Western Animation / Robotboy

Robotboy is a French-British animated television series created by Jan Van Rijsselberge and produced by Alphanim for Cartoon Network Europe and France 3 that ran from 2005 to 2008. Despite being a European co-production, the show aired in the United States as well.

The eponymous protagonist is the latest creation of the world-renowned scientist Professor Moshimo. Due to fears that Robotboy would fall into the hands of his arch-rival Dr. Kamikazi and his main henchman, Constantine, to be used as their token to world domination, Professor Moshimo entrusts Robotboy to 10-year-old Tommy Turnbull, his biggest fan. While being protected by Tommy and his two friends, Lola and Gus, or "G-man" as he calls himself, Robotboy learns how to behave and act as if he were a real boy.

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Robotboy provides examples of:

• Aborted Arc: Lola's crush on Tommy is no longer acknowledged in season 2.
• A Boy and His X: Tommy and Robotboy. They are a human boy and a powerful fighting robot respectively; while Robotboy has the usual role of fighting the villains, Tommy's job is to teach him how to be like a real boy.
• Agony of the Feet:
  • In "Ogbot", the eponymous robot impales a flag on Gus' foot as if he were on the moon.
  • Happens to Tommy in "The Return of Robotgirl" when Gus puts on a fake titanium butt and dares him to kick it.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Tommy has the hots for Bambi. Bambi doesn't reciprocate...unless Tommy proves to be good at tetherball (not for real) or fighting (for real).
• Alliterative Family: All other members of Tommy's direct family have names beginning with D.
• Alliterative Name: Tommy Turnbull.
• Alliterative Title: The episode "Tummy Trouble".
• Alpha Bitch: Bambi is the prettiest girl in school, is a cheerleader, dates the school's Jerk Jock and only spends time with him and his crowd of bullies. Towards the less popular kids she's usually just ignorant, but can also be nasty, like making fun of Tommy in front of the whole school for his inability to properly talk to attractive girls.
• Animals Hate Him: Kamikazi. Almost every animal he owned tried to seriously hurt him in some way, not helped by the fact that he kept incredibly dangerous pets like a leopard, a hyena, or a snake. The only exception at first is Gerome, if only because he's not very intelligent, but even he turns against his master after being run over by a car.
• Animesque: Due to its Japanese inspirations, the show has a somewhat animesque style, especially Robotboy and Robotgirl.
• Anuscape Plan: Robotboy exploits this in "Journey to the Center of the Gus". Bjorn secretly sends a tiny robot to destroy him, but it ends up inside Gus instead and threatens to kill him by growing in size later. Robotboy gets the robot out by luring him into the intestine while it's in the process of growing, causing it to get stuck and sending Gus to the toilet. Because there's a camera on the robot, Bjorn and Bjornbot are forced to see the (thankfully unseen to us) procedure where Gus... well, "gets rid" of it.
• Anti-Villain: Constantine is almost a Villain In Name Only. He doesn't have any real malevolence in him; he's just following the orders of his adopted father, Kamikazi.
• Are We There Yet?: In "Traffic Slam", Gus does this to intentionally annoy Mr. Turnbull.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • In "Constantine Rising".
  Tommy: (reading a package) It's from Professor Moshimo. Maybe a new gamma laser for Robotboy.
  Lola: Or a nuclear fusion missile.
  Gus: Or chocolate-covered butterballs. (Lola looks at him funny) What? It could be.
  • In "Cast Iron Constantine", the punishments Constantine expects from Kamikazi include starvation, torture, or try to teach him to use E-mail again.
• Artistic License – Biology:
  • The spider on Robotboy's flashlight in "The Return of Robotgirl" has four eyes instead of eight.
  • The tapeworm situation in "Tummy Trouble" — geez, where do we start? First, tapeworms are several feet long, not one inch. Secondly, tapeworms eat their food by diffusion and active transport, not with a mouth. Third, the doctor's scan near the beginning of the episode shows the tapeworm in Gus's stomach, not his intestines where it should be. Finally, having a tapeworm in your stomach does not make you super-thin in less than a few days.
  • The Kazicondas from the same episode as above clearly look more like cobras.
• Artistic License – Religion: Gus's Amish parents do things like let him wear modern clothes and use technology.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Whenever Gus meets his own end, he's not worth rooting for after all the crap he's put everyone through.
  • Donnie Turnbull is basically an ugly thug that picks on everyone, so whenever he meets his end it's satisfying for the viewer.
• Astro Clone: Robotboy is based off of Astro. Robotboy was created by a Japanese professor, Professor Moshimo, with the most advanced fighting capabilities on the planet, but the mind of an 11-year old boy. To keep him out of the wrong hands, Robotboy is sent to live with an American boy named Tommy Turnbull, who teaches Robotboy to be like a human boy. Robotboy is a Pint-Sized Powerhouse and a Flying Brick who is later given an Uran-like Distaff Counterpart in Robotgirl and is also shown to have an older evil counterpart named Protoboy.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
  • The titular monster from "Clammadon Rising". A giant radioactive clam.
  • Robotboy's growth capacitor thingy makes him this in "Grow No-Mo!"
  • Salvatore, Kamikazi's supersized gerbil, in "Teasebots".
• Bad Boss: Kamikazi to Constantine. He even threatens him a few times to return him to the orphanage he was adopted from.
• Become a Real Boy: Robotboy wanting to become more human is a recurring theme, especially in season two.
• Beehive Hairdo: In "The Revenge of Protoboy", Deb gets one in the salon on the cruise ship.
• Berserk Button: Felonious Hexx goes into a rage when anyone undermines his magic skills. In his second appearance, just seeing Gus makes him turn red.
• Big Bad: Dr. Kamikazi. Moshimo's old rival who desires to Take Over the World.
• Big Brother Bully: Donnie Turnbull. He's an absolute asshole to Tommy, always picking on him for no apparent reason.
• Big Eater: Gus. He eats in just about every episode. He seems to have a liking for potato chips, pizza, cookies, chocolate, and hamburgers.
• Big Fancy House: The rich characters like Lola, Bambi, and Kurt live in very fancy houses. Lola's father lampshades this when he invites Tommy to his "not so humble house" for lunch.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Donnie, who has just one big black thick line to serve as eyebrows.
• Bilingual Bonus: One of the signs outside Gus' house in "Metal Monster" says "verbotten", which is German for "banned". (It should actually be spelled with only one T, but that's beside the point.)
• Birthday Episode: "Cheesy Fun for Everyone" serves as one for Robotboy.
• Book Dumb: Gus. So much so that a pigeon in his body did better on a science test than he usually does.
• Bowdlerise: The final scene in the "Christmas Evil" was redone for the French dub to change the prank gift Gus receives from Santa: in the original version he gets a fart in a box, in the redone version an apple core.
• Break the Cutie: Off-screen, implied to have been done to Robotgirl right before "The Return of Robotgirl".
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: "Just what any school nurse would do...I took [Gus's] temperature, changed his pulse, and then, gave him a brain transplant!"
• Bully Brutality: Kurt and his cronies have no problem beating up Tommy and others, up to the point that one of them carries a bowling ball around in his hat to hit people with. In "Science Fear", Kurt even tries to actively kill Tommy.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Gus is on the receiving end of physical beatings and slapstick. Though, it's mostly Laser-Guided Karma due to him being a dick.
  • Donnie actually calls Tommy one in "I Want That Toy!" but not with the same meaning. It's just a random insult. Ironic considering Donnie also gets some physical beatings from Robotboy and gets struck by Laser-Guided Karma for his actions all the time.
• Cain and Abel: Protoboy, who is Robotboy's sort of older brother for being Moshimo's previous invention, is the Cain to Robotboy's Abel. Robotboy did try to bond with him at first, but Protoboy only wants to destroy him.
• Character Tics: Robotboy's ears (or whatever those things on the sides of his head are) droop when he's sad.
• Chekhov's Gun: In "Kami-Chameleon", Gus shows Chupika to Tommy, his new virtual pet. Later, Tommy uses Chupika to charge Robotboy when his batteries fall out.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Subverted in "Vitamin Sucker". Klaus von Affenkugel's Vitamonger sucks all the nutrients out of all the plants, food and people it hits, but Gus is unaffected due to his all-junk food diet. Near the end he shows up out of nowhere to attempt a Big Damn Heroes moment, but then quickly retreats.
• The Chew Toy: Gus' injuries and bad luck are amusing and serve him right for being a jerk.
• Closer to Earth: Lola, especially in "The Return of Robotgirl" when she is able to help Robotgirl where Tommy, Gus and Robotboy failed.
  Robotgirl: Lola explain. Robotgirl should ignore logic functions. Must get in touch with emotion functions. Trust motherboard. Robotgirl find Moshimo!
• Contrived Coincidence: In “Tween for a Day” where Robotboy is able to look like a real boy for a set time and join Tommy for school, there just so happens to be a teacher who goads everyone to be like machines or more precisely “robot girls and robot boys,” leading to issues with Robotboy who wants to be a real boy and him getting in trouble.
• Creepy Monotone: This is how Protoboy talks, though only from "The Revenge of Protoboy" onwards.
• Cute Mute: Miumiu, Moshimo's fiancée, but it's finally subverted at the end of "Grow No-Mo!"
• Deus ex Machina: At the end of "The Old Switcharobot" Brainy Yak shows up completely out of nowhere to save Moshimo from Protoboy.
• Demoted to Extra: Donnie Turnbull has slightly less appearances in Season 2.
• Disappeared Dad: Bambi's and Bjorn's fathers are never shown or mentioned.
• Distaff Counterpart: Robotgirl is essentially a female version of Robotboy, bearing the same character design as him, save for being pink, having a bow-tie on her head and wearing a skirt.
• Dumpster Dive: Gus is willing to eat leftovers straight from the garbage.

  Gus: I'm gonna find me some munchies.
  Tommy: Mom said we're all out of food.
  Gus: Bet she didn't check the garbage.

• Dysfunctional Family: Played With. The Turnbull family consists of Dwight who is dim and embarrasses his son, Deb who is a housewife that nags, and Donnie who bullies Tommy.
• Epic Fail: In "The Old Switcharobot", Robotboy-in-Protoboy's-body Super-Activates and prepares to fight Protoboy-in-Robotboy's-body...and then his arm cannon falls out.
• Evil Counterpart: Protoboy to Robotboy, Kamikazi to Moshimo, Kurt to Tommy. Especially noticeable in the Robotboy/Protoboy case — Robotboy was turned evil in a couple of episodes by Kamikazi, but it's always reversed by the end, and Protoboy is pretty much what Robotboy would be if Kamikazi turned him evil without Tommy finding a way to switch him back.
• Evil Is Petty: In "Bad Nanny!" aside from getting trying to get revenge on Gus and Tommy, Felonious Hexx (in disguise as their nanny) also orders pizzas for a hundred people all the way from Mexico.
• Face Palm: Protoboy's reaction to Robotboy stopping Robotgirl from making a Heroic Sacrifice in "The Return of Robotgirl".
  Protoboy: Oh, brother. What a dummy.
• Faking the Dead: In "The Revenge of Protoboy" Gus gets Donnie to stop assaulting him with oranges by playing dead. Robotboy does the same to defeat Protoboy later on.
• Fartillery: In "Christmas Evil" Santa gets back at Gus for attempting to scam him by farting into a box and leaving it for him.
• Fat Best Friend: Gus is, well...sort of one to Tommy and Lola, even if he is The Friend Nobody Likes.
• Fat Bastard: Gus is unrepentantly rude, self-centered, sadistic, lazy, and greedy. Oh, and fat.
• Fat Slob: "Ooh, That Smell" implies Gus to have poor hygiene, as Robotboy, after getting a nose, deems him to have a "nasty" odour.
• First-Name Basis: Gus often addresses Tommy's parents by their first names.
• Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: In a rather infamous moment of Getting past the censors, Dwight Turnbull does this to Debbie while she's working in the kitchen.
• Forbidden Fruit: Gus's Freudian Excuse for his obsession with video games and other electronic toys is that his parents are Amish and forbid such things.
• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Averted; In the Halloween episode, Tommy disguises himself as Robotboy in order to give Robotboy a chance to dress up as something else.
• For Your Own Good: At the end of one episode, Robotboy says something like "Tommy does not love Robotboy. He does not shout at him." Tommy laughs.
• Four-Fingered Hands: An art technique used for just about every human character on the show.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In "Robogus and the G-Machine" Gus and Robotboy end up switching minds due to an accident. Gus uses his powerful machine body to do whatever he wants with no one to stop him, while Robotboy loves his 'real boy' body and uses his skills and happy persona to make 'Gus' the most popular kid in school.
• Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: Principal Culpepper. It turns out this is because she never had any toys as a child and as a result she is a Womanchild stealing toys so she can keep them for herself.
• Gasshole: Gus farts a lot to be funny.
  • Take this exchange from "Ooh, That Smell" for example:
    Gus: My friend says he's better off without one.
    Lola: What friend?
    Gus: Oh, you know, the one with the squeaky voice who lives in a caboose. He wants to say 'hello'. (lets out a forced fart that stinks up the room)
• Genki Girl: Robotgirl. Subverted in "The Return of Robotgirl" when she is shown to be very sad and doesn't trust Tommy, Gus or even Robotboy due to choppy memory loss.
  Robotboy: Robotgirl, it me, Robotboy! We friends. Search memory.
  (Robotgirl tries to punch Robotboy but misses and hits Gus instead)
• Glitch Episode: In "The Tune-Up", Gus pirates a game on Robotboy's hard drive, seemingly leading him to catch a computer virus. Robotboy sees everything as enemies from the game and begins to destroy things. Then it's subverted when Dr. Kamikazi reveals that Robotboy never had a virus and that he was destroying things because Dr. Kamikazi had implanted a chip within him.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In "The Old Switcharobot":
  Protoboy-in-Robotboy's-body: (talking to Moshimo) You always like Robotboy better than Protoboy! Now get vengeance!
• Glove Snap: In "Donny Turnbull's Day Out", Debs snaps on a pair of latex gloves before applying a special cream to her son's stomach to remedy his sickness, completely unaware that he's faking it.
• Gone Horribly Right: Kamikazi attempted to turn Protoboy evil, but went too far and made Protoboy too evil to the point of being nigh-uncontrollable.
• Gretzky Has the Ball: In "Bowling for Dummies", when Debs thinks she's scored a strike, she yells "Homerun!"
• Happy Birthday to You!: In "Everybody Loves Grandma", General Yakitori throws a birthday party for himself and has his robots sing The Birthday Song, but as they're malfunctioning they can only repeat the first verse over and over.
• Hartman Hips: Tommy's mom and the PE teacher have wide hips and slim figures. The former's hips get even wider in season 2.
• Hulk Speak: Robotboy talk somewhat like dees (due to apparently being Japanese).
• I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Tommy's mom goes crazy after the the cookies Dr. Kamikazi sold her in "Traffic Slam", which make her act very goofy. But considering Kamikazi sold them, they might as well contain heroin.
• I Resemble That Remark!: Throughout "Everybody Loves Grandma" Mr. Turnbull complains about his mother treating him like a child while he's acting like a child.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Robotboy uses it on Constantine in "Kamispazi!" to get him to tell where Kamikazi is.
• Jerkass:
  • Gus. He's cowardly, ungodly stupid, crude, arrogant even when it's not deserved or nobody said anything to prompt a response, despite this he does have redeeming traits and does care for his friends.
  • Donnie more so. There's nothing likable about him. The guy has no redeeming traits and consistently treats Tommy like a chew toy and even tried to murder him by shoving him into a woodchipper- the same woodchipper he was using to destroy Tommy's toys!
• Jerk Jock: Kurt. His favorite hobby is to bully people.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gus does care about his friends despite how often his selfishness gets them into trouble.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In "The Revenge of Protoboy", when Donnie thinks he's killed Gus he first appears to show remorse, but it's soon made clear he's more concerned about getting in trouble than having killed someone.
• Kick the Dog: Kurt throwing a ball at some random crippled kid in "Kami-Chameleon".
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Robotboy in "Rowho?" Somehow, by using a different kind of batteries that Kamikazi secretly left, Robotboy loses his memory.
• Last-Name Basis:
  Kurt: Hey, Turnbull. Who told you you could breathe my air? Get him, guys!
• Latex Perfection:
  • In one episode Constantine is able to squeeze into a flawless Mrs. Turnbull disguise, despite being on the heavier side in contrast to Mrs. Turnbull's slim figure. However, his pants eventually tear apart, which makes Tommy realize that isn't his mother.
• Limited Wardrobe: Lola isn’t often seen without her blue dress, she even wears it to bed.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Being hit by lightning doesn't do any damage to Robotboy, it just recharges him to full. Somehow...
• Loophole Abuse: "Foot Brawl" has so many situations that the rules say nothing about - a monkey as the goalkeeper, a robot playing striker, a player switching teams halfway through, playing with five balls at once, beating up the ref, throwing a bowling ball at your opponent - that it's probably safer to assume there are no loopholes to abuse because there are no rules in the first place.
• Losing Your Head: Inverted in "Stuck On You", where Klaus von Afoncügel steals Robotboy's body parts and leaves him with just a head.
• Love Triangle: Lola loves Tommy, who loves Bambi (who dates Kurt). The whole thing was toned down considerably in the second season, mind you.
• May–December Romance: Moshimo is much, much older than his fiancée.
• Missing Mom: Lola's mother and Kurt's mother are never shown.
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Tommy's mom, due to baring her midriff, wearing eye shadow and eyeliner, and having Hartman Hips.
  • The gym teacher whose skimpy outfit shows off her Hartman Hips and long legs.
• Never Had Toys:
  • In the episode "Destroy All Robots", Principal Culpepper is a Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult who takes toys from children, seemingly with the intent of destroying them. Tommy later discovers that she actually takes them so she can play with them herself. She reveals that she does so because she was never allowed to play with dolls as a girl, and had to make her own out of chicken bones and tinfoil.
  • In "Kamispazi", while disguised as Tommy's mom, Constantine says that he didn't have any robot toys at the orphanage - which he quickly corrects to Tommy's grandmother's home. It's unknown if this is true since he most likely said this to get his hands on Robotboy. However, in "Kamikazi's Nightmare", he's excited by a robot toy that belonged to Tommy, implying that he might not have had these at the orphanage.
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Felonious Hexx has a different job every time he appears. First he was a magician, then a school nurse, then a dentist and then a nanny.
• Nightmare Sequence: Donnie has a pretty long one in "Donnie Turnbull's Day Off" that involves fish medicine, his mom, Robotboy himself and his bed. It Makes Sense in Context.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!:
  Robotboy: That ice cream. Gus like. Eat much.
  (Robotgirl takes a carton out of the freezer)
  Robotboy: No! Food bad for robots!
  Robotgirl: Robotboy afraid eat ice cream?
  Robotboy: No afraid!
  Robotgirl: Robotgirl sorry scare Robotboy.
  Robotboy: Robotboy no afraid!
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Kurt and his dad's voices are based on Jack Nicholson and Christopher Walken respectively.
• No Dress Code: You really have to wonder who approved the gym teacher's outfit, especially since she teaches elementary school kids.
• No Sympathy: Klaus von Affenkugel has been bullied for his entire life, by people uncaring of how small and weak he is.
• Oblivious to Love: Tommy never gets the hint that Lola has a crush on him, despite the fact that the latter isn't very subtle about it.
• Ocular Gushers: Robotboy in "Crying Time" after he watches the ending of a sad play, and Robotgirl in "The Return of Robotgirl" after Gus tells her she looks terrible. Did we mention they both cry oil instead of water?
• Odd Friendship: A double case for Tommy, a typical, if highly intelligent boy in an unremarkable middle class family, is best friends with a child friendly version of Eric Cartman from an Amish family, and the insanely rich daughter of a famous ambassador from an African country.
• Out of Focus: Donnie appears the most in Season 1; he last appeared in Everybody Loves Grandma along with Dwight Turnbull.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Robotboy puts on a jacket with a giant hood to conceal his ear drums in "Kami-Chameleon" pretending to be a student. Tommy is not amused.
  Tommy: Robotboy, what are you doing here? I told you to go home.
  Robotboy: No-o-o! Robotboy like school!
• Parental Neglect: While Tommy's dad is neglectful because he's a Jerkass, his mom is usually neglectful simply out of obliviousness and is often shown to care about Tommy.
• People Zoo: Auntie Gravitee's intergalactic freakshow. Apparently, Gus is the only human who's freaky enough to fit in there.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Robotboy is a blue and white robot. His Distaff Counterpart, Robotgirl, is pink and white.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Robotboy and Robotgirl are ridiculously powerful without even needing to go into their "super-activated" mode. Averted with Protoboy, since he's a little bigger than both of them.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Mr. and Mrs. Turnbull have jobs, but are never shown at work. Dwight runs a sporting goods store and Deb is a librarian/bookmobile driver. The only hint at Deb's job within the show is in "Traffic Slam" when she brought some books from the bookmobile for the kids to read.
• Power Loss Makes You Strong: in “Robo-Gus and the G-machine”, Robotboy has to fight the school bullies in Gus’s chubby, powerless body. He still manages to win by weaponizing Gus’s fat belly, bad breath, and gas.
• Precious Puppies: Subverted in "Dog-Ra", where the lost puppy adopted by Tommy turns out to be a Kamikazi robot.
• Psycho Prototype: Protoboy. Even before Kamikazi made him evil, he was still one hell of a nutjob — this is seen in a flashback when Moshimo first activated him and Protoboy's immediate reaction was to beat him up.
• Psychic Powers: Robotboy's probability calculator in "The Soothsayer" allows him to predict the future.
• Pyrrhic Victory: In "A Tale of Two Evil Geniuses" Kamikazi wins his duel against General Yakitori, unfortunately for him, the mech he used to do so ends up too damaged to stand a chance against superactivated Robotboy.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Subverted in "Kamispazi!" when Donnie gives his mom a cooked squirrel with his dad saying that he trapped and skinned it by himself...but then reveals it was actually roadkill.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Robotboy's Super-Activated form. Protoboy has them 24/7.
• Retcon: In "Brother," Moshimo says that his first encounter with Kamikazi was when he kidnapped Protoboy. Later, in "The Legend of Brainy Yak," Moshimo relates his past as a yak herder in the Mexican Alps, and notes that a young Kamikazi made fun of one of his yaks.
  • Also in "Brother", when Protoboy was deactivated, he remained in his normal mode as he presumably didn’t have a deactivated mode. In "The Revenge of Protoboy", he is shown with a deactive mode.
• Rogues Gallery: After a while, Robotboy got himself a fairly big one. Villains that have appeared in more than one episode includes: Dr. Kamikazi, Klaus von Affenkugel, Bjorn Bjornson, Kurt's father, Felonious Hexx, General Yakitori, Principal Culpepper and Protoboy.
• Rummage Fail: In "Traffic Slam" when Dwight needed a spark plug for the car, Debs ironically found one in the glove compartment while frantically looking for more cookies, but since it wasn't cookies she just threw it out the window and it fell off the bridge and into the water.
• Sadist Teacher: The P.E. teacher. In "Tween for a Day", she picks a boy in crutches as the goalie in soccer practice and just watches as he gets hit with balls.
• Scarecrow Solution: Used very briefly when Gus pretends to be another Moshimo robot in "The Return of Robotgirl" to distract Protoboy, but it only works for a few seconds.
  Gus: Oops, busted.
• Secret-Keeper: Tommy, Gus and Lola are the only civillians who know about Robotboy, and they all keep the secret of Robotboy's nature. Well, Tommy and Lola try. Gus often shows no intention of keeping Robotboy a secret.
• Shaped Like Itself: "Good morning, class. I'm Kurt's father. You can call me...Kurt's father."
• She's a Man in Japan: Tommy is a girl in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Kazahk and Kyrgyz dubs of the show, instead of a boy like in the other dubs of the show.
• Shout-Out:
  • Gus Bachman-Turner.
  • One episode is titled "Journey to the Center of the Gus".
  • Gus's virtual pet in "Kami-Chameleon", Chupika, looks a lot like a Tamagotchi.
  • The ending scene of "Donnie Turnbull's Day Off" is straight out of Toy Story.
    • The episode title alone is an homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
  • In "Traffic Slam" after Deb gets hooked on cookies she starts talking kind of like Cookie Monster.
  • Protoboy is Robotboy's older brother. Does that ring any bells?
• Show Within a Show: The Human Fist, a show about a superhero that Tommy and Robotboy are shown to be fans of.
• Simpleton Voice: One of Kurt's two cronies has one. Ironically, he's the smarter one of the two.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Robotboy's deactivated form is smaller than his regular form. Its function is to recharge his batteries.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Vance Cosgrove, a self-absorbed investigate reporter who keeps making up the most ridiculous tabloid explainations for anything Robotboy is involved in. Both Tommy's and Lola's dads love watching his show because they think he's So Bad He's Good. invoked
  • Also Gus — an example would be when he tries to show Robotboy how to win a girl over and ends up making Robotgirl cry.
• Smug Snake: Bjorn Bjornson thinks his robot is the best fighting robot in the world and he tries to prove it, but Robotboy always proves him wrong. A perfect example is in his debut episode, where he tries to destroy Robotboy with three Bjornbots, but they end up destroying each other since Robotboy makes the wise decision to back off from the fight.
• Stock Sound Effects: The "wheeeeeeeeee" noise heard in "Clammadon Rising" when Clammadon zaps Robotboy and turns him back to Sleep-Mode Size.
• Stock Footage: Robotboy's transformation sequence.
• Stop Copying Me: Utilized in "Donnie Turnbull's Day Off" when Robotboy pretends to be an ordinary toy around Donnie when Tommy is out of the house.
  (Donnie picks up Robotboy)
  Donnie: Who are you? What's your deal?
  Robotboy: (mechanically) I robot toy.
  Donnie: (laughs) What a stupid voice!
  Robotboy: Ha. What a stupid voice.
  Donnie: Hey! Shut your face!
  Robotboy: Hey. Shut your face.
  Donnie: (shakes Robotboy) I said, zip it, freak!
  Robotboy: Zip it, freak. Zip it, freak. Zip it, freak. Zip it, freak. Zip it —
  (Donnie hits Robotboy and is met with a punch to the face)
• Strong Family Resemblance: Played with. Tommy looks like his mom, but not his dad or Donnie — and Donnie doesn't look like their dad either.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Dr. Kamikazi is a master of this trope. His cameras even managed to tap into Tommy's dreams...
• Swallow the Key: Gus swallowed the key twice, first to stop Kurt from using the bathroom so Tommy can torture him for Robotboy's whereabouts and second while Tommy burns the containment unit holding Robotboy imprisoned (Ironically, the second example ended the episode with Constantine and Dr. Kamikaze locked outside of their submarine lair).
• Talk to the Fist: Robotgirl punches Gus in the face at least three times in "The Return of Robotgirl".
• Talking Animal: Brainy Yak (formerly known as Brian), Dave the military-type badger.
• Temporary Bulk Change: A side-effect of the tapeworm living in Gus's stomach in "Tummy Trouble". Of course, Gus becomes his normal fat self again at the end.
• Third-Person Person: Moshimo's robots all refer to thenselves in the third person.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Robotgirl. Bow? Check. Pink where Ro is blue? Check. Skirt? Check. Eyelashes? Check.
  • Walter the (apparently male) tapeworm from "Tummy Trouble" inverts this with pink coloration, eyelashes and a high voice. This might be because tapeworms are hermaphrodites.
• Thicker Than Water: A rare instance of this being a negative trait. Despite Tommy's brother Donnie being a thug who is an ass to him for no apparent reason, Tommy still cares for him and treats him as family. "The Donnienator" best shows this — Donnie decides to steal and destroy all of Tommy's action figures by throwing them in a woodchipper. When Tommy tries to stop him, Donnie gets angry and tries to shove him into the woodchipper. When Robotboy intervenes and Donnie ends up in hospital, Tommy is worried about him and hopes he's all right. Robotboy is understandably confused, but Tommy explains that Donnie is still his brother and family is always family even when they're trying to hurt you.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • In "Science Fear" Kurt almost died from heat exhaustion because he got into a mecha without air conditioning and refused to get out because he was having too much fun, first just going around the city wrecking stuff, and then trying to kill Tommy.
  • Despite knowing Felonius Hexx clearly has incredible magical powers and totally despises him because of his heckling during his show, Gus continues to mock his skill and deride him as a fake and a lousy magician, resulting in him being attacked and humiliated every time.
    • Really, Gus could qualify for this trope almost every episode.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In "Runaway Robot!" when Robotboy runs away to live with Gus, Kamikazi refuses to go anywhere near Gus' house because Gus' Amish parents creep him out.
• Transformation Sequence: Robotboy, Robotgirl, Protoboy, and Bjornbot all get a pretty awesome one.
• Troll: The function of the Teasebots in "Teasebots". They're invented by Kamikazi to piss off Robotboy so he would waste his energy so Kamikazi could grab him. Tommy, with the help of Mashimo, managed to... possibly reprogram the one robot that was left from Robotboy's massacre so as to serve as a distraction. Gus did nothing but try to destroy the only robot they had when he was insulted by it.
  "Hello, ugly! You're so ugly, when you entered an ugly contest, they said, 'Sorry, no professionals.' Thank you very much!"
  "You're so ugly you made an onion cry. Thank you!"
  "You're so ugly, when you walk by a toilet, it flushes! Thank you very much!"
• Undying Loyalty: Robotboy and Robotgirl to Moshimo, to the point where they (or at least Robotgirl) would willingly sacrifice themselves for him as proven in "The Return of Robotgirl".
• Ungrateful Bastard: Every time Klaus von Affenkugel gains super strength he callously fires his assistant Ludwig, who has cared for him since childhood.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In the episode "Kami-Chameleon", two of the teachers have weird limbs and different voices (they're actually Kamikazi's cronies in disguise) and Robotboy shows up in gym pretending to be a student.
• Villain Over for Dinner: Subverted in the final episode, when the Turnbull family and the Kamikazi family end up having Thanksgiving dinner (or something resembling that) together after Tommy's mom drops by the house of Kamikazi's mom. Apparently, the two mothers knew each from before on.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Tommy and Gus. Gus constantly needles and annoys Tommy but Tommy tolerates him, giving out some snark at times and, in many cases, delivering his comeuppance himself, through Robotboy, or just standing back and letting karma take it's toll.
• What Does He See in Her?: A gender-inverted example. Bambi is Tommy's Love Interest. but aside from her constantly ignoring him, making a fool out of him in front of the school at the beginning of "Crying Time" is clearly not what a Nice Girl would do. One scene later, Robotboy says what we're all thinking:
  Robotboy: Bambi bad. Robotboy smash Bambi!
• With Friends Like These...: Gus is selfish, self-centered, greedy, vain, egotistical, rude and disgusting with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Yet he is Tommy's best friend, despite the boys willingness to take advantage of the young hero whenever possible. Discussed in one episode, where Tommy tells Gus to remind him why he's friend with him, who claims that it's because Tommy's life would be boring without him.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
  • Brian the Yak, aka Brainy Yak. He was born mentally handicapped, making him a laughing stock among other yaks (though he was blissfully unaware of that) and then Moshimo made him super-intelligent, which made him even more of an outcast.
  • Klaus von Affenkugel has been mercilessly bullied his entire life by virtually everyone (even squirrels) because he was too weak to fight back...or do anything else for that matter.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • In "Foot Brawl" Kurt gives Lola a rough bodycheck.
  • In "The Return of Robotgirl", Protoboy kicks Robotgirl in the chest/stomach hard enough to knock her batteries out.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • In "Traffic Slam", Tommy's mom kicks Lola in the face for trying to take her cookies.
  • Kamikazi, who threatens to do... "Well, I can't say it on television, but I'll do something pretty evil to the boy!"
  • Hell, most of the villains, who are adults, don't shirk at hurting children.
• You No Take Candle: Robotboy and Robotgirl have speech patterns reminiscent of a young Japanese child still learning English, and it's adorable. Protoboy also speaks this way, and it's somewhat less adorable.
• Your Size May Vary: The size of Mrs. Turnbull's hips was sometimes inconsistent.

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