RollBots is a Canadian Series created by Michael "MCM" Milligan and produced by Amberwood Entertainment for YTV in 2009. The series ended after a single season of 26 episodes, but also aired in the United States as part of The CW's Saturday morning Toonzai block.
The show is set in a World in the Sky called Flip City, which is inhabited by 11 tribes of Transforming Mecha who get around by turning into spheres and rolling (Roll-bots, get it?). Flip City is in turn protected by the Flip City Police Department (FCPD), with the series' protagonist being rookie recruit Spin. Alongside his teammates Captain Pounder, Penny, Lance, Tinny, and Bunto, Spin protects the citizenry from various criminals and villains, most prominently the notorious Vertex and his team of rogue bots.
Tropes:
- Bad Boss: Mayor Aria is highly unpleasant and elitist.
- Barrier Warrior: This is Lance's ability, but he's not good at it.
- Cassandra Truth: Spin can't convince Captain Pounder that Vertex is a Spider Tank. It's obvious he's well aware of it but refuses to let Spin blab.
- Chest Insignia: The various tribe insignias, though they are usually on an arm on leg. Spin doesn't have one, as he doesn't have a tribe that he knows of.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Gates. According to the official website, he rigs the elections for Tensai leader annually.
- Da Chief: Captain Pounder is the chief of police in Flip City.
- Downer Ending: Vertex is defeated and the city is saved, but Pounder is lost on the way, and the city is left open to an invasion of spiderbots.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The leader of the Zogen'sha tribe, "En" is her title rather than her name. Everyone calls her "En". The official website calls her "The Oracle".
- Eyepatch of Power: Pounder has an eyepatch to show how tough he is. Odd, since he's a robot.
- Face–Heel Turn: Manx was a Kei'zatsu before the series started. She rejoins them in the finale.
- Fragile Speedster: Roboto. He's quick, but once Vett catches up with him, he gets swatted like a bug.
- Free-Range Children: Tinny. He's a child who's shown to be around the same age of every other 'bot tot' that is encountered in the show. Yet he's participated in battles against dangerous criminals, runs around constantly with no mention of any parent (assuming he has any), and is generally in a lot of dangerous situations which no child should logically be a part of by running with active members of the police force.
- Gratuitous Japanese: The tribes' names are derived from relevant Japanese words, often modified with Xtreme Kool Letterz. Some examples include (note: "<" means "derived from"): Kei'zatsu (police) < keisatsu ("police"), Kuzuri (medics) < kusuri ("medicine"), Tensai (scientists) < tensai ("genius") and Zobo'shi (firefighters) < shouboushi ("firefighter")
- Fantastic Caste System: Kei'zatsu are police, Tensai are scientists, Kuzuri are medics, and so on.
- Last of His Kind: Spin is the last of the Zushin Tribe, whom Vertex wiped out before the series began.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority:
- Spin is red and the fastest bot in Flip City.
- Roboto is the Reddest member of his all-red team, and happens to be the most famous botballer.
- Lawful Stupid: "The Do-Right Module" has the team forced to behave this way, or they get shocked.
- Meaningful Name:
- Spin spins.
- Tinny is a tiny tin (as lampshaded by Lance).
- Pounder pounds things.
- Cable (presumably) contains cables.
- Vertex is angular, Macro is big.
- Botch screws everything up.
- Bugzilla, a computer bug detector.
- Parental Favoritism: Occupational Favoritism. Pounder is the team's captain and Penny is Pounder's favorite, and he's been giving her lessons in private.
- Poor Communication Kills: Halfway through the 6-part season 1 Season Finale, Spin becomes convinced that Pounder is working with Vertex.
- Pun-Based Title: The title RollBots is a pun on "robots".
- Red Is Heroic: Spin's Color Motif is mostly red, and he is The Hero of the show.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: "Scorched" has several characters get stuck between robot and sphere modes, rendering them pretty helpless.
- Shout-Out: Pounder gives the command "Roll out!", known from Transformers at least once. It also counts as an Actor Allusion given who voices him.
- Spider Tank: Vertex, the Big Bad of the series. Of course, he's referred to as a "Spider-Bot".
- Token Minority: "En" is the only one who has a thick African accent.
