History YMMV / AtomicRobo

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Jenkins, even though he is ''technically'' the main character's sidekick, is an unstoppable OneManArmy with hilariously overblown results and comically high-culture interests. Dr. Dinosaur is a hilarious one-off villain created for a free comic book day story who quickly became one of the hero's main antagonists.

* HilariousInHindsight: Doctor Dinosaur has teeth that portrude from his mouth. A later study showed that ''real'' Utahraptors have that too.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Half the stuff Dr. Dinosaur does.

* EvilIsCool: Baron Helsingard and Edison.

* JerkassWoobie: Thomas Edison.

* TheWoobie: Robo himself.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Robo and Tesla's falling out in "The Deadly Art Of Science".
** In the very first volume, chapter 2, Robo gets a letter from the granddaughter of an old friend from the war telling him that her grandfather has died of cancer. This is intercut with a interview where Robo is asked what the hardest part of his life was. He tells the interviewer that the hardest part is that he is 83 and can do a ''great'' [[Radio/TheJackBennyProgram Jack Benny]], but no one knows to appreciate it anymore. It's pretty obvious what he's actually thinking about.
** TheReveal that [[spoiler: Edison became evil because he wanted to be with his wife forever.]]
** Robo ultimately [[spoiler: DidNotGetTheGirl as Helen ends up with Chen. He knows it's probably for the best as he is functionally immortal, but it still doesn't lessen the blow.]]
** There's an undercurrent of melancholy all throughout ''Knights of the Golden Circle''. It starts with Robo [[spoiler: having spent fourteen years alone in a shack in the desert in a time that isn't his]], and then he [[spoiler: reveals to Doc Holliday and Marshal Reeves that he's dying - he barely knows them, but he's got nobody else to tell. He goes down fighting, but it's hard to see his battered head put in a box to unconsciously take TheSlowPath back home]].
** Robo revealing to [[spoiler: ALAN 2.0]] that he and Tesla fought before he went on his mission in ''The Will To Power'' - and that [[spoiler: it was the last time he saw his creator alive.]]
--->'''Robo''': I used to resent '''Mr. Tesla''' for keeping me cooped up.\\
[[spoiler: '''ALAN 2.0:''']] Was it also for your protection?\\
'''Robo''': '''Yeah.''' We just had different opinions about how much protecting an invincible super robot '''needed.''' It was hard for him, and I never made it any '''easier.''' Hell, we argued about it [[spoiler: the last time we '''spoke.''']] The '''army''' said they'd make my citizenship "happen" if I just did one '''little''' secret mission for them. It was an offer I '''couldn't''' refuse. But Mr. Tesla was a '''pacifist.''' I'd never seen him so '''angry.''' [[spoiler: And then I never saw him '''again.''']] [[spoiler: (This especially hurts when you remember that Robo went on that mission in 1939 and Tesla died in January of 1943.)]]
** [[spoiler:Jenkins]] demanding that [[spoiler:Alan MercyKill]] him [[ZombieInfectee before he turns]] in ''The Vengeful Dead''.
--->'''[[spoiler:Jenkins]]:''' I ''know'' how this goes. There's ''no'' turning back. You have to do it.\\
'''[[spoiler:Alan]]:''' I don't want to.\\
'''[[spoiler:Jenkins]]:''' ''They'' can't. They ''won't''. Before it's too late. It's ''got'' to be done. ''I'' can't help Robo anymore. ''You're'' [[spoiler:Final Wolf]] now.

* AssPull: Projekt Longinus, a previous unmentioned, still functioning 70-year old Nazi KillSat that ''just happens'' to be what Team Tesla needs to kill a ten kilometer wide Biomega island. While normally there's a fair amount of set up prior to revealing the next piece of hidden history in the Atomic Robo universe, there's little hint of this beyond an offhand mention of "the Nazi space program" at the start of ''The Savage Sword of Doctor Dinosaur'' arc.

** Robo ultimately [[spoiler: DidNotGetTheGirl as Helen ends up with Chen. He knows it's probably for the best as he is functionally immortal but it still doesn't lessen the blow.]]

--->'''Robo''': I used to resent '''Mr. Tesla''' for keeping me cooped up.
--->[[spoiler: '''ALAN 2.0:''']] Was it also for your protection?
--->'''Robo''': '''Yeah.''' We just had different opinions about how much protecting an invincible super robot '''needed.''' It was hard for him, and I never made it any '''easier.''' Hell, we argued about it [[spoiler: the last time we '''spoke.''']] The '''army''' said they'd make my citizenship "happen" if I just did one '''little''' secret mission for them. It was an offer I '''couldn't''' refuse. But Mr. Tesla was a '''pacifist.''' I'd never seen him so '''angry.''' [[spoiler: And then I never saw him '''again.''']] [[spoiler: (This especially hurts when you remember that Robo went on that mission in 1939 and Tesla died in January of 1943.)]]
** [[spoiler:Jenkins]] dying in ''The Vengeful Dead''.

* AssPull: Projekt Longinus, a previous unmentioned, still functioning 70-year old Nazi KillSat that ''just happens'' to be what Team Tesla needs to kill a ten kilometer wide Biomega island. While normally there's a fair amount of set up prior to revealing the next CrazyAwesome piece of hidden history in the Atomic Robo universe, there's little hint of this beyond an offhand mention of "the Nazi space program" at the start of ''The Savage Sword of Doctor Dinosaur'' arc.

* CrazyAwesome: Dr. Dinosaur. He's an insane, MadScientist dinosaur - resembling a species from Film/JurassicPark more closely than anything that actually existed - who claims to have traveled through time and space to destroy humanity and make dinosaurs rule the Earth once more. He's also appears to be invincible having survived shootouts and fistfights with Robo, getting smacked full-tilt by an armored truck, and being close to a bunch of grenades exploding and taking out Robo. He spends his time doing things like shooting up 4th grade science fairs to steal a little girl's experiment, buying guns by using a children's picture book as ID, and trying to kill Atomic Robo for little to no reason.

%%* {{HSQ}}: Volume 8's ending.

--->'''Robo''': '''Yeah.''' We just had different opinions about how much protecting an invincible super robot '''needed.''' It was hard for him, and I never made it any '''easier.''' Hell, we argued about it [[spoiler: the last time we '''spoke.''']] The '''army''' said they'd make my citizenship "happen" if I just did one '''little''' secret mission for them. It was an offer I '''couldn't''' refuse. But Mr. Tesla was a '''pacifist.''' I'd never seen him so '''angry.''' [[spoiler: And then I never saw him '''again.''']]