History YMMV / RoboCop1987

** The first film is a crystal clear satire, and a warning against unbound capitalism taking over basic services like law enforcement, portraying the corrupt executives of OCP as no different than monstrous gangsters like Boddicker (who are in fact on their payroll). Did not stop neoliberals from embracing OCP's takeover and rebuilding of Detroit as an ideal to be emulated, and Robocop as a stalwart of their ideals rather than a victim.
** The film also has time to spoof the commercialization of violence to children with the ''Nukem!'' board game and maybe even with the gunslinger show that is a favorite of Murphy's son. Nevertheless the movie was used to produce toys, a sunday morning cartoon, and a [[Film/Robocop3 third installment]] that was openly alimed to children.
** The [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYyzXMOX0AI0KV1?format=jpg&name=medium meeting]] of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon and Robo at an act of the Boy Scouts of America where the latter was promoting the release of the film in home video may be the best summation of several of the issues listed above.

** The film also has time to spoof the commercialization of violence to children with the ''Nukem!'' board game and maybe even with the gunslinger show that is a favorite of Murphy's son. Nevertheless the movie was used to produce toys for children, a sunday morning cartoon, and a [[Film/Robocop3 third installment]] that was openly alimed to children. [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYyzXMOX0AI0KV1?format=jpg&name=medium Here's]] a pic of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon meeting Robo at an act of the Boy Scouts of America where the latter was promoting the release of the film in home video.

** The film also has time to spoof the commercialization of violence to children with the ''Nukem!'' board game and maybe even with the gunslinger show that is a favorite of Murphy's son. Nevertheless the movie was used to produce toys for children, a sunday morning cartoon, and a [[Film/Robocop3 third installment]] that was openly alimed to children.

* MisaimedFandom: A sizable portion of the film's fans love the film for its gratuitous ultraviolence. Said film is brutal satire attacking (particularly American) media for glorifying and commercializing violence while ''real people'' living in ''real cities'' are struggling with ''real violence'', and implies that the only people who can stomach such violence are insane and sadistic criminals, and those so scarred by violence that they've lost their humanity.

** The board game ''Nukem'' is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSSVt7Mfkk depicted]] as being more or less a modern-day version of ''TabletopGame/{{Battleship}}'' for the age of MutuallyAssuredDestruction. Thanks to both ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{DEFCON}}'', one can now play ''Nukem'' in real life, albeit as a video game instead. (The line from the ad in which the boy complains about how "Pakistan is threatening my border" calls to mind [[MemeticMutation Nuclear Gandhi]][[note]]A bug in the first ''Civilization'' game made Gandhi switch from a pacifist to a warmonger the moment his nation switched to Democracy, and he would happily sling it around. This became an AscendedGlitch in the sequels, where the bug was fixed but Gandhi now eagerly pursued the development of nuclear weapons once he got the required technology.[[/note]] in particular.) And of course, it shares its name with a famous video game protagonist, VideoGame/DukeNukem.

** The board game ''Nukem'' is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSSVt7Mfkk depicted]] as being more or less a modern-day version of ''TabletopGame/{{Battleship}}'' for the age of MutuallyAssuredDestruction. Thanks to both ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{DEFCON}}'', one can now play ''Nukem'' in real life, albeit as a video game instead. (The line from the ad in which the boy complains about how "Pakistan is threatening my border" calls to mind [[MemeticMutation Nuclear Gandhi]][[note]]A bug in the first ''Civilization'' game made Gandhi switch from a pacifist to a warmonger the moment his nation switched to Democracy, and he would happily sling it around. This became an AscendedGlitch in the sequels, where the bug was fixed but Gandhi now eagerly pursued the development of nuclear weapons once he got the required technology.[[/note]] in particular.) And of course, it [[NamesTheSame shares its name]] with a famous video game protagonist, VideoGame/DukeNukem.

* MandelaEffect: Murphy dies 20 minutes into the movie, but many people remember him dying much earlier.

** To some extent, Emil got this reaction with his infamously nauseating death. At least to a few being melted alive in agony and ''splattered'' was far too extreme, even for a trigger-happy scumbag like him.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Bob Morton is a {{Jerkass}} CorruptCorporateExecutive who helped reassign cops to risky areas and was partly responsible for placing Murphy in harm's way. After his promotion, he is shown snorting cocaine and playing with escort women. The filmmakers fully expected audiences to cheer when he got killed by Boddicker. Instead, to their surprise as disclosed in the audio commentary on the Criterion Collection DVD, they found that the audience actually felt ''sorry'' for him, if only because he was killed in a fairly grotesque manner. Plus, he's a relatively but significantly better person than Dick Jones and Clarence Boddicker. Also and more importantly, he's the one who rescues Alex from near death and turns him into Franchise/{{RoboCop}} (again, completely ignoring that he put Murphy and cops like him in harm's way ''in the first place'')! Creator/MiguelFerrer's natural charisma and èlan certainly helps him towering above the overall bleakness of the film, giving Morton some fatherly undertones of a man proud of his creation while overseeing Robocop's first steps. [[note]]The character Bob Morton was originally conceived as a stereotypical corporate executive, arrogant, unpleasant, and unlikable. However, when Miguel Ferrer signed on and gave his performance as an amiable and charismatic individual, Edward Neumeier and Paul Verhoeven realized that the audience would likely start sympathizing with the character, and Bob Morton was rewritten to become the (somewhat) more pleasant individual that he is in the movie.[[/note]]

** The trailer for the film features Brad Fiedel's theme for ''Film/TheTerminator'' and Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger was originally considered for the title role, then comes ''ComicBook/RoboCopVersusTheTerminator'', followed by the two meeting once again in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''.

* ImprovedByTheReCut: The 103-minute director's cut is generally seen as superior to the theatrical cut due to the increased violence, among other things.

** "Can you fly, Bobby?"
** "I know you. You're dead. We killed you. We killed you!"
** "Dead or alive, you're coming with me."
** "Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply."
*** "You now have fifteen seconds to comply. You are in direct violation of Penal Code 113, Section 9."
*** "You now have five seconds to comply. Four, three, two, one. I am now authorized to use physical force. ''*[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG]]*''
*** "[[BlackComedy Somebody want to call a goddamn paramedic?!]]"
** "Bitches, leave."
** "Your move, creep!"
** "I like it!"
** A less-used quote is "Come quietly or there will be... trouble."

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The scene near the beginning with the demonstration of the ED-209 in the Director's Cut. In the theatrical version, it merely just shoots the executive for a second or two to kill him in a perfunctory manner. In the uncut version, it unloads [[Main/MoreDakka hundreds of bullets]] into him with gallons of HighPressureBlood spraying everywhere as the engineers try to disable the robot. This goes on for about 15 seconds, long after any human being could survive with ED-209 just chewing up the corpse. To top it off, some random guy says "Somebody wanna' call a goddamned paramedic?" after ED's done turning the guy into paste. The original intent of the film was to make it so outrageously violent you couldn't take it seriously. The [[ExecutiveMeddling studio cut forced out]] much of the violence so that some scenes ended up a bit more depressing than others.

** [[AxCrazy Clarence Boddicker]] is the de facto crime boss of Old Detroit. An infamous CopKiller, Boddicker is under suspicion of murdering 31 police officers, and opens the movie killing three more. When Alex Murphy, the future [[Characters/RoboCopTheCharacter RoboCop]], attempts to arrest him, Boddicker [[CruelAndUnusualDeath draws out his death]], shooting off his hand with his shotgun, before letting his men continuously shoot Murphy in the chest until they're out of ammo, at which point Clarence himself [[BoomHeadshot shoots Murphy in the head]]. Later, Boddicker takes immense pleasure in assassinating Bob Morton, the corporate rival of Boddicker's ally Dick Jones. As he plays a taunting message from Jones, Boddicker shoots Morton repeatedly in the legs, then leaves behind a live grenade to finish him off. The leader of a sadistic gang of criminals, Boddicker [[BadBoss cares nothing for the lives of his men]], at one point cracking a joke as he kills one of them by throwing him into the path of a pursuing police car as a distraction. Trying to assassinate [=RoboCop=] and his partner, Anne Lewis, at the climax of the film, [[PsychoForHire Boddicker]] shows that in addition to being paid for his crimes, he takes psychotic pride in them every step of the way.

** [[AxCrazy Clarence Boddicker]] is the de facto crime boss of Old Detroit. An infamous CopKiller, Boddicker is under suspicion of murdering 31 police officers, and opens the movie killing three more. When Alex Murphy, the future [=RoboCop=], attempts to arrest him, Boddicker [[CruelAndUnusualDeath draws out his death]], shooting off his [[{{Fingore}} hand]] with his shotgun, before letting his men continuously shoot Murphy in the chest until they're out of ammo, at which point Clarence himself [[BoomHeadshot shoots Murphy in the head]]. Later, Boddicker takes immense pleasure in assassinating Bob Morton, the corporate rival of Boddicker's ally Dick Jones. As he plays a taunting message from Jones, Boddicker shoots Morton repeatedly in the legs, then leaves behind a live grenade to finish him off. The leader of a sadistic gang of criminals, Boddicker [[BadBoss cares nothing for the lives of his men]], at one point cracking a joke as he kills one of them by throwing him into the path of a pursuing police car as a distraction. Trying to assassinate [=RoboCop=] and his partner, Anne Lewis, at the climax of the film, [[PsychoForHire Boddicker]] shows that in addition to being paid for his crimes, he takes psychotic pride in them every step of the way.

** On the other hand, the Japanese dub, at least from the first film, does some strange ommisions or changes:
*** When Murphy is shot by Boddicker and his gang, Murphy sounds more like he was being punched in the gut than someone being shot with high-powered guns.
*** When Robocop shot a rapist in the groin, the guy sounded more like he was being kicked in the nuts rather than someone screaming in pain after being castrated with hot lead.
*** Also overlapping with InconsistentDub, Jones address Bob Morton at the beginning of the film as "Morton-kun", being "-kun" a honorific used by older people to address their juniors (which is the case regarding the relationship between those two characters) but much later Jones stop using honorifics with him and he address him as either Morton or his full name instead. In the same way, Boddicker address Jones as "Shachou-dono", (Mr. CEO/vice-president) through the "-dono" honorific is used by him in a rather conscendent way, but at times, he address him by his last name instead.

* FoeYay: It's noted on the commentary track that the scene between Bob Morton and Dick Jones is loaded with homoerotic subtext.

** Murphy's death is also this. In the [[Series/RoboCop spin-off TV series]], we see he has a mother and a father. Imagine how they must've felt when they heard he got brutally gunned down by a gang of criminals.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: It's at least partly in effect, since the ultraviolence is often depicted in an over-the-top and somewhat campy manner (as mentioned above, the famous ED-209 scene often mentioned was deliberately intended to be so ludicrously violent that the audience would end up [[CrossesTheLineTwice laughing at how over-the-top it was]]) and when [=RoboCop=] starts taking down the borderline-{{Complete Monster}}s he's facing throughout the movie with similar gratuitous violence it's hard not to find it triumphant on some level, especially given how violent Murphy's death was - [[AssholeVictim these guys]] have ''earned'' it.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Dick Jones demonstrates a combat robot (ED-209) in a public office of OCP, hoping for it to be mass-produced for use in Detroit.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That he'd have the combat robot not loaded with live rounds for this demonstration, in case something goes wrong (imagine that) and it doesn't stop being aggressive even after throwing down your weapon on the ground.\\
'''Instead:''' He has the ED-209 loaded with live rounds for the demonstration, and wouldn't you know it, it malfunctions and kills one of the board members.
** Leon arrives above the muddy terrain where his boss Boddicker is being cornered by Murphy.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That he just destroys Murphy on the spot, from a safe distance, firing his Cobra Assault Gun.\\
'''Instead''': He drops his perfectly functional weapon tailor-made for the task, and instead operates a crane to dump a load of scrapped metal onto Murphy, which does nothing but briefly incapacitate him.
** And in the end, once Murphy reveals Jones' corruption, [[VillainousBreakdown he immediately pulls out a pistol and holds it to his boss' head]]. Directive Four explicitly prevents him from harming [[ExactWords OCP executives]], and it doesn't occur to him that he could get fired for holding his boss hostage, which makes the Old Man telling him he's fired all the more sweeter.
** Boddicker sees no problem with [=RoboCop=] knowing about his alliance with Jones, feeling the confession can't be proven since they were alone at the time and he was being beaten. Jones doesn't quite see it that way: "He's a cyborg, you idiot! He recorded every word you said, his memories are admissible as evidence!" Which becomes ironic when Jones [[JustBetweenYouAndMe proclaims he had to kill Bob Morton]] for making a mistake and now he's going to [[DeadlyEuphemism erase that mistake]], [[TooDumbToLive even when he knows Robo is capable of recording him.]] [[note]] Boddicker can argue his confession was coerced because the same video recording also shows him being mercilessly beaten by his arresting officer. Jones has no excuse other than over-confidence. [[/note]] In fairness to Jones, however, he expected that to be the last he'd see of [=RoboCop=] before ED-209 did away with him.

** [[AxCrazy Clarence Boddicker]] is the de facto crime boss of Old Detroit. An infamous CopKiller, Boddicker is under suspicion of murdering 31 police officers, and opens the movie killing three more. When Alex Murphy, the future [=RoboCop=], attempts to arrest him, Boddicker [[CruelAndUnusualDeath draws out his death]], shooting off his [[{{Fingore}} hand]] with his shotgun, before letting his men continuously shoot Murphy in the chest until they're out of ammo, at which point Clarence himself shoots Murphy [[BoomHeadshot in the head]]. Later, he takes immense pleasure in assassinating Bob Morton, the corporate rival of Boddicker's ally, Dick Jones. As he plays a taunting message from Jones, Boddicker shoots Morton repeatedly in the legs then leaves behind a live grenade to finish him off. The leader of a sadistic gang of criminals, Boddicker [[BadBoss cares nothing for the lives of his men]], at one point cracking a joke as he kills one of them by throwing him into the path of a pursuing police car as a distraction. Trying to assassinate [=RoboCop=] and his partner, Ann Lewis, at the climax of the film, [[PsychoForHire Boddicker]] shows that in addition to being paid for his crimes, he takes psychotic pride in them every step of the way.
** [[ADickInName Dick Jones]] is not only a CorruptCorporateExecutive in [[MegaCorp Omni Consumer Products (OCP)]], but is also Clarence Boddicker's boss. Jones is fully aware of how awful Clarence is and uses his thirst for violence to his own advantage and prosperity. Jones [[LackOfEmpathy doesn't care]] when his ED-209 malfunctions and blows holes in an innocent executive, believing it was a necessary loss to test his subject out. Jones orders Clarence to kill plenty of good-working and innocent cops so that he can make money with their deaths and get more support for ED-209 so that his project will be the one that profits. When Bob Morton gets the upper hand with his [=RoboCop=] project, he has him killed, [[EvilGloating leaving a message]] to taunt him and taking pride in his victory. When [=RoboCop=] later confronts and tries to arrest him, it's revealed that he's had Directive Four installed in [=RoboCop=] to have him shut down if he goes against an OCP member as an insurance policy to himself. He orders ED-209 to go after [=RoboCop=] to destroy what he believes is Morton's "mistake" and has him [[FrameUp framed as a dangerous enemy]] when he survives. He has Clarence and his men, whom [=RoboCop=] had all arrested, released just for the purpose of killing him and then later [[HostageSituation takes the Old Man hostage]] and threatens his life to try to get away when he's exposed.

* CatharsisFactor: Anytime [=RoboCop=] guns down a criminal, considering how horrible all of them are. Special mention goes to the scene where Robo shoves a helpless Boddicker through a bunch of windows and later stabs him in the throat, or finally puts an end to Dick Jones by shooting him out of a window.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: It's at least partly in effect, since the ultraviolence is often depicted in an over-the-top and somewhat campy manner (as mentioned above, the famous ED-209 scene often mentioned was deliberately intended to be so ludicrously violent that the audience would end up [[CrossesTheLineTwice laughing at how over-the-top it was]]) and when [=RoboCop=] starts taking down the borderline-{{Complete Monster}}s he's facing throughout the movie with similar gratuitous violence it's hard not to find it triumphant on some level, especially given how violent Murphy's death was - these guys have ''earned'' it.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: ED-209. So much so that he became a franchise staple rather than just a minor character; ED-209 is the one of the only characters besides [=RoboCop=] himself that appears in nearly ''every'' work of ''[=RoboCop=]'' fiction, even including Robo’s {{Guest Fighter}} appearance in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''.[[note]]However, ED-209 doesn't appear in ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries'' and ''Series/RoboCopPrimeDirectives''[[/note]]