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Context Recap / LoveDeathAndRobotsThreeRobots

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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3robots_3.jpg]]
2->''"You've seen one post-apocalyptic city, you've seen 'em all."''
3
4In the future, a trio of robots explores a post-apocalyptic city.
5
6Gary Anthony Williams voices XBOT 4000 while Josh Brener voices K-VRC. Based on the short story "Three Robots Experience Objects Left Behind from the Era of Humans for the First Time" by Creator/JohnScalzi.
7
8The episode got a sequel titled "[[Recap/LoveDeathAndRobotsThreeRobotsExitStrategies Three Robots: Exit Strategies]]", also by Scalzi, in the third season.
9----
10!!Tropes:
11
12* AbsurdlyLongWait: Parodied with 11-45-G serving a dish to a skeleton at the diner with the line "sorry for the wait".
13* AdaptationTitleChange: The original story is titled "Three Robots Experience Objects Left Behind from the Era of Humans for the First Time".
14* BaitAndSwitch
15** The robot stepping on a skull as per ''Film/TheTerminator'' turns out to be three innocuous robot tourists exploring an AfterTheEnd city.
16** The three robots appear to be sitting on the couch starting at a television in imitation of the ancient human custom. Turns out they're staring at a cat.
17** A pissed-off X-Bot 4000 advances on K-VRC...and just dumps the cat on the robot's head.
18* BigBrotherIsWatching: [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] by the X-Bot 3 game console. What appears to be a power button is actually an electronic eye, suggesting the console was (when operational) probably always powered on and always watching its owners.
19* BigThinShortTrio: 11-45-G is the Big, X-Bot 4000 is the Thin, and K-VRC is the Short.
20* BlandNameProduct: X-Bot 4000 is implied to be descended from a games console called the X-Bot (Xbox).
21* BolivianArmyEnding: Played for laughs; the short ends with the three robots completely surrounded by cats that want scratches.
22* BrainBleach: X-Bot 4000 immediately regrets looking up teabagging.
23* BreatherEpisode: If one has the viewing order that sandwiches this between the dark and violent "[[Recap/LoveDeathAndRobotsSonniesEdge Sonnie's Edge]]" and the psychedelic mindbending "[[Recap/LoveDeathAndRobotsTheWitness The Witness]]", this episode is more lighthearted and comedic.
24* CatsAreMean: Cats are implied to have wiped out humanity after being [[UpliftedAnimal given thumbs]] and no longer needing them to open their food cans.
25-->'''X-BOT 4000:''' Why did humans even consort with these murder-machines?
26* CuteMachines: K-VRC is a short, brightly-colored, round-limbed robot with a cheerful personality and a [[TVHeadRobot screen displaying a smiley face for a head]]. He also uses the least curse words out of his peers and the one time he did, it was just an expression on his screen-face that said "WTF". Justified -- his model was used for babysitting, which he admits they were terrible at.
27* DeadpanSnarker: Given that 11-45-G's VA is a text-to-speech program, this is to be expected.
28-->'''11-45-G:''' Stop being a whiny pussy and fucking bounce it. Please.
29* DrivenToSuicide: At the high school gym, there's a long-dead corpse of someone who hung themselves from the rafters.
30* EvilerThanThou: While HumansAreBastards, cats are apparently worse.
31* FantasticAesop: Immediately after the GreenAesop, the short presents an alternative SpoofAesop to be derived from humanity's extinction: Don't give cats thumbs.
32* FlippingTheBird: XBOT when 11-45-G takes a photo of him.
33* FreudWasRight: 11-45-G points out the rocket's phallic shape.
34* FutureImperfect: Most of the humor comes from the misunderstandings toward humanity the robots have, as well as them being RightForTheWrongReasons, from thinking cats are exploding superweapons (from the game ''Exploding Kittens''), to figuring out exactly what the kind of people who play X-Bots are like.
35* GreenAesop: When reflecting upon what exactly it was that drove humanity to extinction, the robots come to the conclusion it was environmental disaster. Indeed, 11-45-G appears to [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall look at the audience]] while this is being said.
36-->'''11-45-G:''' Indeed, it was their own hubris that ended their reign, their belief that they were the pinnacle of creation that caused them to poison the water, kill the land and choke the sky. In the end, no nuclear winter was needed, just the long heedless autumn of their own self-regard.
37** However it then concludes that it was just a case of HumansAreMorons.
38* HashtagForLaughs: Someone wrote on a wall "#wersofucked".
39* HereWeGoAgain: Cats wiped out humans once they could open their own tuna cans, but apparently they miss being petted, so take the three robots captive to provide this function.
40* {{Hubris}}: According to 11-45-G, the cause of humanity's downfall was their belief in their superiority leading to the destruction of their environment.
41* HumanitysWake: A trio of robots explore a dead city after humanity's extinction, trying to make sense of human things.
42* HumansAreBastards: This exchange:
43-->'''XBOT''': Why do these humans even consort with these hairy murder machines?
44-->'''K-VRC''': Kindred spirits?
45-->'''11-45-G''': Also checks out.
46* TheInternetIsForCats: 11-45-G claims humans "had an entire network that was devoted to the dissemination of pictures of [cats]".
47* LickedByTheDog: XBOT getting "occupied" by the cat.
48* MechanicalEvolution: Implied; the sentient robots appeared to have evolved out of existing mechanical devices following HumanitysWake. K-VRC, for example, is hinted to be descended from baby monitors.
49* ParrotPetPosition: When the cat jumps on XBOT's shoulder.
50* PlugNPlayTechnology: XBOT picks a part of the Xbox and uses it as a replacement for his missing eye.
51* ReclaimedByNature: The city is starting to have hints of this, with moss and mold growing over the interior of a diner, and vegetation in general being overgrown.
52* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: The titular three robots play around with the trope. While they often have trouble grasping certain human concepts like "eating" and "sports", their general behaviour is more akin to that of a group of friends bumbling around than complex machines. 11-45-G, the most [[StarfishRobots inhuman looking and sounding of the three,]] spends much of her time goofing off and playing around with whatever she finds, contrasting her appearance.
53* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: K-VRC refers to a basketball as an "entertainment sphere".
54-->'''11-45-G:''' [[DefiedTrope It's called a ball]].\
55'''K-VRC:''' I know it's called a ball, but [[LampshadeHanging I'm trying to get into the whole "we're experiencing these human things for the first time" vibe]].
56* ShoulderCannon: XBOT has one.
57* ShoutOut: The opening shot of XBOT 4000 stepping on a skull is taken from the prologue of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''.
58* SorryILeftTheBGMOn: 11-45-G delivering a GreenAesop.
59* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: X-BOT 4000 and K-VRC are advanced, sentient robots despite the fact that were developed from a gaming console and a baby monitor, respectively.
60* SyntheticVoiceActor: 11-45-G's voice is produced with a text-to-speech program, which is why her name isn't present the original credits. She's voiced by human actors in foreign dubs, which reveals her name in their versions of the credits.
61* UnspecifiedApocalypse: There are conflicting reports as to why humanity went extinct. 11-45-G's research suggests it was an environmental catastrophe. The cats claim ''they'' did it because humanity [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness had ceased to be of any use to them once they were given thumbs]].
62* UpliftedAnimal: Cats have been given thumbs and the [[TalkingAnimal ability to speak like humans]].

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