar.
* MagicCountdown: The SciFi Channel once ran a marathon of the series with a humorous voiceover. One episode had a bomb set for five minutes. The running commentary points out that it takes 7:04 for the bomb to eventually be shut off.
* MeaningfulName: Recurring villain Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo. Or, as he appears in personnel files: Mallardo, Cray Z., Dr. He's a MadScientist.
* MindControlDevice: One episode of the live-action series has a formula that renders people vulnerable to mind control if the formula is mixed with a simple calcium base (i.e. milk). It's added to a breakfast cereal.
* NineOutOfTenDoctorsAgree: In ''[=RoboCop=] The Series'', nine out of ten doctors employed by a MegaCorp recommend a drug produced by the very same company.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Averted, when Robo is on the run after being accused of murder, since the bullet in question could only have come from his one-of-a-kind gun, coded to his grip, and the targeting system used to aim the shot would be the one from his helmet. Later when Robo is critically damaged, and the kid sidekick shows him his prototype circuit board, letting him use it to make repairs. [[spoiler:Then the scientist who designs the board realizes the prototypes of Murphy's ''gun'' and ''helmet'' are out there...]]
* ProjectedMan: Diana, also a brain-in-a-box connected to a MagicalComputer.
* RuleNumberOne: Happens to Murphy's former partner in the '94 series.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Commander Cash'' from [[RecycledTheSeries the series]].
* ThereWasADoor: Used in the opening credits of the 1994 television series.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Inverted in ''Alpha Commando'' - Diana almost always calls Robocop "Murphy", and only once refers to him as "Robocop."
* TimeBomb: An episode of ''[=RoboCop=]: The Series'' involved Robo having to dispose a nuclear bomb in the OCP building. To defuse it, he had to align two triangle-shaped switches into an hourglass. This is accomplished with (you guessed it) one second to spare.
* TitleTheAdaptation
* TheWallsAreClosingIn: [=RoboCop=] once ended up in a trash compactor in one episode of the '94 TV series. [[YouFailPhysicsForever When the air pressure reached 2000 PSI]], a flashback gave him inspiration, [[BackFromTheBrink allowing him to push back the walls]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: None of the characters from the films (besides Murphy/Robo himself) make the jump to the live-action shows, and their absence is never commented upon.
* XMeetsY: ''[=RoboCop=]: Alpha Commando'' is ''[=RoboCop=]'' meets ''InspectorGadget'' in both premise ([=RoboCop=] going around the world, fighting an international criminal organization) and literally (Robo having a lot more gadgets built into him than normal, including some nonsensical ones for a cyborg designed to enforce the law to have).
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Inverted. When [=RoboCop=] is critically damaged in the pilot episode of the '94 series, OCP refuses to pay his massive repair bill -- until his partner mentions that he has evidence against Cray Mallardo (who the CEO has serious issues with) in his memory banks. Upon realizing that [=RoboCop=] is still useful, the CEO authorizes [=RoboCop=]'s repairs.
[[/folder]]
----
->''"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."''
'''''[=RoboCop=]''''' (1987) is a SciFi / CyberPunk film set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in a CrapsackWorld version of {{Detroit}}, where the [[LawEnforcementInc police force has been privatized]] and handed over to [[MegaCorp Omni Consumer Products]] (OCP). Officer Alex Murphy (PeterWeller) is trailing a vicious criminal gang led by Clarence Boddicker when he is separated from his partner, Anne Lewis. Boddicker (KurtwoodSmith) and his cronies overwhelm Murphy, then take delight in [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill unloading their]] [[SawedOffShotgun shotguns]] [[LudicrousGibs into him]].
After Murphy is pronounced dead, OCP takes his remains and effectively resurrects him as the NighInvulnerable cyborg police officer [=RoboCop=]. His mind is [[LaserGuidedAmnesia supposedly wiped]], but signs indicate that the wipe job wasn't perfect. When Murphy ''does'' start looking for revenge against his killers, he discovers that top OCP executive Dick Jones is connected to Boddicker -- and that Jones has meddled with Murphy's programming to ensure his own survival.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, ''[=RoboCop=]'' is a gritty, ultra-violent, [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] film which features a great deal of social commentary and political satire on such subjects as capitalism, privatization, the environment and public apathy. The film works as pure summer entertainment as well, with taut action sequences, impressive production design, and memorable characters. Its smash success spawned a whole series of sequels and spin-offs while providing a huge shot in the arm for the SuperHero film genre that the embaressing failure of ''Superman IV'' almost sunk in the same year.
The first sequel, ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' (1990), was even [[DarkerAndEdgier more violent and edgier]] than the first, going so far as to include a child as one of the primary villains. The plot involves the spread of a new drug called NUKE, considered ''the'' most addictive narcotic in history, as the police department is on strike. [=RoboCop=] struggles to stem the flow by going after Cain, a drug kingpin with a messiah complex.
Meanwhile, OCP has failed to replicate their success creating the first [=RoboCop=]. After several failed attempts, an unscrupulous executive in OCP hypothesizes that the mind of a criminal with a strong desire for power and immortality could survive the procedure. When [=RoboCop=] finally takes Cain down, OCP immediately sticks Cain's brain in "[=RoboCop=] 2" and counts on his addiction to NUKE as a RestrainingBolt. (You get no points on guessing how long he stays loyal.) Now [=RoboCop=] must face his EvilCounterpart -- who is far more heavily armed than himself.
Relying too heavily on raw violence and shock value while having less of the satirical humor that defined its predecessor, the sequel was not as popular as the original film. FrankMiller wrote the original screenplay; although the script was heavily altered to fit a movie format, his influence in the themes of the film can be identified, including scenes in which a focus group attempts to make [=RoboCop=] more family-friendly (rendering him unable to do his job). Miller later turned his original vision of the film into a comic book series (''Frank Miller's [=RoboCop=]'').
''[=RoboCop=] 3'' substituted the adult violence for something more tame, since the film was rated PG-13. The third film has OCP working to finish what they've been trying to do in the first two movies -- tear down Detroit, a city they deem as "beyond saving", and rebuild it as Delta City. As usual, it comes down to Murphy vs. OCP. [=RoboCop=] (now played by Robert John Burke) finds himself working to keep OCP from forcibly removing citizens to make way for "a better Detroit", and along the way, he [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot gets a jetpack and fights robot ninjas]]. Too mild in the action and edging into kiddie-film territory, this film bombed both financially and critically.
Despite the very adult material, the character of ''[=RoboCop=]'' has the general makings of a classic SuperheroOrigin story, and as such, the character has appeared in at least four different incarnations on TV. In all of them, to one degree or another, the ultraviolence and corporate/political satire is stripped away in favor of superheroics and corny humor:
* ''Robocop: The Animated Series'': AnimatedAdaptation, 1988. Like the above. Also introduced a [[MerchandiseDriven toyetic]] group of [[SideKick sidekicks]] called the Ultra Police. At least some of the stories were good.
* ''Robocop: The Series'': Live action, 1994. Gave Robo a holographic woman partner, a kid sidekick, and a variety of gadgets. On the other hand, it was occasionally hysterical. "I can't believe it! He's a Milken Scholar!"
* ''Robocop: Alpha Commando'': Animated, 1998. Which was less than well received. Filled the world with smartass AIs.
* ''RobocopPrimeDirectives'': Live-Action, Miniseries, 2000. Focused more on the franchise's dark and satirical elements as opposed to the more family friendly 1994 series. Received an ambivalent response.
A {{Continuity Reboot}} is set for release in 2013, directed by José Padilha. The movie will star [[TheKilling Joel Kinnaman]] as Alex Murphy with supporting roles played by SamuelLJackson, HughLaurie, and GaryOldman. A [[ViralMarketing mock website for the company]], now called [[http://www.omnicorp.com/ OmniCorp]] has been revealed.
The title character's design was loosely based on the {{Toku}} MetalHeroes series, particularly Space Sheriff Gavan, which Paul Verhoven apparently enjoyed watching on his hotel room TV set while visiting Japan.
One more thing: there was also a series of videogames produced for home consoles and the arcade, mostly adhering to what is now referred to as the "run and gun" format. [[hottip:*:The ZXSpectrum version is recognised as one of the most successful -- and NintendoHard -- games on that system.]] In addition to the [=RoboCop=]-only games, there was also a crossover game with another famous film franchise: ''[=RoboCop=] versus TheTerminator''.
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!!The film series provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Tropes A-I]]
* AbandonedWarehouse: The site of the first confrontation between Murphy and Boddicker's gang [[spoiler: and the last one]].
* ActionGirl: Lewis, although she's a FauxActionGirl for the first part of the movie.
* ActorAllusion: Inverted in the second movie - Belinda Bauer stars as psychologist Dr. Faxx, and later went on to become a qualified psychologist herself.
* AIIsACrapshoot: ED-209; not because they're evil, but because they're very, very dumb. Subverted with [=RoboCop=] himself; he doesn't rebel against OCP because he's a cyborg, but because he regains his human memories.
* AllCrimesAreEqual: ED-209 advanced dangerously on [=RoboCop=] for being illegally parked on private property at the end of the first film. ([[spoiler:Not that it worked out that well for him on this occasion.]])
* AndShowItToYou: ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' -- Robo does this to Cain. Instead of the heart, Robo uses the brain. Presumably, we're talking wi-fi here.
* AntagonistTitle: ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' is technically one, as Cain is turned into a cyborg called [=RoboCop=] 2 by the OCP.
* AnArmAndALeg: All over the place, especially Murphy's gruesome death.
* ArtificialGravity: Played for laughs. The gravity on the space station (which is an [[KillSat orbital defense platform]] instead of the peaceful use of the ISS today) malfunctions when the President visits.
* ArmorIsUseless: Averted and also played straight throughout all three films.
** In the first movie the standard issue body armor of the police provides minimal protection and Alex was deliberately stripped of the armor before Boddicker's group slaughtered him. Robocop's titanium/kevlar armor seems more than adequate for protection against small arms fire and gas explosions, but once [[DentedIron the armor is dented]] by the ED-209 heavy weapons he is slightly more vulnerable when the police are turned on him.
** In the second movie Robocop is fired at with varying degrees of man portable weaponry including a rocket launcher or two and he still keeps on going. However a .50 caliber M2 is enough to take his hand off and a jackhammer is sufficient to disassemble him (eventually).
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Bob Morton]] in the first movie.
* ATeamFiring
** All those assault cannons in the first movie's climax, and [=RoboCop=] doesn't take a ''single hit''. In general, Robo takes a heck of a lot of hits to the chest and none to that few inches of face, though there's at least one scene where he shields his face with an arm.
** Averted throughout the movie by other enemies, though. The confrontation with ED-209 and the subsequent arrival of the SWAT teams and police see [=RoboCop=] barely survive after being targeted mercilessly with assault cannons, machine guns, shotguns and a couple of rockets.
* AttackDrone: ED-209.
* AttemptedRape: One of the first crime victims rescued by Murphy after his transformation into [=RoboCop=] is a DistressedDamsel being threatened by two men. He disables the first with a GroinAttack.
* BackFromTheDead: Murphy; Cain.
* BarrierBustingBlow: [=RoboCop=] punches through a wall to grab Boddicker.
** In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Robo politely knocks on the (armoured) drug kitchen door. When the guard comes to check the viewport, Robo's fist comes through to wallop him in the solar plexus.
* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults: Bob Mortin insults his boss in the bathroom [[RightBehindMe only to discover he's been listening in the cubicle all along.]]
* BetterThanNew: After Murphy is pronounced dead, OCP takes his remains and resurrects him using cybernetic[=/=]robotic technology into the NighInvulnerable [=RoboCop=], though he'll never be human again.
* {{BFG}}: Boddicker and crew eventually are supplied with the Cobra Assault Cannon. The props were built from Barrett Model 82 .50 caliber rifles, and they're quite explosive. They use the Cobra against [=RoboCop=] in the first movie, and Robo uses one himself in ''[=RoboCop=] 2''. In the third movie, [=RoboCop=] got arm mounted weapon attachments which combined a machine gun, a flamethrower and even a grenade launcher.
* BigBad: Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones in ''[=RoboCop=]'', Cain in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', [=McDagget=] in ''[=RoboCop=] 3.''
* BigBadDuumvirate: Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones.
* BigDamnHeroes: The climax of ''[=RoboCop=] 3'', when the citizens resistance is about to be overwhelmed against the mercenaries until [=RoboCop=] comes screaming out the sky with his jetpack on to provide air support.
* BlackComedy: The [[KentBrockmanNews newscasts]].
** Bobby wasn't necessarily killed. We see him get shot in the legs and thrown onto the windshield of a Ford Taurus, but people have survived worse injuries in RealLife.
* BloodyHilarious
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Robo in the second film when he stops some kids from playing with an open fire hydrant. He attempts to dispatch some old adages of homespun wisdom, but botches several of the sayings.
* BodyHorror
** A plot point in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' involves the failed attempts to build a NewAndImproved cyborg. The minds used would be so horrified by what they had become that they would commit suicide in hilarious ways.
** The first time Robo takes his helmet off, he says to his partner: "You may not like what you are about to see." Murphy's face is the only visible organic part of him, and from the looks of his head, has been ''grafted'' onto a completely synthetic skull.
** [=RoboCop=] ends up in a pile of pieces after his first, failed attempt to get Cain.
** Boddicker's goon Emil drives through an industrial-strength tank of [[HollywoodAcid acidic toxic waste]]. Unfortunately for Emil, ''[[NauseaFuel he survives]]'' long enough to get splattered.
** And, of course, Murphy getting shredded apart by shells and bullets in the first part of the first film.
* BoomHeadshot: Murphy dies after getting shot in the head (which, after getting several of his limbs blown off and shot multiple times, is almost a MercyKill).
* {{Bowdlerized}}: The TV edit used for a ABC Sunday Night Movie in the early 90s cut half the movie and overdubbed the rest: "Ladies, leave!" and "You finked on the wrong guy."
** The Mexican Spanish dub has a minor one: When in the news break talk about a war between Mexico and the U.S., the Mexican dub replaces the dialogue with about a war in the Middle East instead. (Oddly, the original dialogue was uncensored in the subbed version). [[MexicanAmericanWar It's very obvious why they changed that line.]]
* BottomlessMagazines: Nobody in this movie ever seems to reload their guns, even [=RoboCop=] and his machine pistol.[[hottip:*:Murphy actually reloads the Auto-9 a grand total of one time in all three movies, in what is, hilariously, the scene in which he probably fires it the ''least.'']]
* BrainInAJar: Cain, at least temporarily, while they're preparing his robot body. He, though, still has his [[EyeScream Eyes]] attached to his brain. As a result, he sees his own face that's been cut off of his body, with the surgeon casually holding it like a coffee cup. All of these are just trope filled giving examples of BodyHorror.
* BrokenFaceplate: [=RoboCop=]'s visor gets smashed open by ED-209, allowing the audience to see the fear and surprise on his face during a close-up.
* BuddyCopShow: Not a show, precisely, but the Murphy & Lewis dynamic held through all three movies. And unlike most BuddyCopShow situations, they were good buddies from the start, rather than rubbing each other the wrong way.
* CallBack: [=McDagget's=] death at the end of the third movie is actually quite similar to Bob Morton's in the first -- they're both wounded in the legs, left desperately crawling towards an active explosive device and trying to disarm, and ultimately failing.
* CaliforniaDoubling: None of the films have been shot in Detroit.
** Most of the first movie was shot in [[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' was shot in [[GreaterHouston Houston]].
** ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was shot in {{Atlanta}}, using many of the buildings that would soon be torn down to make room for the facilities for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
* CameBackStrong: Alex Murphy is killed in action and later reconstructed as an implacable crime-fighting machine.
* TheCameo: In ''Robocop 2'', Frank Miller plays a chemist named...[[TheDanza Frank]]
* CaptainObvious: Lampshaded in the 3rd movie.
-->'''Random Officer:''' "Hey, that's a battered yellow van!"\\
'''Lewis:''' "No shit, Sherlock!"
* CarChase: Robo chasing Daggett in a [[FlashedBadgeHijack borrowed]] pimpmobile in ''3''.
* CarFu
** Emil should have known not to play CarFu around vats of [[HollywoodAcid industrial chemicals]]. After getting horribly disfigured by the stuff, he's finished off by getting run over himself and bursts into noxious slime.
** In the second movie, when Lois steals an armored car and rams Cain into a wall.
* CharacterTics: Murphy had several that carried over into his cyborg persona. For example, he learned how to spin his pistol to impersonate ''T.J. Lazer'', the hero of his son's favourite show. Upon remembering his human life his deadpan sense of humor returns.
* CharacterTitle
* ChekhovsGun
** The unknown 4th Directive in the first movie, along with [=RoboCop=]'s computer jack that takes on the form of a spike emerging from his fist which he uses to [[spoiler:dispatch Boddicker]].
** The third film had [=RoboCop=]'s jetpack, stolen by the resistance from a warehouse group simply because it looked expensive. Later explained exactly what it was by Dr. Lazarus. As well as the little kid with a portable hacking computer. Directive 4 rears its head again, too... until the rebels delete it.
* ChickenWalker: The ED-209, which proves to be its Achilles Heel.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: [=RoboCop=] in the second movie, after he's saddled with a couple hundred politically-correct directives.
* ClusterFBomb: The convenience store robber, upon [=RoboCop=]'s entrance: "Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me!"
* TheCommandments: [=RoboCop=]'s four directives.
* ContinuityNod
** The "I'd Buy That for a Dollar!" guy makes a cameo in the third film.
** In the second film, Murphy brings one of the Cobra Rifles used on him from the first to his confrontation with [=RoboCain=], though it does not cause much damage.
* CoolGun: [=RoboCop=]'s heavily modified Beretta 93R, referred to as the "Auto-9".
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: Commander Cash, from the TV show.
** Robo himself has a few OCP logos on him, along with an OCP-001 serial number. Plus, whenever he gets smashed up it's OCP's money that pays for the rebuild (or not).
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Practically every member of OCP, but notably Johnson (who appears in all three films). In the first film, he's an ambiguous (but generally moral) employee who advises Bob Morton and gives Murphy a "thumbs-up" sign at the end. In the second he's head of the Robocop project and still a generally decent guy, but is willing to throw the far more amoral Dr. Faxx under the bus and participate in forging evidence to do just that. By the third, he's transformed into an unlikable douchebag who threatens to cut Sergeant Reed's pension if he doesn't comply with OCP's order to gentrify the Cadillac Heights district. He also [[KarmaHoudini survives the film and doesn't lose his job]] (unlike the CEO, who's fired at the end).
-->'''Johnson:''' Of course, there won't be any trouble from the dead ones.\\
'''The Old Man:''' They'll have relatives. They ''always do''.
** Possibly subverted in the third movie. [[spoiler:It's implied that Kanemitsu is being lied to about what's really going on in Detroit by both the remnants of OCP and The head of Rehabs. He bows his head to [=RoboCop=] at the end of the film]].
* CrapsackWorld
** Detroit. Full of crime and {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. ItGotWorse when the cops went on strike in the first film, and by the time of the third film it's even ''worse'', with people in danger of having wrecking balls tear through their house ''while they're still living there.''
** And it's not just limited to Detroit, either. In the first film, an orbiting defense satellite misfires and causes thousands of acres of forest to burn in California, killing several when it also sweeps through some homes, as well as two former US Presidents. In the second film, ED-209s are deployed in five major cities despite its continuing malfunctions; and a nuclear power plant in the Amazon goes critical, irradiating the entire rainforest.
** Also from the second film, it seems that skin cancer due the lack of ozone layer is a pretty common problem. And, of course, the chemicals you can buy to protect you from that, are also highly carcinogenic!
* CrucifiedHeroShot: Murphy's death. The [=RoboCop=] = cyborg!Jesus metaphor is extended throughout the film (see: getting pierced by a spear, walking on water).
* CurbStompBattle: [=RoboCop=] versus the ED-209 near the end of the first film. Especially satisfying because their earlier fight wasn't concluded.
* CursedWithAwesome: Being mostly immortal and mostly invulnerable comes with a heavy price.
* {{Cyberpunk}}
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Averted. At first OCP believes Murphy no longer retains any traces of his humanity, but it turns out he does as he regains his memories of his old self.
* DaChief: Sergeant Reed.
* DeadpanSnarker: The hostage negotiator in the first film.
-->'''Miller:''' "How about cruise control? Does it come with cruise control?"\\
'''Negotiatior:''' "Hey, no problem, Miller. You let the Mayor go, we'll even throw in a Blaupunkt."
** There's also [=RoboCop=] to some extent, notably when he is usually damaged in someway or has done some damage.
* {{Defictionalization}}: There is a real life company called Omni Consumer Products. They specialize in... making Defictionalized products. In an nicely full circle manner, the company's owner gave 25,000 dollars to a project seeking to build a statue of [=RoboCop=] in Detroit.
* DestinationDefenestration: Jones' death. After holding the president of OCP hostage, he's blown out the window by [=RoboCop=] and plummets to the ground.
* {{Determinator}}: After numerous [[EpicFail Epic Fails]] at attempting to build a second law enforcement cyborg, Faxx speculates that it was Murphy's intense devotion to duty that's keeping him from eating a bullet.
* DirtForcefield: Robo's always squeaky clean until the third act, wherein he gets heavily damaged.
* DirtyCop: "You sold us out, Officer Duffy! You're a rotten cop!"
* DonutMessWithACop: In the third movie, a man tries to hold up a donut shop, only to have several cops aim their guns at him. The man then drops his gun and the clerk behind the counter quips, "[[WhatAnIdiot So what's it like being a rocket scientist]]?"
* DramaticUnmask
** Robo removing his helmet in the first movie. "You may not like what you're going to see."
** In the second movie, a prototype of [=RoboCop=] 2 removes his face-plate and helmet... and reveals to be nothing more than a bloody, screaming skull, which then collapses.
** [=RoboCain=]'s screen-for-a-face also pulls this on his former girlfriend.
* {{Dystopia}}: Detroit's crumbling hellscapes and glittering skyscrapers represented everything that is wrong with America in TheEighties.
* EmergencyTransformation: Murphy.
* EnfantTerrible: While there are plenty of [[KidsAreCruel cruel kids]] in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Hob, the youngest member of Cain's cult, makes them look innocent in comparison. He's not above killing cops and uses his age to avoid getting gunned down by [[WouldntHurtAChild RoboCop]]. Later in the film, he almost manages to [[spoiler:buy Detroit by making a deal with the mayor. Then [=RoboCain=] shows up...]]
* EngineeredPublicConfession: "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake." This ends up [[spoiler:biting Dick Jones in the ass.]] What makes this particularly stupid on his part is that he knows ''damn well'' [=RoboCop=] is capable of recording everything he says (he even bitches out ''Boddicker'' for telling [=RoboCop=] about his involvement in the first place), but he didn't expect him to survive his ensuing fight with ED-209, the SWAT team and Boddicker's gang.
** However, the whole Jones/Boddicker/Morton subplot serves a storytelling purpose, specifically the GreyAndGrayMorality question of responsibility for Murphy's death, in a very neat way. Boddicker carries the ultimate blame as the man who did the deed, Dick Jones as Boddicker's paymaster is the BigBad behind the crimewave Murphy was responding to at the beginning of the story - but it is heavily implied if not outright stated - that Bob Morton himself carries a significant share of the responsibility by placing Murphy in the firing line in the first place (having identified him as a possible candidate for the RoboCop program and transferring him to the most dangerous precinct in the city). By having Jones order Boddicker to kill Morton, the writers essentially ensure that everyone directly responsible for Murphy's death is dead themselves by the end of the movie, without having to answer the morality question outright.
* EpicFail: The ED-209 attempts to descend a set of stairs in the OCP building, despite the fact that its feet are too big to go down the steps.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Old Man, Chairman of OCP. He does have a real name, it's just that people insist on calling him that behind his back.
* EvilGloating: Boddicker's gang loves this.
* EvillyAffable: Clarence Boddicker.
* ExactWords: In the sequel, when the criminals are cutting the corrupt cop open.
-->'''Angie''': "[[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo You said you were just gonna scare him!]]"\\
'''Cain''': "[[ColdBloodedTorture Doesn't he look scared?]]"
* ExecutiveMeddling: In-universe examples.
** Directive 4 in ''[=RoboCop=] 1'', which Dick Jones describes as his "own little contribution."
** ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' has some in-world meddling with Murphy's ''brain''. OCP in the second movie saddles him with many dozens of politically correct [[RestrainingBolt software directives]]. These directives may work fine for creating corporate executives or cubicle mice, but for "rules of engagement for the one-cyborg high threat response unit in the most [[CrapSackWorld corrupt and brutal city we know]]", they were maddening. Of course, the politically correct directives in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' were a TakeThat against MoralGuardians.
* ExecutiveSuiteFight: In the climax of the film, [=RoboCop=] storms OCP's headquarters in an attempt to arrest Jones.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: After tracking down Boddicker, [=RoboCop=] gets his revenge by casually [[WindowPain throwing him through several panes of glass.]]
* FacePalm: The Old Man's response to the failed [=RoboCop=] prototypes in the 2nd movie.
* FanserviceExtra: Twice in the first movie. Apparently cops in the future have co-ed locker rooms. Later on, when [=RoboCop=] goes into a club to collect Leon, a woman is seen dancing topless.
** Used deliberately in a cut sequence from the second film, to show how Robo has come to terms with the fact that his is just a machine. While walking through the OCP police station, Robo comes across the co-ed locker room, where an unnamed female officer is showering naked. Robo stops and stares for a few moments, then continues on his way.
* FantasticDrug: NUKE in the second movie. Although in this case, the viewer is ''supposed'' to treat the made-up NUKE as being every bit as egregious as real-life heroin or PCP.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played with in first film, as a Murphy family photo is shown long after Murphy had become [=RoboCop=]. In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Murphy asks if Anne has a family, with her reminding him she has a brother but survives. However, [[spoiler:she dies in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'']].
* FingerTwitchingRevival: When [=RoboCop=] wakes up and leaves the police station.
* {{Fingore}}: Among the many mutilations inflicted on him before his death, Boddicker's crew starts out by blowing off Murphy's right hand with a shotgun.
* FiringOneHanded: All over the place, although it's justified for [=RoboCop=] since he's much stronger than a normal human and has an auto-targeting system.
* FlawExploitation: Hob uses Angie's addiction to Nuke to keep her in line after Cain's absence. Dr. Faxx uses Cain's addiction to Nuke to control him once he's revived...but not for long.
* FlippingTheBird: Implied to a degree, [=RoboCop=]'s six-inch data jack emerges from his fist and he brandishes it to a computer tech when he opposed Robo accessing files on his death and Boddicker's gang.
* GangstaStyle: One of Boddicker's mooks holds up a gas station by holding a SMG this way.
* GatlingGood: [=RoboCain=].
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The ED-209's first demonstration.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Alex Murphy is portrayed as a NiceGuy. Since that murderous robot blowing away criminals is still him...
* GoodNightSweetPrince: Painfully parodied by one of Boddicker's goons.
* {{Gorn}}: A notorious example.
* GoryDiscretionShot: More often than not the violence was shown, but several times in the second movie, we simply got strong hints as to how awful the violence being done was, such as [[spoiler:a doctor showing us Cain's agonized face after the skull holding it was sliced away]]. Used to ''great'' effect when [[spoiler:Murphy is stripped down by Cain and his goons;]] we don't see what it looks like until they're done, but we see the process involving jackhammers, sledgehammers, and their own casual view of the process ''all from Murphy's perspective.'' It is a dark inversion of his "rebirth" in the first movie, and references the visuals of that scene.
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The news broadcasts imply the ColdWar is still ongoing and South Africa is still an apartheid state.
* GroinAttack
** You're trying to take down a would-be rapist who's holding his victim hostage. He's using her as a human shield. What do you do? Shoot between the ''hostage's'' legs and neuter the guy.
** In the first movie a psychopath tries to kick [=RoboCop=] between the legs, with [[BallsOfSteel predictably self-defeating results]].
* GunsAkimbo: Subverted, as human Murphy tries to shoot up the Boddicker gang's panel truck this way and fails spectacularly.
* GunTwirling: Murphy is seen practicing spinning his service pistol a few times, a move he learned to impress his son (who saw it on a TV show). As [=RoboCop=], it becomes his signature.
** Points for safety. You can see that Murphy had removed the clip (and presumably any chambered round) before trying to practice his twirling.
* TheGunslinger: Subverted in that the human Murphy was a notably crappy shot in the first movie. About the only remotely gunslinger-like move he could pull off was the trigger-guard gun spin, and that only because he forced himself to learn it to impress his son. Robo's ImprobableAimingSkills are strictly programming (well, all except the spin).
* HandCannon: Robo, natch, as well as many of the bad guys. Murphy's gun is a Beretta 93R fully automatic pistol, modified to look even bigger and spit foot-long flames with every three-round burst. Note that the real Beretta 93R cannot fire in full-automatic; only single and three-round burst.
* HeroicBSOD: In the second movie, when Robo encounters the kid villain, he has a full BSOD with flashbacks to his son.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: [=RoboCop=] dodges several of ED-209's rockets in their first encounter.
* HollywoodAcid: The toxic waste Emil takes a bath in.
* HollywoodSilencer: When Boddicker shoots Morton, he fits a silencer first so his pistol is barely audible.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** Dick Jones and his Directive 4.
*** Since he is the "number 2 guy around here," he tries to take the one guy who could terminate him hostage. "Dick, you're fired!" takes on a whole new meaning.
** Dr. Faxx used a deadly criminal as a test subject for Robocain (he ended up acting like the criminal he used to be); then she tried to keep him in check with Nuke (may have worked if he was fully human and his body, not just his mind, actually craved it); then tried to use feminine wiles to avoid responsibility (she was the most likely OCP scapegoat anyway, as she authorized the use of Cain's brain).
* HonorBeforeReason: Oddly enough, Otomo [[spoiler: the android]] seems to adhere to this. He could have killed Robocop effortlessly several times, but the first time waits until Robo turns to face him, and the second time waits until he's on his feet again.
* HookersAndBlow: Plenty of both.
* IdiotBall: We don't see the actual decision on screen, only its consequences. Still, whoever it was who [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace decided to load a prototype law enforcement robot that the design team had to know was flaky and unreliable with live ammo for a demonstration]] in front of OCP's board of directors can not be the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
** Unless it was Donald Johnson, in which case he qualifies as a MagnificentBastard instead.
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: In the first movie, the chief of police declares:
--> "And there will be no strike! We are not plumbers! We are ''police officers!''"
* ImMelting: Emil. And very messily at that.
* ImmuneToBullets: Not the villains, but [[http://qdb.us/28294 the hero]].
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the climax of the first film, none of the criminals can hit [=RoboCop=] with their {{BFG}}s, even when they cause massive explosions.
** That kind of makes sense in context, though -- as a rule, street hoods haven't generally practiced a lot with heavy anti-materiel rifles, and thus won't be sterling marksmen with them.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Justified in that Robo's are all software. The human Murphy empties four magazines at a speeding panel truck and only manages to hit with one round. When the software craps out after Robo's run-in with Directive 4, he's right back to being unable to hit the broad side of a barn, and Lewis has to help him reprogram himself.
** Murphy was firing with two small calibre handguns at an armored car that held half a dozen criminals with much bigger weapons while being in a police car that had to keep constantly moving to dodge their fire. It's amazing he managed to hit one of them at all.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Most notably the data jack.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted with Hob, the youngest member of Cain's cult, who gets gunned down behind a truck door while trying to hide from [=RoboCain=].]]
* InfernalRetaliation: Two Splatterpunks freak out in ''3'' when they set [=RoboCop=] on fire and he just keeps coming after them.
* InferredHolocaust: At the end of the third film, a '''thermo'''-failsafe explosive is set off, which destroys the OCP building in an explosion that also consumes much of the downtown Detroit area. None of the characters remark on this (as it's the end of the film), and the viewer is supposed to be happy that Robo and his friends stopped the corporation from bulldozing Old Detroit, while ignoring that dozens (if not hundreds) of people were just murdered in a massive explosion that took out the biggest and tallest building in the city.
** Possibly mitigated by the earlier parts of the movie. The scenes of walking through the OCP building show it as half-deserted from layoffs, departures, and suicides. It's implied by the end that the building may have cleared out completely, and if the neighborhood was one that was also going to be rehabbed, it may have been emptied as well.
* InfraredXRayCamera: Robo has one of these in the first movie.
* InstantDeathBullet: Typically about as thoroughly averted as humanly possible. Murphy gets shot dozens of times by Boddicker in the first film. At the end, he puts a couple dozen bullets in Dick Jones, but Jones is killed when he gets knocked back through a window and falls around 100 stories to his death.
* ItIsDehumanizing: Murphy is referred to by OCP as "it" after his transformation.
* ItsPersonal: [=RoboCop=]'s fight with Boddicker.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes J-R]]
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: In the third film OCP is in the process of being bought out by Japanese investors who are just as ruthless as their American counterparts.
* JustAMachine: What OCP believes until Murphy proves them wrong.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Otomo's WeaponOfChoice in the third film, complete with CleanCut.
* KentBrockmanNews: The news anchors in the first film. ''Especially'' in the first segment, when talking about the police officer shot by Boddicker's gang.
* KidsAreCruel: In the second movie, [[TeenageWasteland almost all kids shown]] on screen are little monsters who enjoy violence and law-breaking. Yet it's implied that Robo's programming won't allow him to target a child.
** It may very well be Murphy's conscience, not the programing (at least before he's filled with [[RestrainingBolt stupid directives]]).
* KillSat
* KnightInShiningArmor: Kevlar/Titanium laminated armour, to be precise. With nifty purple-on-blue highlights.
* LawEnforcementInc: The Detroit police force has been privatized, [[MegaCorp which is why OCP wields such an incredible degree of control over them.]]
* LicensedGame: Many, including a CrossOver: ''RobocopVsTerminator''. The original [=DataEast=] arcade game is considered to be an exception to TheProblemWithLicensedGames.
* LockAndLoadMontage: Murphy does this a few times, including before the climactic fight with Boddicker's gang.
* LudicrousGibs: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXfh4hENKs ED-209 vs Kenny in the Boardroom]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKklmovf0Js Emil vs. HollywoodAcid.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VclFEwUGdY0 Murphy vs. giggling thugs with shotguns.]] Warning: the videos are graphic.
* LullDestruction: According to WordOfGod the creative team wanted a full 10 seconds of silence and blank screen between the moment of Murphy's death and the first flash of static marking the start of his resurrection. The executive team had other ideas.
* MadeOfPlasticine: Emil splats reeeaaal good.
* MeaningfulName: Otomo means "attendant" or "companion". This makes sense, since one of the reasons Japan wants to [[spoiler: develop robots is to care for their growing population of elderly]]. On the other hand, it could also be a StealthPun, [[spoiler: "Otomo-tan"... automaton]].
* MegaCorp: Omni Consumer Products -- OCP.
* MessianicArchetype: [[http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2010/04/paul-verhoeven-robocop-was-a-jesus-metaphor Robo's the American Jesus.]]
* MexicanStandoff
* MightyGlacier: Robocop.
* MoreDakka: The ED-209 series in general. Autocannon and anti-tank rockets on a police robot: seemingly excessive, until we get to know this future Detroit. [[hottip:*:The ED-209 was going to be marketed to the millitary after the police trial.]] In ''[=RoboCop=] 2'', Robo's Auto-9 relative to the standard-issue DPD service pistols.
* MotherlyScientist: Dr. Lazarus in ''Robocop 3''.
* MotorCity
* MotorcycleJousting: Alex Murphy has a joust with Cain in ''[[=RoboCop=] 2'': Murphy on a motorcycle, Cain in an armored car.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The scientific staff are all named after politicians, the cops are all named after serial killers.
* NerdGlasses: Many of OCP's staff, as well as the gas station attendant [=RoboCop=] saves from a criminal.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [=RoboCop=] is always on the receiving end of these, putting him out of commission for awhile in every movie.
* NoOSHACompliance. In general the many factories where fights occur are perilous places. In particular: the big tank of acid placed right alongside a narrow service road, no barriers, nothing.
** Also, why the ''hell'' would ED-209 be fully armed for a demo in a company board room?
* NotHimself: In the second movie, when Robo starts showing off his new Politically Correct programming:
-->'''Lewis:''' "Hit the gas, Murphy."\\
'''Robo:''' "The posted limit is 35. We should set an example, Ann. Your hair looks lovely that way."\\
'''Lewis:''' ''(frowns)'' "It's OCP, they did something to you."\\
'''Robo:''' "I'm fine. Isn't the moon wonderful tonight?"\\
'''Lewis:''' "It's still daytime."\\
'''Robo:''' "It's the thought that counts."\\
'''Lewis:''' ''(rolls her eyes)'' "Oh, Jesus, we're heading back to the station, that's all there is to it."
* NumberedSequels
* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: The first three play it straight, the others are more of a RestrainingBolt. The first film's [[spoiler:initially unknown fourth directive is a plot point.]]
* OhCrap
** Involving ED-209, which is a heavily armed MiniMecha. An OCP executive, Kenny, is asked to simulate a "typical arrest and disarming procedure" during a board meeting.
-->'''ED-209:''' "Put down your weapon. You have twenty seconds to comply."\\
'''Dick Jones:''' "I think you'd better do what he says, Mr. Kenny."\\
(Kenny drops the Desert Eagle.)"\\
'''ED-209:''' "[[{{Unwinnable}} You now have fifteen seconds to comply]]."\\
(Kenny, understandably, freaks out.)
** The final fight between Boddicker and [=RoboCop=]:
-->'''Boddicker:''' "Okay, I give up."\\
''(drops his gun)''\\
'''[=RoboCop=]:''' "[[ItsPersonal I'm not arresting you anymore.]]"
** Dick Jones' face when he's fired. [[spoiler: Then fired upon.]]
** The man who attempted to hold up the donut shop in the third movie had such reaction when the cops in the donut shop pointed their guns at him.
* OminousMultipleScreens: In OCP's board room.
* OneManArmy: Being impervious to small arms fire and wielding some incredible firepower of his own, Robocop can just walk into a drug den and gun everyone down without breaking stride.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Daniel O'Herlihy's character in the first two movies is only known as "the Old Man". Likewise, Rip Torn's character in the third movie is only referred to as "the CEO". This also extended to the various TV series--David Gardner's character in ''The Series'' and Tedde Moore's character in ''Prime Driectives'' are, respectively, referred to only as "The OCP Chairman" and "The Old Woman".
* OnlySaneMan: OCP Executive Johnson in the second movie. He's the only one who realizes that loading Robocop down with a senselessly complex command program will cripple him and he's one of two men who '''does''' see the problem with giving a mass-murdering drug lord an indestructible robot body.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Dr. Faxx. She manages to sound broadly American only a handful of times. The rest she swings between vaguely English, Irish, even German and French on a few occasions. What nationality is the actress? Australian.
* OrphanedPunchline: "I'd buy ''that'' for a dollar!" We only hear it in isolation, but the characters are familiar with the show: to them it's hilarious.
* TheOtherDarrin: Because of the costume and general similarity between [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000693/ Peter Weller]] and [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0121559/ Robert John Burke]], it isn't too noticeable, aside from the voice.
** However Robert John Burke is taller than Peter Weller. The reason nobody noticed was because the [=RoboCop=] suit worn in ''[=RoboCop=] 3'' was originally built for ''[=RoboCop=]'' 2. He complained that wearing it was painful after a short time.
* OutOfTheInferno: [=RoboCop=] walking out of the exploded gas station in the first movie.
* OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture
* PhonyNewscast: The film has a series of newscasts where horrible events are described during the news in an upbeat fashion. For example, when a police officer is brutally gunned down, the reporter cheers on the cop, saying how he's rooting for the officer to live.
* QuirkyMiniBossSquad: Clarence's henchmen.
* ParodyCommercial: Piles of them, throughout all of the movies.
* PietaPlagiarism: [[spoiler:Shortly before Lewis's death scene in ''[=RoboCop=] 3''.]]
* PinPullingTeeth: Clarence starts a futuristic timer grenade like this, while playing Dick's recorded message to Bob.
* PlayingAgainstType: Prior to playing Dick Jones, Ronny Cox played nice guys. However, Dick Jones also set up a new type for him, as proven by [[StargateSG1 Senator Robert Kinsey]] and [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Vilos Cohaagen]]. Kurtwood Smith was also known for slightly more refined and elegant characters (while still bad guys) and not the unsophisticated thug Boddicker was.
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The multitudinous additional directives they added to [=RoboCop=] in the second movie. [[hottip:*:DIRECTIVE 233: Restrain hostile feelings. - DIRECTIVE 234: Promote positive attitude. - DIRECTIVE 235: Suppress aggressiveness. - DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values. - DIRECTIVE 238: Avoid destructive behavior. - DIRECTIVE 239: Be accessible. - DIRECTIVE 240: Participate in group activities. - DIRECTIVE 241: Avoid interpersonal conflicts. - DIRECTIVE 242: Avoid premature value judgments. - DIRECTIVE 243: Pool opinions before expressing yourself. - DIRECTIVE 244: Discourage feelings of negativity and hostility. - DIRECTIVE 245: If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't talk. - DIRECTIVE 246: Don't rush traffic lights. - DIRECTIVE 247: Don't run through puddles and splash pedestrians or other cars. - DIRECTIVE 248: Don't say that you are always prompt when you are not. - DIRECTIVE 249: Don't be oversensitive to the hostility and negativity of others. - DIRECTIVE 250: Don't walk across a ballroom floor swinging your arms. - DIRECTIVE 254: Encourage awareness. - DIRECTIVE 256: Discourage harsh language. - DIRECTIVE 258: Commend sincere efforts. - DIRECTIVE 261: Talk things out. - DIRECTIVE 262: [[TakeThat Avoid Orion meetings]]. - DIRECTIVE 266: Smile. - DIRECTIVE 267: Keep an open mind. - DIRECTIVE 268: Encourage participation. - DIRECTIVE 273: Avoid stereotyping. - DIRECTIVE 278: Seek non-violent solutions.]]
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
** "Your move, creep!" [[hottip:*:Actually a post-ass kicking one liner]]
** "Dead or alive, you're coming with me!"
** "Cain, let's step outside!"
* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Everything from the police and hospitals to space exploration has been privatized, most of it being run by a MegaCorp.
* PsychoForHire: In the third movie, the Rehabs are hiring AxCrazy street punks to the dirty work for them.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The OCP banners are red with a white circle, black company logo inside it. Clarence Boddicker wears glasses resembling those worn by Heinrich Himmler -- a deliberate move according to {{Word of God}}. The company's private army wear totalitarian longcoats and caps.
** The whole thing is taken further with the Rehab troops in the third film.
* RailingKill: Several when [=RoboCop=] shoots up Boddicker's drug lab.
* ReadingYourRights
** First film. [=RoboCop=] catches Boddicker, and reads him his rights while repeatedly [[WindowPain tossing him through windows]]. In the commentary, the crew confess that they were terrified that real-world cops would react badly to that scene. They did a test screening and it was a roaring success. Boddicker being an AssholeVictim probably helped.
** In the second film, [=RoboCop=] reads the Miranda warning to a dead body, and is astonished when Lewis points it out. He was reading him his [[StealthPun last rights]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Old Man in the first movie, just about the only OCP bigwig with [[EvenEvilHasStandards any sort of moral standard]], especially if compared to young upstarts. In the sequels, he inexplicably becomes a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive typical corporate douchebag]].
* RecklessGunUsage: All over the place. It's not surprising that the ED-209 malfunctioned and killed an unarmed civilian if it's built by a corporation that's stupid enough to a) do a demonstration with its cannons fully loaded and b) give a loaded handgun to a guy who doesn't know how to use it, who then throws it on the floor.
* RefugeInAudacity: The extreme violence and political satire in the film. It's established early on when a hapless junior exec is gunned down by a poorly programmed ED-209 and everyone involved has a sort of "[[FacePalm Not again]]" attitude about what happened.
* RestrainingBolt
** First movie: [=RoboCop=]'s classified 4th directive.
** Second movie: [=RoboCop=]'s politically-correct directives. Cain's addiction to NUKE.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Otomo in the third film. In the first, people are lead to believe Robocop is completely robotic.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Main plot of the first movie.
* RoboCam: Numerous scenes are shown from [=RoboCop=]'s POV, complete with scanlines, subtle pixelation, HUD messages and when Robo is hurt, interference. The HUD is justified, since [=RoboCop=] is technically still human and would need some information displayed to help him make decisions. Mecha-Cain appears to run on an early version of [=MacOS=], complete with skull logo in the upper left.
* RuleOfCool: Quite a lot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes S-Z]]
* SaveTheDayTurnAway: The second film features a corporately enforced example.
* ScaleModelDestruction: The second movie combines a massive model of New Detroit and a drug kingpin Robocop ForMassiveDamage.
* TheScapegoat: After the battle royale at the end of the second movie, the Old Man is well-aware that OCP is going to be on the hook for all the carnage. To save the company, Johnson suggests scapegoating [[spoiler:Faxx]] and making it appear they had been kept completely out of the loop on the project.
* ShootingSuperman: [=RoboCop=] gets this a ''lot.'' The bad guys eventually wise up in the first film and take him on with anti-tank rifles, but that doesn't stop every other dumb crook in the franchise from unloading their tiny pistols at him.
* ShowWithinAShow
** ''I'd Buy That For a Dollar'' [[hottip:*:The show is actually named 'It's not My Problem', the line is merely the show's catchphrase]]
** ''Media Break'' [[hottip:*:It sure has.]]
** ''T.J. Lazer''
* ShownTheirWork
** Many setting details are correct despite the films being shot elsewhere. The first was filmed in Dallas, the second was filmed in Houston, and the third was filmed in Atlanta.
*** The DPD precinct system -- it is organised by geography not the usual precinct numbers.
*** The local hospitals. There really is a Henry Ford Hospital that's a Level 1 trauma center.
*** The neighborhoods: "Cadillac Heights" from the third movie is apparently somewhere in the old Black Bottom, across Woodward from the university district and just south of Hamtramck.
** The trauma team that works on Murphy as he dies is a real trauma team, and their dialog was mostly ad-libbed. In the commentary, the writers say they wished they could have come up with a line like "Let's shock a flat line and quit."
* SoftGlass: The first movie has plenty of things being thrown through glass, including Robo himself.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Lewis realizes that [=RoboCop=] is Alex Murphy when she sees him performing the gun-spin move he learned from the T.J. Lazer television show during a demonstration at the precinct's shooting range.
* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: How Lewis and Robocop's primary technician promptly realize something is very wrong after Robocop is rebuilt in the second film; Robocop says he's "touched" remarks on it being "a beautiful day" and he calls the captain by his first name; all things Murphy would never do.
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler: Anne Lewis]] in ''[=RoboCop=] 3''.
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In the first movie, the CEO of Omni Consumer Products is merely an amoral old man who really doesn't do anything outright villainous, but shows little empathy for others. In the sequel, he's a flat-out CorruptCorporateExecutive.
* {{Superhero}}: [=RoboCop=] is a superhero in all [[NotUsingTheZWord but name]]. He can get up moments after a fifteen-storey fall when his organics should be shmooshed.
* SuperCop: Chances are, if you mention the phrase to anyone, and they know of [=RoboCop=], he's the first thing that they'll think of.
** In fact, [=RoboCop=] is called exactly that in the first film, when he first shows off his computer-enhanced aiming skills at the firing range.
* SuperPrototype: As a cyborg police officer, Murphy is the first attempt and the only success.
* SuperToughness: [=RoboCop=]
* TakeThat: The [[KillSat SDI Defense Satellite]] misfiring in the first movie. The incident killed two former presidents. One is understandable but two seems like carelessness. At the time the movie was filmed, there were two former american presidents living in California where the fictional laser struck. RonaldReagan and RichardNixon.
* ThatManIsDead: In a more complex way, [=RoboCop=] tells Murphy's wife that Murphy is dead and they gave [=RoboCop=] Murphy's face as a way of honoring the fallen officer. Sadly, we know he's still in there somewhere because he lies to his wife to order to let her go. He may not be dead, but he is no longer her husband.
* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: The president is the OnlySaneMan at OCP.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill
** Kenney's death at the opening of ''[=RoboCop=]''. Poor guy was more lead than flesh by the time they shut ED-209 down.
*** Especially in the Director's cut, where ED continually blasts Kenney's lifeless corpse as it lies on the table.
** Murphy's death.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: The first film ends with RoboCop telling "The Old Man" his name is Murphy. By the end of the third film, he gets this way with what's left of OCP.
-->'''RoboCop''': My friends call me Murphy. You call me RoboCop.
* ThisIsWhatTheBuildingWillLookLike: Delta City.
* TinMan: In the second movie, there's a scene where Robo has to convince Mrs. Murphy that he is just a machine, and has none of her husband's memories. However, saying this to her is too much for him: he can't even make eye contact upon telling her, "I don't know you".
* TooDumbToLive: Faxx with idea of taking [[AxCrazy death row inmates]] and giving them a cyborg body. At least the chief cyborg engineer called her out on that one. Alas she managed to convince the Old Man to allow her access to Cain.
* TrashcanBonfire: In the street of Detroit as [=RoboCop=] approaches Cain's drug factory.
* TrenchCoatWarfare: One of the criminals in the first film pulls an assault rifle out of his coat before holding up a convenience store. When [=RoboCop=] shows up, he bends the barrel in half.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: A good chunk of which they got right [[MotorCity at least as far as the setting was concerned:]]
** Bankrupt industries.
** The criminally corrupt city government and the flat broke police department.
** The rampant Detroit crime rate, though thankfully not the street scenes out of Hieronymus Bosch.
** The gas-guzzling cars.
** The rise of CD's as the norm of visual media, as shown in Bob Morton's chilling death scene.
** The PDA/GPS that Jones and Boddicker use to track Robo's movements through the city. It even looks like a Palm V-series.
** Rampagingly sensationalistic "news entertainment".
** Increasing privatization in "hospitals, prisons, space exploration".
* TechMarchesOn: Played straight and averted. The DPD Records Department apparently still stores everything on reel-to-reel tape, and the one human-usable computer not sitting in a rack features a painfully slow and kludgy GUI. Over at OCP, we have the giant wall o' monitors in the board room, all of which are [=CRTs=]; the media center sports a VHS player. On the other hand, as shown by the playing of Dick's final taunts to Rob as he died, [=CDs=] (or similarly designed [=DVDs=]) do seem to have become the norm of visual media.
* TVHeadRobot: Cain
* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: One of the greatest of debates, ''RobocopVsTerminator'' -- who will win? An excellent graphic novel and a video game. [[spoiler: [=RoboCop=] wins, but only because of a bizarre, but logical, time travel plot involving no less than three timeline alterations.]]
* UnorthodoxHolstering: Murphy's cool spinning trick, which he later refines as [=RoboCop=] (he can store his pistol in his leg armor).
* UnusualUserInterface: [=RoboCop=]'s computer input jack that's built into his glove. Also see RoboCam.
* UsedFuture: Future!Detroit is (even more) crime-ridden, dirty, polluted and desolate.
* WasOnceAMan
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Murphy beats up Boddicker almost to the point of death, but when Boddicker thinks he's going to kill him, he remembers his directives and arrests him instead.
* WeCanRebuildHim: Murphy's return from ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill. Also in ''[=RoboCop=] 2'' after Cain's gang is done with him.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: OCP regards [=RoboCop=] as a piece of equipment that they own. Typical is Holzgang's utter disregard for [=RoboCop=]'s agony after he's been torn apart by Cain's gang. "Nah, it's just the back-up generator making him twitch."
* WeaksauceWeakness: ED-209's is ''stairs,'' with far too broad legs to manage the narrow and steep steps. Of course, the entire design of the ED-209 was basically a lot of show and little fine tuning for both versatility and AI programming.
-->'''Dick Jones''': I had a guaranteed military sale with ED-209. Renovation program. Spare parts for 25 years. Who cares if it worked or not?
* WelcomeToHell: Murphy gets this as a welcome to the precinct.
* WindowPain: See ExtremeMeleeRevenge.
* YouAreTooLate: When Lewis arrives just after Murphy has been killed.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: As [=RoboCop=], Murphy visits his old home and discovers his family no longer lives there, and it's planned to be turned into a model housing development.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: "Can you fly, Bobby boy?"
* {{Zeerust}} -- the [[ProductPlacement Ford Taurus wagons]] used as police cars looked amazingly futuristic in 1987. Now, a lot less so.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The television shows]]
* AlternateContinuity: The series splits into two (or three, depending on your view) continuities after the second film. The 1994 series and ''Prime Directives'' both ignore the events of the third film in favor of keeping OCP and the threat of bulldozing Old Detroit, although it's still unclear if the two series are meant to be tied into the same continuity (considering that one was a syndicated children's show and the other a violent homage to the original).
* AnimatedAdaptation: What else does one do with R-rated movies?
* BoardToDeath: Damian Lowe in ''Prime Directives'' spearheads the project for developing a fully-functional A.I., called SAINT. After sending a team after [=RoboCop=] after the Old Woman had forbidden it, Damian gets fired and uses SAINT to kill the Old Woman and the Board.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Similar to its predecessors, the 1994 TV series (and ''Prime Directives'') use Canadian locations as a stand-in for Detroit.
* ClearMyName: One epsiode of ''The Series'' and most of ''Prime Driectives'' find Robo having to do this.
* ConsummateLiar: The mayor turns out to be so experienced in politics that ''anything'' he says, no matter how blatantly true or false it is, cannot be confirmed to be true or false under lie detector analysis. Even claiming to be AbrahamLincoln registers as having a 50% chance of being true, when he's subjected to a lie detector ''functionally identical to [=RoboCop=]'s''.
** In the '94 series episode "Robo Vs. Commander Cash", Robo has trouble arresting Rex Jones (an OCP researcher who's disguised as the titular cartoon character) because he claims that Robo "doesn't fight other superheroes" due to "cartoon law". Due to his overriding directives, Robo identifies Jones' statements as factual (and he turns out to be right).
* ContinuityNod: In the first movie, [=RoboCop=] ends up bodily throwing people out of his way when trying to access the department archive computers for information. In the show, whenever he turns up in that part of the station, everyone hurriedly gets out of his way.
* CrapsackWorld: What Detroit has turned into in the ''Prime Directives'' series. Robo is practically out of date, crime and poverty is worse than ever, anarchists are storming the OCP building and everyone is a CorruptCorporateExecutive.
* DeadpanSnarker: ''Alpha Commando'' turned Murphy into one.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The end of the ''Prime Directives'' series. Detroit is now stuck in the dark age, and several people have died to stop the corrupted S.A.I.N.T. computer program from activating and destroying the city (including Robo's former partner), but everyone's favorite cyborg policeman does get to make up for lost time with his son and continue in his role as a protector, free of his overriding directives.
* EverythingsFunkierWithDisco: In one episode of the '94 series, Diana is corrupted by a virus that causes her to transform herself and her workstation into a full Disco club.
* ExactWords: In one episode, an escaping villain has his car computer guide him out of the city, avoiding all traffic jams and tollbooths. Diana has the computer guide him to a police roadblock.
-->'''Diana:''' "This service has been brought to you by... [=RoboCop=]! ''Sucker!''"
* FamilyFriendlyFirearms
* {{Frame-up}}: See "Clear My Name".
* {{Getting Crap Past the Radar}}: At least with ''[=RoboCop=]: Alpha Commando''. It had a few BodyHorror moments, such as the scene in "Doppleganger" where the clones melt. Also, in "H-2-Uh-Oh", two of the characters had a literal moment of scenery nudity (namely because of a chemical that turned them into living puddles, and obviously their clothes can't be worn by living puddles). And this was all in what was supposed to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids a kids program]]!
* {{Hologram}}/VirtualGhost: OCP secretary Diana, whose memory was uploaded to the OCP supercomputer after her death in the pilot episode.
* HyperspaceArsenal: ''Alpha Commando'' makes [=RoboCop=] look a lot like InspectorGadget.
** The '94 series does this as well: aside from extra ammunition (as referred to in the episode "Provision 22"), Robo carries several types of both non-lethal and lethal ordinance (mines, airbags), coolant and other devices/gadgets that would be used in any given episode, all stored in his left leg.
* IHaveYourWife: A villain kidnaps Robo's wife from his old life. The item he is to steal is a ray gun that causes heart attacks, called the Heartbreaker. Initially, his built-in RestrainingBolt stops him, using ObstructiveCodeOfConduct three, "uphold the law". Of course, as soon as Robo pictures his wife in danger, directive two -- "protect the innocent" -- overrides this.
* LawEnforcementInc: Inverted; in the 1994 series, Robo often works ''against'' his employers to protect average citizens (including his wife and son).
* LighterAndSofter: Following up on ''[=RoboCop=] 3'', the '94 series was dulled down to appear to family audiences (and, indeed, it was shown in syndication in Canada on weekends at pre-watershed timeslots). [=RoboCop=] didn't kill (he used gadgets to incapacitate them), the humor was dulled down and the plots became cartoonish.
* LivingLieDetector: Robo gains the ability to discern whether a person is lying or not through their vocal inflections. Unfortunately it is not infallable -- see ConsummateLiar.
* MagicCountdown: The SciFi Channel once ran a marathon of the series with a humorous voiceover. One episode had a bomb set for five minutes. The running commentary points out that it takes 7:04 for the bomb to eventually be shut off.
* MeaningfulName: Recurring villain Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo. Or, as he appears in personnel files: Mallardo, Cray Z., Dr. He's a MadScientist.
* MindControlDevice: One episode of the live-action series has a formula that renders people vulnerable to mind control if the formula is mixed with a simple calcium base (i.e. milk). It's added to a breakfast cereal.
* NineOutOfTenDoctorsAgree: In ''[=RoboCop=] The Series'', nine out of ten doctors employed by a MegaCorp recommend a drug produced by the very same company.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Averted, when Robo is on the run after being accused of murder, since the bullet in question could only have come from his one-of-a-kind gun, coded to his grip, and the targeting system used to aim the shot would be the one from his helmet. Later when Robo is critically damaged, and the kid sidekick shows him his prototype circuit board, letting him use it to make repairs. [[spoiler:Then the scientist who designs the board realizes the prototypes of Murphy's ''gun'' and ''helmet'' are out there...]]
* ProjectedMan: Diana, also a brain-in-a-box connected to a MagicalComputer.
* RuleNumberOne: Happens to Murphy's former partner in the '94 series.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Commander Cash'' from [[RecycledTheSeries the series]].
* ThereWasADoor: Used in the opening credits of the 1994 television series.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Inverted in ''Alpha Commando'' - Diana almost always calls Robocop "Murphy", and only once refers to him as "Robocop."
* TimeBomb: An episode of ''[=RoboCop=]: The Series'' involved Robo having to dispose a nuclear bomb in the OCP building. To defuse it, he had to align two triangle-shaped switches into an hourglass. This is accomplished with (you guessed it) one second to spare.
* TitleTheAdaptation
* TheWallsAreClosingIn: [=RoboCop=] once ended up in a trash compactor in one episode of the '94 TV series. [[YouFailPhysicsForever When the air pressure reached 2000 PSI]], a flashback gave him inspiration, [[BackFromTheBrink allowing him to push back the walls]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: None of the characters from the films (besides Murphy/Robo himself) make the jump to the live-action shows, and their absence is never commented upon.
* XMeetsY: ''[=RoboCop=]: Alpha Commando'' is ''[=RoboCop=]'' meets ''InspectorGadget'' in both premise ([=RoboCop=] going around the world, fighting an international criminal organization) and literally (Robo having a lot more gadgets built into him than normal, including some nonsensical ones for a cyborg designed to enforce the law to have).
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Inverted. When [=RoboCop=] is critically damaged in the pilot episode of the '94 series, OCP refuses to pay his massive repair bill -- until his partner mentions that he has evidence against Cray Mallardo (who the CEO has serious issues with) in his memory banks. Upon realizing that [=RoboCop=] is still useful, the CEO authorizes [=RoboCop=]'s repairs.
[[/folder]]
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