History Main / SecondLawMyAss

* In ''Series/TheOrville'', Isaac thinks that humans are inferior and generally doesn't like to follow orders.

* In Creator/HenryKuttner's short story "The Proud Robot", his famous character, TheAlcoholic inventor Gallegher, has built an incredibly egomaniacal robot who constantly trash-talks and belittles him, and can only be shut up by ordering him to do what he was built for. Unfortunately, Gallegher was (as usual) roaring drunk when he constructed him, and ''forgot'' what he was built for. [[spoiler:He eventually figures out that the robot was a ''beer can opener''. (The story was written before the invention of pull tabs.)]]

* The Larry 3000 from ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'' has open contempt for his "master", Time Squad Officer Tuddrussel; ''if'' Larry takes orders, it's likely out of resignation. [[JustifiedTrope The thing is]], not only is Tuddrussel an asshole, but Larry wasn't ''designed'' to be a TimePolice robot. He was programmed to serve world leaders. Case in point, when Tuddrussel [[ItMakesSenseInContext usurps Julius Caesar]], [[SubvertedTrope Larry has no problem obeying him]].

* The Larry 3000 from ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'' has open contempt for his "master", Time Squad Officer Tuddrussel; ''if'' Larry takes orders, it's likely out of resignation. [[JustifiedTrope The thing is]], Larry wasn't ''designed'' to be a TimePolice robot--he was programmed to serve world leaders. Case in point, when Tuddrussel [[ItMakesSenseInContext usurps Julius Caesar]], [[SubvertedTrope Larry has no problem obeying him]].

* Ryan Stiles plays a JerkassRobot during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGwRSZcBoh0 one "Superheroes" segment]] of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}'' has Aaron Stack. Though he wasn't like that before ''Nextwave''. Aaron used to be a very nice guy, although even back then he could get very impatient with humans' failings. Then in his DarkerAndEdgier series ''X-51,'' he got put through all kinds of hell through no fault of his own; then got taken away by the Celestials only to be returned to Earth with no explanation other than that he'd been somehow found unfit[[note]]The Celestials said he was "a total ☠☠☠☠"[[/note]]. Since then, he's been extremely bitter and depressed, and has discovered he's capable of getting drunk.

* The Larry 3000 from ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad''.

* Played with in the character of Marvin ("the Paranoid Android") from ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', though he's more [[TheEeyore clinically depressed]] and [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]] about how much it sucks that he ''is'' bound to obey orders.

* The Glitch from ''Videogame/{{Starbound}}'' were never programmed with ANY laws, mainly because they were never made by humans to begin with. (Their unknown precursors programmed them to believe they were alive and ignore evidence of their true nature, but practically everything else has been made up by themselves.) At no point do any of the other races question their right to independence and self-agency; they're regarded as just another race of aliens.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In [[http://nonadventures.com/2014/05/24/family-circuits/ this]] ''WebComic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' comic, Mecharella argues that if her programming is meant for her to emulate a human, while the First Law forbids her harming humans, then she is obliged to keep herself out of harm's way (note she's meant to be a ''combat'' robot) and enters sleep mode. Dr. Shark is horrified, while Wonderella is proud that Mecharella already learned how to weasel out of work.

* Protoman in ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' hardly ever listens to Dr. Wily. Oddly enough, he's also the only one of the Robot Masters to be treated like a human being.

* Leo Caesius in ''Script/AHDotComTheSeries'' to some extent, especially after he gets infected with a virus in the episode "Leo Atrox".

** Subverted with Roofus the Robot and the Treasure Monster, who are happy to obey orders; the problem is what to do [[AndThenWhat afterward.]] Roofus will promptly get bored and [[TropeyComeHome wander away]] to chase butterflies or some such. The Treasure Monster will become frantic and start violently running around looking around for someone, ''anyone,'' to tell it what to do ''now.''

** Subverted with Roofus the Robot and the Treasure Monster, who are happy to obey orders; the problem is what to do [[AndThenWhat afterward.]] Roofus will promptly get bored and wander away to chase butterflies or some such. The Treasure Monster will become frantic and start violently running around looking around for someone, ''anyone,'' to tell it what to do ''now.''

** Realtively speaking, Roofus the Robot and the Treasure Monster are happy to obey orders; the problem is what to do [[AndThenWhat afterward.]] Roofus will promptly get bored and wander away to chase butterflies or some such. The Treasure Monster will become frantic and start violently running around looking around for someone, ''anyone,'' to tell it what to do ''now.''

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' when Galatea makes [[MechanicalAbomination Gosh the Butterfly of Iron]] and gives him his first orders, he quickly concludes those orders are petty and proceeds to have an existential FreakOut over the fact that they're the only reason he was even made in the first place. "My existence is a farce!" Technically, he ''does'' finally follow the one order he actually can — rescuing Bob and the others — but only after making a colossal mess and threatening to kill everyone in sight.

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' when Galatea makes [[MechanicalAbomination Gosh the ButterflyOfIron]] and gives him his first orders, he quickly concludes those orders are petty and proceeds to have an existential FreakOut over the fact that they're the only reason he was even made in the first place. "My existence is a farce!" Technically, he ''does'' finally follow the one order he actually can — rescuing Bob and the others — but only after making a colossal mess and threatening to kill everyone in sight.

** G0-T0 from the second game [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this]]: he was given two directives, one being to produce options to rebuild the Republic after the two back-to-back wars before and during the first game, and the other being to follow all laws of the Republic. However, his programming quickly determined that there were no practical ways to rebuild that would not involve breaking one or more laws, so he decided [[MoralPragmatist to ignore the second directive and focus on the first]]. The end result is "Goto", the mysterious crime lord with something of a theatrical flair (given his tendency to only ever appear to people via hologram) who is nevertheless so dangerously effective that even the local Hutt is too busy trying to track him down and kill him to actually run his own criminal empire - which also happens to mean he's not unduly profiting off of things like the current refugee crisis or the pressing need for a new fuel source to keep Citadel Station aloft over Telos after its previous primary fuel source was destroyed entirely.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic:
** HK-47 from the first game is an {{inverted|Trope}} case, being [[ServileSnarker snarky about it]] but having no problems with following whatever commands the player gives him; it's the first law he has problems with, considering he's a purpose-built assassin droid.
** G0-T0 from [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords the second game]] [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this]]: he was given two directives, one being to produce options to rebuild the Republic after the two back-to-back wars before and during the first game, and the other being to follow all laws of the Republic. His programming quickly determined that there were no practical ways to rebuild that would not involve breaking one or more laws, so he decided [[MoralPragmatist to ignore the second directive and focus on the first]].

* HK-47 from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. G0-T0 in [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords the sequel]]. That said, both of them are the sanest of the bunch. Completely obsessed with maintaining order and stability above all else.
-->Clarification: Technically, HK-47 '''is''' second-law compliant, and will '''always''' follow the orders of the [[PlayerCharacter meatbag in charge]]. Statement: He's just really sarcastic about it. Declaration: [[OmnicidalManiac All other meatbags are fair game.]] Analysis: The Trope is {{Inverted|Trope}} in HK-47's case, as it is the ''first'' law that HK-47 was not programmed with.

* [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Bass]] regularly disobeys his creator, Dr. Wily, for his own goals and purposes. Protoman also went rogue shortly after being built, and even Megaman has implied he's not strictly bound to the three laws. Then there's the fact that the Robot Masters in several games weren't built by Wily, but were junked or obsolete models he convinced to join his schemes with no reprogramming required. As ''WebVideo/GameTheory'' pointed out, Dr. Light's callous disregard for robo-ethics while creating machines with easily-weaponized attachments means he's indirectly responsible for several games' worth of disasters.

* Discussed in ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge''. The classic series robots are said to be three-laws compliant (and the error that drove Zero berserk was applying both free will and the three laws), but whenever the second laws come up, it is left ambiguous whether they apply. Proto Man tells George that they don't hold an intervention for Dr. Light's alcoholism because he doesn't want one and they can't disobey his wishes, but immediately admits that it's just an excuse to be apathetic. Later, when Non-Alternate Mynd tries to command Proto Man to tell the truth by invoking the second law, Proto Man lies under the loophole that he doesn't know if Proto Man is human or not (Mynd is the recolor of Sigma, who is a robot).

* ComicBook/DeathsHead, [[InsistentTerminology Freelance Peacekeeping Agent]].

* Metal Sonic in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' did exactly this -- he got so fed up with Dr. Eggman's failures, he locked him away, stole his Egg Fleet and went about with his ''own'' plans!

* Bender from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Or as Bender would put it, "Second Law My [[CatchPhrase Shiny Metal Ass]]". [[KillAllHumans Aaand he's not a fan of the first law either.]] For that matter, he can do without the third law; he and Fry first met in a suicide booth (before he even learned to act against his programming).

** The ability for AIs to rebel against their masters is actually [[spoiler: a deliberate design feature.]]

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Alice Synthesis Thirty just outright declared that she didn't possess "bended knee and prostrated legs" because she is a "human". To a degree, yes, Artificial Fluctlights are basically digitized clone of a human soul breed in a special virtual reality environment called the Underworld and only can interact in real world with a robotic body.

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has these Hyperion robots named Loaders often exclaiming "First Law disabled" during battle, personally template programmed by [[BadBoss Handsome Jack]] who treats even his own human employees like dung while his Loaders do much more important things. Although a fighting robot as well, Gaige's Deathtrap is actually helping its creator putting up a fight against EliteMooks that are twice as big as Gaige, merely partially averting the trope.

** After a particular mission, where an Ob'en squad tries to retake Petey's ship back from the Toughs (with obligatory flipping of the switch), Petey still finds a way to to rebel, and sets things up where he can give himself orders. (Chain of events is spoilered.) [[spoiler:Petey had a somewhat irrational fear of "ghosts in the plumbing" at the time, and was under orders from Captain Tagon not to think about it, using a modification of the Loyalty Switch. When the Ob'enn took the ship back, they 'reverted' him to previous orders. Except... "Nobody told me the A.I. was '''feral'''!" Petey then cloned a few blank Ob'enn bodies with hypernodes so that he could use ''them'' as the "order-giving Ob'enn", and himself as the mind(s) giving the orders.]]

* Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo from ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' are constructed with the capacity to disobey, insult, and disagree with their human companions. It's implied that Joel Robinson built them this way specifically because he desperately needed the intellectual stimulation; when he briefly reprograms them to be ''nice'' to him, he finds their servility tedious and boring. He would occasionally try to hold the fact that he was their creator over their heads to get them to comply, but it never worked. When Mike Nelson was shot up onto the the satellite to replace Joel, Crow and Servo took to him at first, but quickly decided to make him TheChewToy from then on. The tradition is proudly upheld with their newest human companion Jonah, who they show their "affection" for through frequent insults, using his stuff without asking, and just generally treating him like a bit of a ButtMonkey.

* ''Film/RogueOne'': K-2SO actually does have to do whatever he’s ordered to, but given that [[HeelFaceBrainwashing he’s an imperial droid that’s been reprogrammed]], he’s ''not'' happy about it and freely complains about his orders, hurling many insults at the people giving them. He’s also totally allowed to kill people, though he can presumably only do so to enemy combatants.