History Main / BecomeARealBoy

* Merlin in Disney/TheSwordInTheStone threatens to turn Archimedes into a human if he doesn't obey. Archimedes claims he wouldn't dare.

** One of the reasons he wants to BodySurf to begin with is that the more time he spends in the body of the doll, the more human he becomes, so he's effectively undergoing this trope against his will. In the first film he's thrilled with his new body, until he gets shot and realizes that he can still be hurt and even bleed.

[[quoteright:245:[[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/become-a-real-boy_pinocchio_8929.png]]]]

* Merlin in Disney/TheSwordInTheStone threatens to turn Archimedes into a human if he doesn't obey. Archimedes considers this a threat.

* In the SpongeBobSquarePantsMovie, when unfreezing Mr. Krabs, King Neptune accidentally turns him into a human boy. Turns out he accidentally set his trident to "Real Boy" instead of "Unfreeze".

* BMO from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has often expressed this wish.

* Played with very dark humor in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''. When Disney/{{Pinocchio}} and the old guy are stuck in the whale, Billy is also eaten. The Old Guy, thrilled to have a human companion, begins to act as if Billy were his real son. Disney/{{Pinocchio}}, out of jealousy, decides that the only way to become a real boy, is to eat Billy, and get his [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul]]. HilarityEnsues.
* In the second episode of ''WesternAnimation/MightyOrbots'', the little girl robot Oh No gets her wish granted to be a real girl [[spoiler:by the episode's Mini Boss]]. Unfortunately, Oh No is necessary for the Mighty Orbots robot to combine ...

* Invoked and deconstructed on ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot''. While a race of alien machines are ''trying'' to become organic creature, supposedly to replace their long dead creators, Rusty can't understand ''why'' anyone wouldn't want to be a robot.
* This is the wish of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' character Norm, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp_T6_3Tzkw&feature=related as expressed in song.]]

So, you've got your ArtificialHuman grown in the tank, or just put together your RobotGirl with an assembly kit. Unfortunately, your creation is not a [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots ridiculously human robot]], and thus, predictably, they have [[TheStoic all the emotional range of a tuning fork.]] RoboSpeak is a common manifestation of such emotional paralysis.

She later goes through it again, briefly angsting over whether or not she has a soul. Turns out [[spoiler: she does indeed have a soul, as evidenced by the fact that her Pactio with Negi worked. She ''did'' have to, ahem, work a little harder for it than normal though]].

* Played straight at the end of ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsMovieIIANewGeneration''. After Dark Heart learns how to care, he notices in a hand mirror that [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience his eyes]] have [[RedEyesTakeWarning changed]] [[BlueEyes color]] and shouts "I'm a boy! A real boy!"

* ''Manga/Arpeggio of Blue Steel'' features battleships with RobotGirl avatars (called [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Mental Models]]). Some of them are initially seen as humanlike from the start (such as Takao) while other mental models start off emotionless and are shown adapting to human behaviour over time. A specific character who exhibits this is [[spoiler:Haruna who starts off quite [[TheStoic cold]] and becomes much more capable of emotions and sympathy after spending time with [[ChildProdigy Makie]] ]].

* The MarvelComics character, TheVision, has fluctuated in his emotional state many times over the years. Usually a writer will get him to nearly Become A Real Boy and a later one will reverse. Usually this is done by destroying the android's body and rebuilding him.

* Amazo, the RedTornado and the android {{Hourman}} have at various times tried to become more 'human'.

* The {{New52}} ''Comicbook/{{Superboy}}'''s character development seems to be headed in this direction. In fact, he uses these exact words in issue #6.

* Seira in the Pure arc of ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', more so in the manga, has to journey along with Lucia (at least in spirit) and learn the different aspects of love before she can be "born". This is asked of Lucia ''before'' Seira's heart is shattered and absorbed, and even as she [[GottaCatchThemAll gets them back on a cliche journey]], Seira continues to observe and gain the feelings she needs.

* Played straight at the end of ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsMovieIIANewGeneration''. After Dark Heart learns how to care, he notices in a hand mirror that his eyes have changed color and shouts "I'm a boy! A real boy!"

[[folder:Film]]
* Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''AIArtificialIntelligence''

* Kyle in ''KyleXY'' manages it over the course of months. He didn't know ''anything'' at the start, even how to speak, but because of his advanced mind he picks it up relatively fast.
* Kai from {{Lexx}} died and spent thousands of years as a re-animated corpse. In a subversion, he has little care for the idea of returning to life, and Xev is the one who entertains fantasies of Kai becoming alive, going so far as clinging to obvious stretches ("Kai did something unexpected! That's a sign of life!") until she learns better and accepts it. Subverted in the last season when Kai wins a DealWithTheDevil to be brought back to life, but the devil goes back on the bargain and leaves him dead [[spoiler: only to make him alive later, mere minutes before an event that would not destroy undead Kai, but that no living human could possibly survive]]. Double-subverted in that Kai [[spoiler: doesn't have a death-wish, per se, but welcomes true death after spending six thousand years only halfway there]].

* Subverted with Seven of Nine from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', who was born human, but assimilated by the Borg as a young girl. Many years later, she is forcibly separated from the Borg Collective by the crew of ''Voyager'' and most of her cybertech implants removed against her will. She is told she is now safe and free and can be with her people again...but (at least initially) she still thinks of the Borg as "her people". Seven does eventually accept her new existence and tries to simulate some human interpersonal emotions, but never feels entirely comfortable as a human, as she considers her nanite-augmented brain and body superior to those of humans and is currently exasperated with the emotionalism and "silliness" of other crew members. Seven is one of the few characters who dare to openly criticize Janeway's decisions.

* ''{{Space 1999}}'' had an episode where humanoid robots wanted to learn emotions [[spoiler:in order to be able to use violence and kill off their creators]]. One of them finally did in the end [[spoiler:, and in doing so destroyed them all.]]

* Some of the Cylons on ''BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'' have this as a motivation, particularly ones who have had extensive contact with the humans and have begun integrating into human society. They were designed to be [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots as close to human as possible,]] although at least one of them [[BeingHumanSucks isn't too happy about it.]]

* Played straight at the end of ''Franchise/CareBears Movie II: A New Generation''. After Dark Heart learns how to care, he notices in a hand mirror that his eyes have changed color and shouts "I'm a boy! A real boy!"

* Disney's FilmOfTheBook ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}''.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} 2'' where Pinocchio gets his wish but...well, EasyComeEasyGo.

* Played straight at the end of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'', when the BenevolentGenie of the lamp gets his own wish granted.

* Done in ''SuperRobotWars: Original Generation 2''. New main character Lamia Loveless is a cyborg spy for a villain group. She was taught how to socialize and everything, but aside from that, she is supposed to, like all 'W Numbers', lack a personality due to intentional programming. Unfortunately for the bad guys, all the W Numbers seen obtain a personality of their own, even if it only causes them to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] to save their masters...

** It's even taken far enough that [[spoiler: Aigis' brain is fried at the end of The Answer, and by all right she should be a robo-vegetable, but somehow comes out of it just fine.]]

* Jiro in the anime ''Series/{{Kikaider}}'' is motivated by an incomplete concience circuit to try and achieve what his creator envisioned as what is required to be "human." However, the ending of the story twists what the audience might expect as the final goal of Jiro, and states that Jiro succeeds in becoming "a real boy" when he becomes capable of [[spoiler:killing the opposing MadScientist who tried to turn him into a heartless killing machine. In other words, humans must be capable of both good AND evil, and they must possess free will.]]

* Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''. As an [[ArtificialHuman Innovator]], Tieria Erde was created to be a tool in Aeolia Schenburg's grand plan for humanity. Over the course of the series he falls in love, gains a surrogate family, and learns to follow his own will instead of blindly obeying his creator. Yet eventually he[[spoiler: stops living in denial about his true nature, and sacrifices his biological body in order to upload his consciousness into the supercomputer VEDA. In the end, Tieria finds fulfillment as a thinking, feeling, fully sentient AI, rather than as a human.]]

* The motive of most members of Organization XIII in ''KingdomHearts'' is to get their hearts back. The leader, though., wants to become a "[[AGodAmI great being.]]" They are a bit unusual in that they were once human and want to be human again, rather than being artificial and wanting to become human. [[Spoiler: Ultimately, it's revealed that they could naturally regain their hearts over time and were never truly inhuman.]]

* The motive of most members of Organization XIII in ''KingdomHearts'' is to get their hearts back. The leader, though., wants to become a "[[AGodAmI great being.]]" They are a bit unusual in that they were once human and want to be human again, rather than being artificial and wanting to become human.

** Dora, Lazarus Long's ship's AI in ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'', desperately wants to gain a human form. Her motivation is that she's fallen in love with Long and wants to be a real woman to be with him.

* Subverted in ''[[Manga/DragonBall DragonBall Z]]'' in regards to Android 18. When Krillin wishes to Shen Long for her to become fully human, he is unable to, so Krillin wishes for the bomb in her body to be removed instead. Technically, 18 (and 17, her twin brother) is a cyborg, so her human parts are intact ([[BabiesEverAfter hence, Marron]]), whereas Androids such as 16, 19, and number 8 from the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', are purely robotic.