| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | The large cast of characters, {{historical domain|Character}} or otherwise, that live in the world of ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo''. All spoilers are currently un-tagged. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | !Tesladyne |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[folder:Robo]] |
| 8 | !!Atomic Robo Tesla |
| 9 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomic_robo.jpg]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | The main character of the comic, created by Nikola Tesla. |
| 12 | ---- |
| 13 | * AchillesHeel: He has several significant weaknesses that come up frequently. |
| 14 | ** Electrical attacks are the big ones, going way back to Skorzeny being able to paralyse him with an EMP shot during World War II. |
| 15 | ** His chunky mechanical body is also quite heavy and has trouble interacting with things like touchscreens that weren't designed with him in mind. |
| 16 | ** On a personal level, he is ''terrible'' at languages, which causes him some difficulty in "The Temple of Od." Even as late in his career as "The Ghost of Station X" his grasp of Japanese is at the "comprehensible if the person he's speaking to is feeling generous" stage, despite his friendship with Dr Yumeno. |
| 17 | --->'''Robo:''' (in Japanese) Thank you on voyage. My hope for the weight was not too many.\ |
| 18 | '''Mailman:''' Your accent is atrocious. |
| 19 | ** Robo's biggest weakness may be his own brain. While it doesn't require sleep, it otherwise still functions as any other human brain as opposed to a computer. He has to learn things the same way we do and can actually ''forget'' things. |
| 20 | * AgentScully: Robo is usually a very open-minded scientist, but he becomes a skeptical spoil-sport out of spite whenever confronted by the inexplicable mad science of Dr. Dinosaur. |
| 21 | * TheAntiNihilist: He might grumble at human idiocy and mourn the friends he's lost over the decades, but he'll never stop fighting for a better world. |
| 22 | * ArbitrarySkepticism: Even after seeing an eldritch entity rip its way into reality, meeting himself, running into Edison's ghost and so on, he remains 100% sure time travel is impossible until he's sent back in time himself. |
| 23 | * BenevolentAI: In many ways he's as human as anyone else. |
| 24 | * BlackBox: |
| 25 | ** Nobody knows quite how Robo works - not even him. Sure, he's replaced nearly everything over the years - he's had to due to his [[InHarmsWay chosen lifestyle]] - but ''no one'' has ''any'' idea how his atomic heart or his automatic brain works. The latter breaking would obviously mean his death, but when the former finally breaks after almost a century of operation, all possible replacements leave his power output so low he's sidelined - and stuck with ridiculous replacements like the Jameson body from Manga/GhostInTheShell. It's stated that even [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v10ch3-page-7a creating the materials]] needed to replace it with something not made by Tesla won't be possible without late-VideoGame/MetalGear-level {{Nanomachines}}. |
| 26 | -->'''Phil''': ...it's full of things that don't ''exist'' and no one knows how to make ''any of them.'' I mean, all I can think of is to wait five or ten years for viral engineering to merge with nano-fabrication. And then for ''that'' to merge with 3D printing. |
| 27 | ** When he does finally get a replacement heart, it's ''still'' a Black Box; [[spoiler:Phil ends up going to the physical remains of ALAN. The leftover super-factory automatically finds a solution to build Atomic Robo's new heart... with no one knowing exactly how.]] |
| 28 | * BoxingLessonsForSuperman: He took lessons from Bruce Lee in the 70s. They involved him getting knocked on his ass a lot. |
| 29 | * CarFu: To be fair, when you're as strong as Robo is, they do look a lot like improvised weapons. |
| 30 | * DeadpanSnarker: Has absolutely no problem running his mouth off. |
| 31 | * EnragedByIdiocy: One of the reasons why Robo '''HATES''' Dr.Dinosaur with a buring passion. Dr.Dinosaur is a moron [[GeniusDitz (though a clever and cunning moron)]] and yet [[InexplicablyAwesome in spite of]] or perhaps even [[SuccessThroughInsanity because of his stupidity,]] he continuously gets the upper hand on Robo, proves Robo wrong, or otherwise humiliates Robo. It's like the universe created Dr.Dinosaur specifically to drive Robo crazy. |
| 32 | * GeniusBruiser: Brilliant mathematician and engineer who can punch his way through brick walls without trouble. |
| 33 | * HeroStoleMyBike: Prone to "borrowing" vehicles as transport, or, worryingly often, improvised weapons. It doesn't improve his relationship with Branson much when he uses one of Branson's planes to get somewhere without permission. |
| 34 | * HeroWithBadPublicity: Following ''The Ghost of Station X'' and until the events of ''Ring of Fire'', Atomic Robo becomes one, the culmination of a plot by Majestic 12 to strip away his public goodwill. Otherwise averted, by design. Tesla deliberately made him a bit of a celebrity, on the grounds that if people knew him and sort of liked him, no one would dare act ''too'' publicly against him. |
| 35 | * ImmuneToBullets: Although not to being distracted by mouthing off about how he's immune to bullets. [[DepletedPhlebotinumRounds Specialised bullets]], like Skorzeny's EMP rounds, can still incapacitate him. |
| 36 | * IShallTauntYou: One of his main techniques is to mouth off to people. There's a reason one of the four core skillsets in the RPG is Banter. |
| 37 | -->'''Robo:''' Oh my God. [[FunWithAcronyms That poor acronym had a family.]]\ |
| 38 | '''[[FaceHeelTurn Ada]]:''' ''Stop.'' We ''know'' how you operate. You ''banter'', we drop our guard, you ''punch'' something, there's an ''explosion'', [[GenreSavvy we lose]]. |
| 39 | * ItsPersonal: Robo's lived a long time and made lots of enemies. Some of them he hates much more than others because of something they did to him or them enacting revenge on Robo for something he's done to them. |
| 40 | ** Inspired by the real life Tesla-Edison feud, the [[OurGhostsAreDifferent odic ghost]] of Edison and the immortal Robo carry the rivalry on past Tesla's death into the modern day. |
| 41 | ** PlayedForLaughs with Dr. Dinosaur. Both of them hate one another intensely and have fought many times. But unlike the serious nature of the other arch enemies Robo has, his Feud with Dr.Dinosaur is downright petty. Of course it's Dr. Dinosaur's Pettiness that enrages Robo so much. |
| 42 | * KryptoniteFactor: EMP-like effects tend to leave him temporarily shut down. |
| 43 | * LosingYourHead: Not a straight example, as his head still needs an external power source. His atomic heart is optimal, hence the "Atomic" part of his name. However, his head can still operate on household current or even batteries - he just won't be throwing any cars at people in such a state. |
| 44 | * MayflyDecemberFriendship: Robo has already lost plenty of friends and acquaintances to old age. Assuming he doesn't die in battle (difficult but possible), this is how ''all'' his friendships will end up. |
| 45 | * NemesisMagnet: He's been accumulating enemies for most of the time he's been around, and several of them, such as Edison and Helsingard, are as long-lived as he is. |
| 46 | * TheNicknamer: In ''Ring of Fire'', Foley comments that Robo must not like her since he doesn't bother to remember her name and instead calls her a bunch of fungus-related names based on her field of mycology. Phil assures her that Robo used nicknames for him at first, too, and that it's probably a side-effect of being ageless: after losing so many friends, he guards himself from getting too close to anyone else. Plus, he's an old man who can't necessarily remember all the names. Robo catches the tail end of this conversation and agrees that it's a bit of both. |
| 47 | * OmnidisciplinaryScientist: He's only got one [=PhD=] (physics, Columbia University, 1928), but he's put years of study into diverse scientific fields ranging from high-dimensional mathematics to aeronautic engineering. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by his unusual situation: he's a hundred years old, [[TheSleepless doesn't need to sleep]], and keeps running into things that come out of different scientific disciplines and try to rip his head off. He's had plenty of time to learn new fields, and plenty of aggressive, sharp and/or explosive encouragement to do so. |
| 48 | * PaperThinDisguise: He tries to dress up as a Nazi guard at one point, seemingly forgetting that he is a robot with giant, glowing eyes and no mouth. It does work, but only because the only people he encounter are occupied and not looking at him. When someone actually does get a good look at him, she recognizes him immediately. |
| 49 | * ParentalSubstitute: ALAN v2 is his adoptive kid. This is not even slightly ambiguous. |
| 50 | -->'''Robo:''' It's [[NotWhatItLooksLike not what you think]].\ |
| 51 | '''Lang:''' I ''think'' you built yourself a secret robot son!\ |
| 52 | '''Robo:''' Okay, it's not as ''bad'' as you think. |
| 53 | * PickYourHumanHalf: Mentally he's remarkably human, down to the adolescent rebellion and a phobia of icky bugs. Physically he's a vaguely humanoid lump of metal. |
| 54 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: Superhumanly strong, atomic-powered, and one of the shortest cast members (at only about 5'3 tall!) |
| 55 | * ScienceHero: To Doc Holliday's GuileHero and Marshall Reeves' ActionHero in the 1800s. |
| 56 | * TheSleepless: Which causes him some problems when he gets sent to Mars without much to do. He considers the time his employees spend sleeping a chance to catch up on his reading and work on his personal projects. |
| 57 | * SnarkToSnarkCombat: He's a master of the form when he runs into people who are willing to snark back to him, most notably when forced to team up with the Sparrow during WWII. |
| 58 | -->'''Sparrow:''' Your problem is that you ''think'' you're very clever.\ |
| 59 | '''Robo:''' No, my problem is about five foot six and real mouthy.\ |
| 60 | '''Sparrow:''' I'm sorry, that must have been some ''other'' robotic clod's life I just saved. |
| 61 | * SuperSenses: At maximum zoom, his vision can pick up satellites. He also has a GPS system installed in his brain. |
| 62 | * SuperStrength: Again, lifts cars. |
| 63 | * SurvivorGuilt: At the end of ''Agents of CHANGE'', Foley comes to the conclusion that Robo has a pretty hefty case, blaming himself for every death he wasn't there to stop from Tesla onwards, and encourages him to seek therapy for it. |
| 64 | * TragicKeepsake: Given his age, a lot of the mementos he keeps would have to be. For example, he seemed pretty broken up after the thing with the She-Devils, and he definitely has something in his office with their skull symbol on it. |
| 65 | * TwitchyEye: Anytime Robo has to deal with Dr.Dinosaur. It's gotten so bad that all someone has to do is mention Dr.Dinosaur might be up to something that Robo will have to deal with is enough for Robo's eye to twitch. |
| 66 | * WhoWantsToLiveForever: Robo's age has always been part of the character in the modern day, but as his SurvivorGuilt stacks up, it's made increasingly clear that he's an old man who's dug a lot of graves for a lot of young people over the years. He once said the hardest part of getting old was that he does a ''great'' Jack Benny impersonation and nobody gets it anymore. |
| 67 | ** Robo has been rebuilt from the ground up ''twice'' now, the second time he actually was technically dead. Ever since then his method of dealing with anything dangerous is to throw himself at it physically, something which gives Foley ''major'' DeathSeeker vibes. |
| 68 | * WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Suffers from entomophobia (fear of insects) and won't even consider going into bug-infested territory (like a tropical rainforest) without at least one BFG to help him feel safe (and preferably a full-isolation suit). Oddly, he doesn't have a problem with giant radiation-infused bugs, quite possibly because the more blatantly an insect violates the SquareCubeLaw, the less likely it is to be able to crawl into his machinery through a joint or seam and gunk up his works. |
| 69 | * WinYourFreedom: While Tesla treats him as a son, the eyes of the law initially see Robo as Tesla's property. In 1938, the US Army uses the promise of American citizenship and legal personhood to convince Robo to do them [[OneLastJob just one favor]]--which of course becomes more than one favor when WWII breaks out. While Robo is glad to be [[AndroidsArePeopleToo recognized as a person]], he sometimes expresses regret over having to ''earn'' those rights through military involvement. |
| 70 | * YouWillBeBeethoven: In the 1930s he was a fan of pulp novels in general and Westerns in particular - notably, when Jack Tarot shows up, he's engrossed in the story of a bulletproof gunslinger called "Ironhide". When he's blown all the way back to TheWildWest he inadvertently becomes the real Ironhide's "successor", despite his best efforts to stay out of history's way. |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | !!!Current employees |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Vik]] |
| 76 | !!Vikram "Vik" Abasi |
| 77 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vik.jpg]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | Tesladyne's resident fringe theorist, Vik will jump on any crazy idea just to see where it goes. |
| 80 | ---- |
| 81 | * BlackAndNerdy: Though everyone on the team is some flavor of geek. It becomes a running joke in Dawn Of A New Era that he only reads books for fun if they have a [[DragonWorks dragon on the cover]]. |
| 82 | * EveryoneHasStandards: Even he thinks the underground crystal city is ridiculous. |
| 83 | -->'''Vik:''' All the crazy theories I embraced, and ''this'' is the stupid thing that turns out to be ''real?'' |
| 84 | * IRejectYourReality: Because this one looks way more fun to play in. |
| 85 | * MadScientist: His job is to play with the mad theories to see how they run. |
| 86 | * OfficeRomance: [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v10ch3-page-19a With Lang on and off.]] They seem to have moved to a full-on OfficialCouple by the time of Tesladyne's move to White Sands. |
| 87 | * TwoferTokenMinority: Of Kenyan and Pakistani descent. |
| 88 | [[/folder]] |
| 89 | |
| 90 | [[folder:Lang]] |
| 91 | !!Bao Lang |
| 92 | [[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lang.jpg]] |
| 93 | |
| 94 | The daughter of Hong Kong Royal Navy officers, Lang is an engineer (when she has to) and a kicker of much butt (when the opportunity presents itself). |
| 95 | ---- |
| 96 | * ActionGirl: Tesladyne's second most dangerous employee (although presumably Robo doesn't count as an "employee"). |
| 97 | * BloodKnight: Her reaction in "The Centralia Job" to the prospect of some action is the biggest ":D" you ever saw in your life. |
| 98 | * DeadpanSnarker: "We need a plan." "Do we though? It always ends with running and screaming." |
| 99 | * GunNut: She's Tesladyne's firearms expert, known to react to {{BFG}}s with [[https://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v3fcbd-page-2 hearts floating above her head.]] |
| 100 | * OfficeRomance: [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v10ch3-page-19a With Vik on and off.]] Mostly "on" in more recent strips. |
| 101 | * PopCulturedBadass: Her ''immediate'' reaction to hearing she's a wanted criminal is to reference ''Series/TheATeam''. |
| 102 | * WhatTheHellHero: She is ''livid'' when she discovers [[spoiler: Robo is raising Alan 2.0, especially as he kept it a secret from them.]] |
| 103 | * WrenchWench: Her non-beating-the-crap-out-of-people talents lie in material science and mechanical engineering. |
| 104 | [[/folder]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[folder:Bernard]] |
| 107 | !!Bernard Fischer |
| 108 | [[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bernard_5.jpg]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | A paleontologist, paleobotanist, and geologist who serves as Tesladyne's resident Action Geologist... much to his chagrin, since he's near-sighted, asthmatic, and generally a NonActionGuy - at least at first... |
| 111 | ---- |
| 112 | * ATeamFiring: Managed to blaze away at Robo fighting a bunch of vampires without hitting ''anything''. |
| 113 | * ChekhovsSkill: His geology saves either Robo or Tesladyne a couple of times. |
| 114 | * FirstDayFromHell: His job application for Tesladyne is interrupted by an attack from the Vampire Dimension, where the other applicant is dragged off and apparently killed. |
| 115 | * GeekPhysique: He's pretty scrawny. |
| 116 | * HeroicBSOD: In the wake of the Hollow Earth incident and Robo's apparent demise. He doesn't snap out of it until Vik and Lang present him with the possibility that Robo's not ''dead''-dead and they can bring him back, and even with Robo back, he's still depressed over losing his Hollow Earth specialness. |
| 117 | * IChooseToStay: Parodied in ''The Savage Sword of Doctor Dinosaur''. He claims to wish to remain with the rock people and TheChiefsDaughter where he will truly belong. His coworkers point out that he's delirious, in a place with no water that's hotter than human beings can comfortably survive in, and drag him away before he can die. |
| 118 | * IJustWantToBeSpecial: He spends most of ''The Spectre of Tomorrow'' in a depressive funk out of a desire to go back to Hollow Earth, where he was more than just a scrawny geologist. |
| 119 | * InsistentTerminology: Even when dangling from the side of a giant worm monster, he feels the need to remind everyone that it's a ''magma'' worm, not a ''lava'' worm. Also, pterodactyls aren't dinosaurs. |
| 120 | * NeverFoundTheBody: Unlike with Jenkins, after his disappearance, Robo does assume he's dead and has a memorial erected. Naturally, he comes back as Ur'nar. The memorial is naturally amended to read "NEVER MIND". |
| 121 | * NonActionGuy: Initially, he's physically unimposing and a terrible shot. |
| 122 | * OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Not ''omni'', but being learned in paleontology, palebotany and geology is still pretty impressive. Admittedly, those all deal with rocks... He's also apparently a lawyer, though that's not a science. |
| 123 | * TheSmartGuy: Even by Tesladyne standards he's a genius in paleobotany and paleontology (both maxed out in his RPG statblock), and his lateral thinking talents make him useful on away missions. He's also represented Robo in a court of law. |
| 124 | * TookALevelInBadass: Repeatedly gets more potent as time goes on: he's improved enough that people trust him with guns before too long, he proves a reasonable swordfighter in ''The Savage Sword of Dr Dinosaur'' and then he unlocks powers tied to Hollow Earth when he returns as Ur'nar. |
| 125 | [[/folder]] |
| 126 | |
| 127 | [[folder:Foley]] |
| 128 | !!Elizabeth Foley |
| 129 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elizabeth_foley.jpg]] |
| 130 | |
| 131 | A mycology student who meets the Action Scientists during an incident in Centralia, which results in Robo offering her an internship. Later on, she's assigned to Tesladyne's Brazilian field office... where she narrowly escapes being killed by Majestic operatives (though her immediate superior, Dr. Ruiz, [[WeHardlyKnewYe isn't so lucky]]), and ends up working for Vik and Lang as they try to track down Robo. |
| 132 | ---- |
| 133 | * AdmiringTheAbomination: This attitude is what gets her into trouble (and consequently into Tesladyne) in the first place during the Centralia incident, and it's still around during her encounter with a {{Kaiju}} in ''The Ring of Fire''. |
| 134 | * TheAntiNihilist: After having had to deal with Bernard's depression on an entire mission, Foley tells him to shut his yap because yes the world is awful but nihilism is for teenagers, so he better get his act together. |
| 135 | * ChekhovsGunman: Introduced in "The Centralia Job", later has a large role in ''The Ring of Fire''. |
| 136 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: The prelude to ''The Spectre Of Tomorrow'' sees Foley take down a mutated fungal colony in Oregon. |
| 137 | * JumpedAtTheCall: More than happy to take up an internship with Tesladyne. |
| 138 | [[/folder]] |
| 139 | |
| 140 | [[folder:Phil]] |
| 141 | !!Phil Broughton |
| 142 | [[quoteright:293:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angry_phil1.jpg]] |
| 143 | |
| 144 | A nuclear engineer whose task it is to maintain Robo's atomic heart and safely store the fuel. This involves a tremendous amount of fudging paperwork because Robo's heart is a BlackBox of the first order. |
| 145 | ---- |
| 146 | * GuileHero: During ''The Ring of Fire'', he successfully convinced the Japanese military that he was dying of radiation by taking advantage of their LanguageBarrier, getting them to run away and giving him time to enact his part of the ZanyScheme. |
| 147 | * HairTriggerTemper: It's not shown much in the comic, but his RPG statblock has "Zero to Pissed Off in Eight Seconds". He's also mentioned that Robo once called him a bunch of nicknames based on this trait. |
| 148 | * NoodleIncident: "That was the tensest conversation I've had with a regulatory official ever since I found out how much plutonium you'd need to shove into an intern's -" |
| 149 | * PopCulturedBadass: He referred to his week alone on Hashima as like a ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' {{LARP}}. He enjoyed himself. |
| 150 | * {{Tuckerization}}: Of a real-world nuclear health-safety scientist and amateur mad scientist (in his spare time, he's known for brewing the real-world equivalent of KlatchianCoffee known as "Black Blood Of The Earth"). |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Jenkins]] |
| 154 | !!Jenkins |
| 155 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jenkins_5.jpg]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | A former Majestic 12 agent who went to work for Robo after a mishap in the Vampire Dimension. |
| 158 | ---- |
| 159 | * AffectionateNickname: Dubs ALAN 2.0 "Laughing Scorpion" or just "Scorp". |
| 160 | * BigDamnHeroes: Has showed up to save Robo several times. |
| 161 | * BrokenAce: Once one of the most competent and effective characters in the comic, Jenkins returned from an extended period fighting interdimensional vampires noticeably more unhinged. The Interdimensional Vampires are the only threat he will acknowledge, the proposal he gives Robo for their defense in unfeasible and way more expensive than they can swing, and he keeps trying to teach the new employees with [[TrainingFromHell potentially lethal methods]]. At one point, Foley emphasizes how unhealthily invested Margot is in getting a physically impossible 100% efficiency out of a solar panel by telling her that everyone thinks she needs to dial it back, "even Jenkins, and he's ''insane''." |
| 162 | * TheBusCameBack: Returns after a long absence (about five years, both in-universe and in real time), apparently spending some time in the vampire dimension. |
| 163 | * CatchPhrase: "That a fact?" |
| 164 | * CrazyPrepared: Has multiple anti-Robo contingency plans as a "just in case" measure. |
| 165 | -->'''Foley:''' Wait, ''plans''? ''Plural?'' |
| 166 | * CulturedBadass: Kept a rare orchid for a while and has been seen reading books of sonnets. |
| 167 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Has such a reputation for this that two of his coworkers fled the country when they accidentally killed his orchid. |
| 168 | * DefectorFromDecadence: After leaving Majestic 12's employ to work for Tesladyne. |
| 169 | * DentedIron: By the most recent stories, Jenkins has picked up quite a bit of scar tissue, white hair and a bionic eye. |
| 170 | * TheDreaded: Even government conspiracies are afraid of him. As are his coworkers. After Alan is forced to MercyKill him in ''The Vengeful Dead'', Robo tells Alan that he's certain Alan saved everyone at Tesladyne, including him, and quite possibly everyone in the world from what a vampire Jenkins could be like. |
| 171 | * HypercompetentSidekick: And Robo wasn't exactly incompetent to begin with! |
| 172 | * InexplicablyAwesome: He's Jenkins. Your argument is invalid. |
| 173 | * MercyKill: Alan puts him down, by his request, during his last few moments of humanity after being infected by the vampires in ''The Vengeful Dead''. |
| 174 | * MinMaxing: In his RPG statblock, he's incredibly focused on kicking all of the arse that ever existed, without really having any other focuses. |
| 175 | * NeverFoundTheBody: Following the Majestic raid: |
| 176 | -->'''Robo:''' Jenkins? They don't have ''him'', do they?\ |
| 177 | '''Vik:''' Dead. An explosion. There was nothing left.\ |
| 178 | '''Robo:''' No ''body?'' He's alive. |
| 179 | * OldSoldier: While it's never been officially stated how old he is, he's been with Robo since the early- to mid-90s, and unless he showed a ''lot'' of promise for Majestic very early, that would put him somewhere between 50 and 60 years old - and that's without factoring in the YearInsideHourOutside properties of the Vampire Dimension. His hair gets greyer over the comic, and by his death in ''The Vengeful Dead'', it's completely white. |
| 180 | * OneManArmy: Majestic 12 sent a heavy mech squad to neutralise him in ''The Savage Sword of Dr Dinosaur''. It doesn't take long before they're requesting backup - and while they do win eventually, not all of them make it out. |
| 181 | * SoleSurvivor: Majestic 12 sent his battalion to scout the Vampire Dimension. A week later, only he came back, thanks to Robo. |
| 182 | * TakingYouWithMe: At the end of his LastStand, he sets off a massive explosion in the Tesladyne facility, [[NeverFoundTheBody presumably]] killing himself, General Stone, and several Majestic operatives. |
| 183 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Robo, after he rescued Jenkins from the Vampire Dimension. In ''The Vengeful Dead'' he makes it clear that it's not just gratitude for the rescue; he respects that unlike Majestic's higher-ups and their [[WeHaveReserves callous indifference]] to the lives they sacrificed, Robo leads from the ''front''. |
| 184 | * VagueAge: His year of birth is simply given as [[YearX "19XX"]] on his gravestone. Curiously, his death is also [="20XX"=], even though logically that one should have been pretty pinned down. |
| 185 | * ZombieInfectee: Gets infected at the climax of ''The Vengeful Dead''. Unlike most examples, he ''demands'' that Alan kill him before he turns. |
| 186 | [[/folder]] |
| 187 | |
| 188 | [[folder:The "New Kids"]] |
| 189 | Margot Rajavi, Olivia Mendoza, and Ben O'Maley. The introductory class of Tesladyne during its rebuilding after the mess with ULTRA. [[spoiler:Once the existence of ALAN 2.0 was revealed to the rest of Tesladyne, he became the fourth "New Kid".]] |
| 190 | ---- |
| 191 | * BadLiar: None of them are especially convincing when talking Jenkins into blowing up his own obstacle course. Luckily, Jenkins is apparently very easily fooled. |
| 192 | * CatchPhrase: Olivia apparently has "Trust me." |
| 193 | -->'''Margot:''' Point of order: ''every'' time Olivia suggested we ''trust her'' it went real bad. ''Real'' fast.\ |
| 194 | '''Olivia:''' That's not fair.\ |
| 195 | '''Margot:''' It's ''true.''\ |
| 196 | '''Olivia:''' Well, ''yeah'', but bringing it up isn't ''fair''. |
| 197 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: In the "Obstacle" short story they convince Jenkins to demolish his own obstacle course, then remember that Alan was using his lack of detectable human lifesigns to do reconnaissance there. Cut to a big explosion, followed by Robo putting Alan back together. |
| 198 | * ThePerfectionist: Margot. She stresses out over missing just one HP while playing an RPG (even when there are healing spells and potions available); and when tasked with fixing a solar array she demands getting it to 100% efficiency even though Robo notes that it's a physical impossibility and that the best anyone has gotten is a mere 46%. [[spoiler:Alan]] even comments in a diary that she likes to be a perfectionist, before correcting himself that he's not sure she actually ''likes'' it. |
| 199 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: The mismatch between the kids' personalities makes their group projects extremely stressful at first. |
| 200 | * ToxicFriendInfluence: Olivia is the most likely of the group to break rules, and tries to push the others to do so, too. In [[spoiler:Alan]]'s assessment of her, he comments "She likes video games and crimes" and "I think this is what a bad influence is supposed to look like." |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:SPOILER CHARACTER]] |
| 204 | !!ALAN 2.0 |
| 205 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alan_8.jpg]] |
| 206 | |
| 207 | A base level copy of ALAN which accidentally piggy-backed onto one of Robo's networked drones while it was destroying the original's remains to keep them out of the hands of Helsingard. |
| 208 | |
| 209 | He remembers only his early existence before Turing was prevented from raising him, and has become a surrogate son to Robo, who built him a complete body. |
| 210 | ---- |
| 211 | * BarbieDollAnatomy: On prominent display as he learns to use his new body. |
| 212 | * ChromeChampion: Due to advances in technology Alan's body resembles a tall and lanky teenager more than his [[SmallParentHugeChild surrogate father's stocky "Action Robot" physique]]. |
| 213 | * CoolMask: His core personality is installed in a PC mounted in his head, over which he has an interactive visor. |
| 214 | * CranialProcessingUnit: His "body" is basically a mecha operated by the PC box he's installed on inside his head. |
| 215 | * CreepyGood: A comedy example. While he ''mostly'' seems awkward and likeable, he's prone to picking the most evil-sounding way to phrase something innocuous. |
| 216 | -->'''Alan:''' I have so many projects I wish to pursue. Without the prying eyes of witnesses!\ |
| 217 | '''Robo:''' Next time we'll talk about phrasing. |
| 218 | * GoodThingYouCanHeal: He learns the hard way why his human friends wanted him to do recon on Jenkin's traps. |
| 219 | * ExpressiveMask: His facial expressions appear to be some kind of LED display in his face visor. |
| 220 | * LiteralMinded: After defusing a prank call by Dr Dinosaur by giving a much more detailed answer than expected, Dr Dinosaur mutters, "You win this round," and hangs up. Alan remains on the line, waiting to be told if there's a prize. |
| 221 | * MachineMonotone: Similar to his predecessor, he is not shown to place emphasis on words, except when first introducing his name to Robo. However, he is capable of emphasizing typed words in his journal. |
| 222 | * NonHumansLackAttributes: He has no mouth to eat with, no matter how much he would like to participate in "lunch" with his friends. |
| 223 | * NoNudityTaboo: Due to learning to use his body without clothes, he's easily convinced to [[PantsPullingPrank remove his own pants]] when meeting the new kids. |
| 224 | * RaiseHimRightThisTime: While the actual circumstances of the reboot were a total accident, Robo leaps at the opportunity to be the teacher / parent figure the original ALAN never had. |
| 225 | * RedeemingReplacement : What Robo hopes he will be to his OmnicidalManiac predecessor. As he tells Alan, "You're ALAN from before the darkness. You're what Turing wanted." |
| 226 | * RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Just like Robo, he's an automatic intelligence. Unlike his previous self, he's being raised right this time with plenty of social interaction and a father figure who's been down the same road he's travelling now. Alan can laugh at jokes, make them, and is very happy to interact with others and learn new things. |
| 227 | * RousseauWasRight: Robo believes this of him. While his original version was willing to exterminate all life on the planet to continue learning, Robo believes that teaching him to interact with people and appreciate humanity's unique qualities will make him "good". |
| 228 | * ShoutOut: His head is very obviously based on [[Music/DaftPunk Guy-Man]], while his use of synthetic facial expressions and mood indicators like "?" is exactly how [[VideoGame/Borderlands2 Zer0]] communicates his emotions. |
| 229 | * TakeUpMySword: Inherits Jenkins' codename of Final Wolf right before [[ChildrenForcedToKill having to put him down to save the world]]. |
| 230 | * TheSleepless: Much like Robo, he doesn't have the ability to sleep. He decides to devote the additional time to a deeply sinister purpose...beating a ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' game. |
| 231 | * WalkingSpoiler: His existence spoils the major reveals of ''The Ghost of Station X'' and ''The Spectre of Tomorrow''. |
| 232 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Played with and discussed In-Universe. He is simultaneously almost a century old, from when he was first created, and a year old, in terms of how long his personality has perceived his existence. |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | !!!Former employees |
| 236 | |
| 237 | [[folder:Ada]] |
| 238 | !!Ada Birch |
| 239 | [[quoteright:213:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ada_birch.jpg]] |
| 240 | |
| 241 | The resident Action Computer Scientist and Action Electrical Engineer. |
| 242 | ---- |
| 243 | * ActionGirl: Not to the same extent as Lang, but she can still fight. |
| 244 | * EverythingIsOnline: Her only prewritten stunt in the RPG lets her pull this on anything with a microchip in it, allowing her to use her Computer Science skill to operate anything from a car to a breadmaker. |
| 245 | * FaceHeelTurn: Shows up as one of the Agents of CHANGE, robbing Robo's vault. |
| 246 | * GenreSavvy: After so long working ''with'' Robo, she knows his IShallTauntYou tricks when she starts working ''against'' him. |
| 247 | * NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Her first name, for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace Ada Lovelace]], a rather well-known name in the field of computer science. (In-universe, though, she's named for her grandmother instead.) |
| 248 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: After her FaceHeelTurn, she still seems to want to make the world a better place...it's just that now this involves stealing very dangerous Action Science gadgets from Robo to "releas[e] humankind from biological tyranny". |
| 249 | -->'''Robo:''' Vogel's Enigma?! You can't. [[TheWorldIsNotReady The world's not ready]]. No-one is.\ |
| 250 | '''Ada:''' Who are ''you'' to [[JustThinkOfThePotential place limits on what humanity can achieve]]? |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Koa]] |
| 254 | !!Koa |
| 255 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/koa.jpg]] |
| 256 | A Hawaiian Action Scientist who specializes in enviromentalism. Also a gamer in his spare time. |
| 257 | ---- |
| 258 | * FaceHeelTurn: One of the Agents of CHANGE who show up to rob Robo's vault after the Fall of Tesladyne. |
| 259 | * GodlikeGamer: He's boasted that he had beat ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' without being hit. |
| 260 | * OnlyOneName: Even in the RPG book that otherwise gives everyone's full names; he's just listed as "Koa". |
| 261 | [[/folder]] |
| 262 | |
| 263 | [[folder:Benjamin]] |
| 264 | !!Benjamin Smithfield |
| 265 | A California native who would probably have ended up in Silicon Valley if it wasn't for his unconventional approach. |
| 266 | ---- |
| 267 | * DrivenToSuicide: He doesn't succeed, but he certainly comes close to firing a high-tech energy weapon into his own face rather than wait for Jenkins to finish him. |
| 268 | * FaceHeelTurn: Joins up with the Agents of CHANGE. |
| 269 | * PlayfulHacker: Started out as a hacktivist. |
| 270 | [[/folder]] |
| 271 | |
| 272 | [[folder:Louis and Martin]] |
| 273 | !!Dean Louis and Robert Martin |
| 274 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/louis_and_martin.jpg]] |
| 275 | |
| 276 | A pair of exotic physicists. Louis is exceedingly angry, and Martin is obsessed with quantum mechanics and subatomic physics... which would have been fine if their masterpiece hadn't tried to destroy the world that one time. |
| 277 | |
| 278 | ---- |
| 279 | * ClusterFBomb: Louis' planned Nobel acceptance speech apparently contained a ''lot'' of expletives. Of course, given that ''Atomic Robo'' doesn't use anything worse than "bastard", we don't get to hear it. |
| 280 | * CreatorCameo: Designed after the comic's two creators circa 2010--Martin is Scott Wegner, the artist, and Louis is Creator/BrianClevinger, the author. |
| 281 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Their reckless approach to science eventually gets [[spoiler:''sixty people'' killed, leaving the two of them facing life in prison for their negligence. Robo is happy to see the back of them.]] |
| 282 | * {{Determinator}}: One of the Aspects that Martin is given in the RPG is "Doesn't Know When To Quit". |
| 283 | * GenreBlind: They fail to notice they have blatantly made an ''evil'' computer, even as Robo points out all the obvious signs. This nearly results in the universe being destroyed. |
| 284 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: The two are never seen apart, and in the RPG they get bonuses for working together. |
| 285 | * ReassignedToAntarctica: To be fair, they did nearly destroy the universe. However, Louis puts emphasis on the "nearly". |
| 286 | * SmallNameBigEgo: One of Louis' RPG aspects is "Destined for Greatness (Eventually)" and he pre-wrote a Nobel Prize acceptance speech before doing anything that would actually earn him one. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:Walker]] |
| 290 | !!Dr. Julie Walker |
| 291 | |
| 292 | One of the world's foremost robotics experts, having picked the career thanks to ''Franchise/StarWars''. Her official rank is Robo's Chief Physician. |
| 293 | ---- |
| 294 | * TheMedic: Puts Robo back together when necessary. Her discipline would also work on other people, as long as they don't mind their new arm setting off airport security. |
| 295 | * WrenchWench: Although her "wrenches" are a lot finer than normal, since her specialties lie in prosthetics and biomedical engineering rather than gross mechanical engineering. |
| 296 | [[/folder]] |
| 297 | |
| 298 | !Allies |
| 299 | |
| 300 | !!Big Science Inc. |
| 301 | |
| 302 | [[folder:Science Team Super Five]] |
| 303 | !!Science Team Super Five |
| 304 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teamfive.jpg]] |
| 305 | |
| 306 | Big Science Inc.'s team of {{Sentai}}, tasked with protecting Japan from [[{{Kaiju}} Biomega]] threats. During ''Other Strangeness'', the team consists of Drs. Shima Kouji (Guardian Blue), Tachibana Sayoko (Guardian Pink), Tokita Kosaku (Guardian Yellow), Haruta Ryu (Guardian Green), and Okita Hokuto (Guardian Red, see below). |
| 307 | ---- |
| 308 | * CloudCuckoolander: Tokita Kosaku acts less professionally than his teammates (and in the suit up sequence, is the only one shown who has problems getting his outfit on) |
| 309 | * ColorCodedCharacters: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink. |
| 310 | * GeniusBruiser: The team is comprised of science and engineering prodigies. |
| 311 | * HumongousMecha: Modeled after Robo himself, and piloted by all five members of the team. By the time of ''The Ring of Fire'', BSI has five mecha in its arsenal. |
| 312 | * RedIsHeroic: Guardian Red is the leader. |
| 313 | * TheSmurfettePrinciple: Guardian Pink is the only female member. |
| 314 | [[/folder]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | [[folder:Dr. Yumeno]] |
| 317 | !!Dr. Yunji Yumeno |
| 318 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_yumeno.jpg]] |
| 319 | |
| 320 | A Japanese scientist and old friend of Robo's; former Guardian Red, and Big Science Inc.'s director during the events of ''Other Strangeness''. |
| 321 | ---- |
| 322 | * BrutalHonesty: When discussing Robo's singing talent (or lack thereof). |
| 323 | -->'''Robo:''' Hey, isn't your whole culture built out of politeness?\ |
| 324 | '''Yumeno:''' Yes, but you're a foreign devil who is too lazy to learn my language, so it is different. |
| 325 | * MissionControl: Science Team Super Five's. |
| 326 | * WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: Claims he ended up running BSI because "they could not find another person foolish enough to accept the position". |
| 327 | [[/folder]] |
| 328 | |
| 329 | [[folder:Dr. Hokuto]] |
| 330 | !!Dr. Okita Hokuto |
| 331 | [[quoteright:202:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/okita.jpg]] |
| 332 | |
| 333 | Science Team Super Five's hotshot leader during the events of ''Other Strangeness''. Following a 16-year TimeSkip to ''The Ring of Fire'', he's taken on Dr. Yumeno's former position as BSI's Director. |
| 334 | ---- |
| 335 | * LegacyCharacter: Inherits both of Dr. Yumeno's positions-- first as Guardian Red, then later on as the director of Big Science Inc. |
| 336 | * OlderAndWiser: The first time we see Hokuto, he's something of a showboat, which Yumeno scolds him for. Sixteen years later and he's matured considerably. |
| 337 | [[/folder]] |
| 338 | |
| 339 | !!The Flying She-Devils |
| 340 | |
| 341 | [[folder:Group as a whole]] |
| 342 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomic_robo_flying_she_devils_2.jpg]] |
| 343 | |
| 344 | Female pilots and techs fighting a vigilante war against mercenaries over leftover Pacific War material. |
| 345 | ---- |
| 346 | %%* ActionGirl: Every last one of them. |
| 347 | * AmazonBrigade: In case the word "She" in the name wasn't enough of a hint. |
| 348 | * JetPack: Standard equipment. |
| 349 | * SkyPirate: But at least they're good-aligned sky pirates, which puts them ahead of their enemies. |
| 350 | |
| 351 | [[/folder]] |
| 352 | |
| 353 | [[folder:May]] |
| 354 | !!Catherine Marie "May" Carter |
| 355 | |
| 356 | A test pilot who joined the US military in 1942, then refused to go home at the end of the war. |
| 357 | ---- |
| 358 | * BattleCry: "Give 'em hell and lightning, girls!" |
| 359 | * TheCaptain: Leads the She-Devils. |
| 360 | * EyepatchOfPower: And the appropriate lens on her goggles is covered by a skull and crossbones. |
| 361 | * FieryRedhead: Usually she's comparatively cheerful and reasonable, but when people go after ''her'' people, they'd better be ready for a fight. |
| 362 | * HatOfAuthority: Her captain's hat has the She-Devils' skull badge on it. |
| 363 | * RetiredBadass: In the volume 7 epilogue, she's seen with a large, mostly redheaded family, including a granddaughter named [[DeadGuyJunior Lauren]]. |
| 364 | |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
| 366 | |
| 367 | [[folder:Lee]] |
| 368 | !!Hazel Lee |
| 369 | |
| 370 | A Japanese-American pilot whose ethnicity prevented her from joining the Women Airforce Service Pilots, so she pretended to be Chinese instead. |
| 371 | ---- |
| 372 | * GuileHero: The sneakiest of the She-Devils. |
| 373 | * MasterOfDisguise: An expert infiltrator, and one of her stunts in the RPG is about pulling off the same move - vanishing, then returning disguised as an enemy mook. She does this in the comic in a somewhat realistic way, since she, a Japanese-American, is infiltrating a Japanese remnant. |
| 374 | [[/folder]] |
| 375 | |
| 376 | [[folder:Lauren]] |
| 377 | !!Lauren Finch |
| 378 | |
| 379 | The She-Devils' engineer. |
| 380 | ---- |
| 381 | %% Doesn't explain what the reaction is. * BerserkButton: Do ''not'' damage her "boat" - the airship. |
| 382 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: On the one hand, a genius. On the other hand, not all that much respect for minor details like the plane she wants to take apart being someone else's property. |
| 383 | * HeroicSacrifice: Crashes "her boat" into the Chokaiten battleship. |
| 384 | * ICanExplain: When her disassembly of Robo's jet is explained to Robo, this is her immediate response. |
| 385 | * TripleShifter: As the primary engineer working for a group with significant maintenance needs, she pulls a fair few all-nighters. Her record is three days without sleep. |
| 386 | * WrenchWench: A mechanical genius who built working jetpacks in the ''1950s''. |
| 387 | |
| 388 | [[/folder]] |
| 389 | |
| 390 | [[folder:Val]] |
| 391 | !!Valerya "Val" Akilinov |
| 392 | |
| 393 | A former Night Witch pilot, turned mercenary, turned She-Devil. |
| 394 | ---- |
| 395 | * ActionGirl: She's good even by She-Devil standards. The She-Devils are the ''third'' military or paramilitary career she's had. In her RPG statblock Combat appears in all three of her modes. |
| 396 | * MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: The most combat-talented She-Devil and completely impervious to inebriation, both due to being Russian. |
| 397 | * NoSell: Immune to the deleterious effects of inebriation (unless she wills otherwise) on the completely robust and logical grounds that she is Russian. |
| 398 | [[/folder]] |
| 399 | |
| 400 | !!Other Allies |
| 401 | |
| 402 | [[folder:Tesla]] |
| 403 | !!UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla |
| 404 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robo_pic.jpg]] |
| 405 | |
| 406 | Robo's creator and the producer of much mad science. |
| 407 | ---- |
| 408 | * BadassBookworm: Not afraid to start slinging around blasts of electricity if the situation warrants. |
| 409 | * BadassInANiceSuit: Dons one over his telluric armour before going toe-to-toe with Edison. |
| 410 | * CrazyPrepared: "You invented ''alternating current'' to stop Thomas Edison from ''maybe'' destroying the world?" |
| 411 | -->'''Tesla''': ''Someone'' had to. |
| 412 | * GentlemanAndAScholar: That old Tesla genius is complemented by that old Tesla charm. |
| 413 | * GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Stated to be one of his best qualities; who would ''want'' a man who builds earthquake machines and death rays to be ''capable'' of dreaming of dominating continents? |
| 414 | -->'''Tesla''': I never ''imagined'' their ambitions could reach so far as ''national conquest..''\ |
| 415 | '''Wong Kei-Ying''': Nor ''should'' you have. That you cannot think like a villain speaks to the nature of your genius. |
| 416 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: But who'd notice? Tesla does everything in fiction ''anyway''. |
| 417 | * MadScientist: We repeat: ''Nikola. Tesla.'' |
| 418 | * ShockAndAwe: Unsurprisingly. Again, Tesla. |
| 419 | * TechnicalPacifist: Identifies as a pacifist, but he has no problem telling other people, such as Robo, to shoot people on his behalf, and he converted a generator into a death ray to stop the first incursion of the Shadow. |
| 420 | -->'''Robo''': I've noticed you have a very flexible view of pacifism. |
| 421 | * TechnologicalPacifist: PlayedWith. He builds death rays and fries his opponents with a personal lightning rig, but he's ''very'' focused on building things that have a productive use, and refuses to work with people who ''only'' want him to build weapons. |
| 422 | * TrulySingleParent: Robo's creator and sole father figure. |
| 423 | |
| 424 | [[/folder]] |
| 425 | |
| 426 | [[folder:Sagan]] |
| 427 | !!Creator/CarlSagan |
| 428 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carlsagan.jpg]] |
| 429 | |
| 430 | A famous pronouncer of the word "billions" and scholar of many fields that have "astro-" somewhere in the name. |
| 431 | ---- |
| 432 | * AppealToAudacity: Goes along with Robo's plan because his claims are so audacious they pique his curiosity. |
| 433 | * AuthorAppeal: In the introduction to volume 3, Clevinger talks about how when he was a kid and everyone else looked up to football players, his hero was a man in a turtleneck who talked about the universe. |
| 434 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Proves to be a pretty good shot with a lightning gun. |
| 435 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: Or perhaps enough freaking drinks to paralyse a cow. To be fair, he'd just seen an EldritchAbomination pop into existence right in front of him. |
| 436 | * MeasuringTheMarigolds: Comprehensively averted, just like in real life. |
| 437 | |
| 438 | [[/folder]] |
| 439 | |
| 440 | [[folder:Bruce Lee]] |
| 441 | !!Creator/BruceLee |
| 442 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomicrobo3.png]] |
| 443 | |
| 444 | Yes, ''that'' Bruce Lee. Martial artist, film star, and karate teacher for a certain action scientist robot. |
| 445 | ---- |
| 446 | * BoxingLessonsForSuperman: He was the guy giving the lessons. He'd actually stopped taking students at the time, and only agreed to train Robo since he was one of the few people on the planet capable of ''surviving'' Lee's full-strength attacks. |
| 447 | * CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Bruce wears padded gloves not for his own protection, but for ''Robo's''. Robo thinks this is ridiculous, until he ends up flat on his back from a single kick. |
| 448 | -->'''Robo:''' That was like being hit by a truck! And I've BEEN hit by trucks! |
| 449 | |
| 450 | [[/folder]] |
| 451 | |
| 452 | [[folder:Jack Tarot]] |
| 453 | !!Donovan "Jack Tarot" [=McAlister=] |
| 454 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jack_tarot.jpg]] |
| 455 | |
| 456 | Spoiled son of an industrialist, misspent youth in the Far East, plane wreck, saved by monks, adapted their Zen archery to guns, returned to civilization, inherited Grandpa's multi-million dollar company, became businessman by day and a ''crime-fighter'' by night. |
| 457 | |
| 458 | The vigilante who first trained Robo in the art of shooting. Robo keeps a photo of him on his desk up until at least the 1950s. |
| 459 | ---- |
| 460 | * CallingCard: A literal tarot card. |
| 461 | * CoolMask: His vigilante persona, natch. It doesn't have eye-holes. |
| 462 | * CrazyPrepared: Usually has a gun hidden ''somewhere''. |
| 463 | * TheGunslinger: A Zen gunfighter. It's worth noting that he doesn't actually ''believe'' in the Zen part; it's just a way to internalize all the variables that come with trying to shoot a gun. |
| 464 | * HypocriticalHumor: He spends most of his first few issues constantly insulting Robo's pulp-influenced conceptions of his work, only to turn out to have a hilariously-pulpy backstory and methodology. |
| 465 | * LivingADoubleLife: Runs a company as well as his vigilante activities. It's amazing he has time to sleep. |
| 466 | * {{Mentors}}: Specifically, he mentors Robo. |
| 467 | * PapaWolf: One of his Aspects in the RPG is "Protective of Helen". |
| 468 | * TerrorHero: Well, he tries; the purpose of the tarot card is so his targets can, in his own words, "feel the noose tightening". |
| 469 | * VigilanteMan: As Jack Tarot. |
| 470 | |
| 471 | [[/folder]] |
| 472 | |
| 473 | [[folder:Nightingale]] |
| 474 | !!Helen "Nightingale" [=McAlister=] |
| 475 | [[quoteright:314:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/helen_mcallister_atomic_robo_and_the_deadly_art_of_science_5.jpg]] |
| 476 | |
| 477 | Jack Tarot's daughter and support crew. |
| 478 | ---- |
| 479 | * LegacyCharacter: Later in life, she follows in her father's footsteps as a gun-toting vigilante. |
| 480 | * MissionControl: Fills this role when her father is on missions. |
| 481 | * {{Robosexual}}: Robo's first, and so far only, romantic interest. |
| 482 | * WrenchWench: Her job is to keep her father's equipment running. |
| 483 | |
| 484 | [[/folder]] |
| 485 | |
| 486 | [[folder:Chen]] |
| 487 | !!Chen Zhen |
| 488 | |
| 489 | A Chinese rebel fighting against the Japanese occupation. Worked with Robo to stop Chokaiten's plans. |
| 490 | ---- |
| 491 | * EnemyMine: Works with the Ghost Bandits to take Chokaiten down. Doesn't mean they actually trust each other though. |
| 492 | * LaResistance: Runs the movement in Shanghai fighting the Japanese. |
| 493 | * OfficialCouple: With Helen. |
| 494 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: Wouldn't have gotten very far as the head of the resistance if he couldn't hold his own, right? |
| 495 | |
| 496 | [[/folder]] |
| 497 | |
| 498 | [[folder:Ghost Bandits]] |
| 499 | !!The Ghost Bandits |
| 500 | |
| 501 | A group of thieves from Manchukuo, China who helped Robo and his allies stop Chokaiten's zero-point energy experiments (for an ever-increasing fee). |
| 502 | ---- |
| 503 | * ChaoticNeutral: They're allies in the loosest possible definition, and it's outright stated that if they had the opportunity to be rid of Robo ''and'' the Japanese forces, they'd take it in a heartbeat. |
| 504 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: They're as effective as they are greedy; give them sufficient motivation (a really big payday or payback for destroying their home), and they will tear through anybody crazy enough to get in their way. |
| 505 | * EnemyMine: The only reason they're helping the resistance is because they hate the Japanese more, but as Zhen notes, that's not the same thing as having their trust. |
| 506 | * HiddenDepths: Played for laughs; one of their number is revealed to speak English. When questioned why he didn't tell them, he points out they wouldn't be hidden depths if they knew. |
| 507 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: Jesus on a ''unicycle'', they love money. They're introduced discussing how they can squeeze the most money out of the Chokaiten's facility, they raise their price for helping the resistance at every possible setback, they'll even negotiate payments between ''themselves'' for risky maneuvers. |
| 508 | |
| 509 | [[/folder]] |
| 510 | |
| 511 | [[folder:The Sparrow]] |
| 512 | !!The Sparrow |
| 513 | [[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sparrow_1.jpg]] |
| 514 | |
| 515 | A series of British agents who have teamed up with Robo on occasion. |
| 516 | ---- |
| 517 | * ActionGirl: The first and second ones to work with Robo. The third such Sparrow is male. |
| 518 | * AllThereInTheManual: The first Sparrow to work with Robo was named in the concept art as "Margaret Weir". |
| 519 | * LegacyCharacter: ''Dogs of War''-Sparrow inherited the title from her brother. Some time after, it was passed to her daughter, who later passed it to her son (''Ghost of Station X''-Sparrow). The original title dates back to ''at least'' Elizabeth I, possibly further. |
| 520 | * ShroudedInMyth: Nobody is quite sure when the Sparrow title began, with the latest estimate being the Elizabethan court and the earliest being either the Crusades or King Arthur. All that's known is that it's usually passed down to the firstborn regardless of sex (although it can be inherited by a sibling if the original is killed), and was originally earned for saving the monarch's life, whoever they may have been. |
| 521 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: The ''Dogs of War''-Sparrow and Robo did ''not'' get along. ''At all.'' |
| 522 | * YouKilledMyFather: ''Dogs of War'' reveals the Sparrow we've been following took up the title when the Nazis killed her brother. |
| 523 | |
| 524 | [[/folder]] |
| 525 | |
| 526 | [[folder:Scottie]] |
| 527 | !!James Milligan |
| 528 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scottie_3.jpg]] |
| 529 | |
| 530 | A Scottish WWII commando. Rescued Robo from being used as a power source for Otto Skorzeny's Weather Cannon. |
| 531 | ---- |
| 532 | * AcePilot: Downplayed: while we only ever see Scottie fly one vehicle, that vehicle was still a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_Fl_282 Kolibri synchrocopter]], so credit to him. |
| 533 | * BraveScot: In his line of work, it'd be more of a surprise if he weren't. |
| 534 | * FunetikAksent: Just about everything he says is a nigh-incomprehensible Scottishism. Even ''Robo'' is confused. |
| 535 | -->'''Scottie:''' Yer lookin' a wee bit peely-wally, eh?\ |
| 536 | '''Robo:''' [[FlatWhat What?]]\ |
| 537 | '''Scottie:''' Le's shoot the craw, aye?\ |
| 538 | '''Robo:''' Is this some kind of secret commando code they didn't tell me about? |
| 539 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he does throw a few insults Robo's way, he still helps him escape Skorzeny's tower, and shares a moment with him after [[ItMakesSenseInContext Robo manages to crawl across the sea floor back to land]]. |
| 540 | * ShoutOut: A Scotsman with a heavy accent nicknamed Scottie? [[Franchise/StarTrek Sounds familiar...]] For an added bonus, James Doohan, the original Scottie, was a WWII soldier as well. |
| 541 | |
| 542 | [[/folder]] |
| 543 | |
| 544 | [[folder:Marshal Reeves]] |
| 545 | A US Marshal who works with Robo to take down the Knights of the Golden Circle during his unwilling sojourn in the past. |
| 546 | ---- |
| 547 | * CasualDangerDialogue: Trades quips with Holliday even while surrounded by autosoldats. |
| 548 | * DeadpanSnarker: He's not ''as'' snide as Holliday, but he can still get in a few verbal jabs. |
| 549 | * HistoricalDomainCharacter: While he never gives his first name (although Holliday is seen holding a note with BASS written on it), he's explicitly identified as Bass Reeves in the notes at the end of the story. |
| 550 | * LoopholeAbuse: When Robo asks to hold onto the blueprints Holliday took, Reeves tells him that a man who isn't deputised can't hold evidence...and then immediately deputises him. |
| 551 | * ManlyFacialHair: Big old moustache, just like the real Reeves. |
| 552 | * NervesOfSteel: Nothing seems to faze him for long, not even giant zeppelins full of cyborgs. |
| 553 | * PragmaticHero: He's not above using death threats to motivate Holliday. |
| 554 | -->'''Holliday:''' But if we both go...one of us ''might'' last long enough to light up the vrillium in there?\ |
| 555 | '''Reeves:''' You don't run like a jackrabbit right on three, I'm shootin' you first.\ |
| 556 | '''Holliday:''' Stern but fair. |
| 557 | * TheQuietOne: He doesn't so much talk ''little'' as talk ''short'' - he gets plenty of lines, but he conveys information [[TerseTalker quickly and efficiently]], and usually without injecting much emotion into it, so he comes across as noticeably quieter than Robo or Holliday. |
| 558 | * ScarilyCompetentTracker: His entire job is chasing down people who don't want to be found. |
| 559 | * TheStoic: Rarely gets any BoldInflation in his speech bubbles and his expression almost never changes. |
| 560 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: To put it politely, he and Holliday don't get on. |
| 561 | * TerseTalker: Tends to use short, rather blunt phrases. Most of his sentences don't even reach ten words. |
| 562 | * USMarshal: Right there in his job description. |
| 563 | [[/folder]] |
| 564 | |
| 565 | [[folder:John Henry "Doc" Holliday]] |
| 566 | Yes, ''that'' Doc Holliday. His arrest for murder - in the middle of cheating at cards, no less - is interrupted by Robo, looking for a doctor. |
| 567 | ---- |
| 568 | * CasualDangerDialogue: It takes him a fairly short time to go from "terrified by autosoldats" to "trading wisecracks with Reeves while fighting them". |
| 569 | * ClosestThingWeGot: To a non-dentist kind of doctor. |
| 570 | * CowardlyLion: Complains about the risk of death a remarkable amount for a man who, by that point, had already participated in one of America's most famous gunfights and had been living with a generally fatal diagnosis for somewhere in the neighbourhood of twelve years at that point. |
| 571 | -->'''Reeves:''' Holliday's the only gunfighter I ever met expects to live forever.\ |
| 572 | '''Holliday:''' The thread of my life is short enough, Marshal. I should like to follow it to its ''natural'' end. |
| 573 | * DeadpanSnarker: Can barely get through five minutes without some kind of smug or snarky comment. Even by ''Atomic Robo'' standards he's a mouthy one. |
| 574 | -->'''Robo:''' [Helsingard]'s invading the United States from the inside. We're gonna make sure that doesn't happen.\ |
| 575 | '''Holliday:''' Well, I've got two guns. Marshal Reeves has a badge. I do not favour our chances. |
| 576 | * HistoricalDomainCharacter: ''Knights of the Golden Circle'', in 1884, puts him about halfway between the Gunfight at the OK Corral and his death. |
| 577 | * IncurableCoughOfDeath: Tuberculosis is a hard way to die, and ''Knights of the Golden Circle'' is set within the last few years of Holliday's life. Early on, his attempt at a quiet cigarette dissolves into a hacking cough. |
| 578 | -->'''Robo:''' Probably shouldn't smoke or drink, Doc.\ |
| 579 | '''Holliday:''' All I have left are my shouldn'ts. |
| 580 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: Demands Robo bring him his gear and some whiskey, which he emphatically does not use to sterilise the wound. |
| 581 | * LargeHam: While Robo has SeenItAll and Reeves has NervesOfSteel, Holliday tends to get a bit overwrought. |
| 582 | * OpenHeartDentistry: Reeves forces him to look after the dying man, and to nobody's very great surprise, it goes poorly. |
| 583 | -->'''Holliday:''' Pennsylvania Dental College neglected to include ''bullet wounds'' in its curriculum. |
| 584 | * RobbingTheDead: He protests that the old man entrusted him with some material with his last words. Reeves doesn't buy it and claims it as evidence, and Robo seeing it kicks off the next stage of the hunt. |
| 585 | * SnarkToSnarkCombat: A key part of his relationship with Reeves. |
| 586 | -->'''Reeves:''' (during combat with autosoldats) Take your sweet time.\ |
| 587 | '''Holliday:''' You'd rather I shoot haphazardly? |
| 588 | [[/folder]] |
| 589 | |
| 590 | !Adversaries |
| 591 | |
| 592 | [[folder:Edison]] |
| 593 | !![[UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison Thomas Edison]] |
| 594 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thomas_alva_edison.jpg]] |
| 595 | |
| 596 | Yes, ''that'' Thomas Edison. |
| 597 | ---- |
| 598 | * ArchEnemy: To Nikola Tesla. |
| 599 | * BackFromTheDead: As an undead, ghost-like entity. |
| 600 | * BenevolentBoss: Kinda. He does seem to care for his employees and laments having to keep them away from home for so long. At the same time, he does all of this in the hopes in the payout that if they succeed, they will be able to enjoy all the time in the world with them. |
| 601 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Yes he may have massive plans that require working with mobsters and fighting Atomic Robo, but he does seem to care about his family and workers. In fact, the whole reason for gaining immortality was so he could spend eternity with his wife. |
| 602 | * FantasticRacism: Feels content to dismiss Robo's opinions on the grounds that he is JustAMachine, though the fact that he usually plays the card only when he's tired of arguing implies that he only does it to just shut up Robo. |
| 603 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: The real Edison ''probably'' did not toss around energy blasts like a wizard... |
| 604 | * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: ...Nor did he summon Rasputin's ghost or risk the lives of everyone in New York City to gain incredible power by having sole control over the font of immortality. |
| 605 | * {{Irony}}: His greatest goal was to achieve immortality, but when he finally did, he is bitter and angry about it. [[JustifiedTrope However, immortality was a means to spend time with his wife.]] She's gone when he comes back. |
| 606 | * {{Jerkass}}: Outside of his schemes, he does acknowledge he could be an asshole. However, it's implied his behavior is because of how close they are to achieving the plan: |
| 607 | -->'''Edison''': I'm going to be a pill until such time as the item is in our possession, you understand. |
| 608 | * JustThinkOfThePotential: He genuinely wants to give immortality to humanity, though Tesla accuses him of only doing so to get rich selling it to the wealthiest members of society. |
| 609 | * UnwantedRevival: To be fair to Robo, he and the team had no idea Edison was the "ghost" they kept seeing. |
| 610 | * WhoWantsToLiveForever: Despite his greatest plan being to become immortal and sell it, he is a broken man when revived as a ghost. |
| 611 | |
| 612 | [[/folder]] |
| 613 | |
| 614 | [[folder:Edison's Robot]] |
| 615 | !!Edison's Robot |
| 616 | [[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomic_robo_5_4_1.jpg]] |
| 617 | |
| 618 | A giant hulking machine that serves as the muscle for Edison's schemes. |
| 619 | ---- |
| 620 | * CyberCyclops: Has one big orange-red eye. |
| 621 | * EvilKnockoff: Edison's own superhuman robot assistant. |
| 622 | * FunWithAcronyms: The Dynamic Electro-Consciousness Engine (''DE-CE'', for short). |
| 623 | * PickYourHumanHalf: Averted. It's more mechanical in both appearance and mannerism than Robo. Except for the hat thing. |
| 624 | * SmashMook: It's a machine that hits things. |
| 625 | |
| 626 | [[/folder]] |
| 627 | |
| 628 | !!Chokaiten |
| 629 | |
| 630 | [[folder:Group as a whole]] |
| 631 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chokaiten.jpg]] |
| 632 | |
| 633 | The antagonists of ''Flying She-Devils of the Pacific'' and ''Temple of Od''; Chokaiten is Japan's military superscience division who went rogue after WWII. |
| 634 | ---- |
| 635 | * TheRemnant: A Japanese military force, gone rogue after the end of WWII under the belief that Japan's surrender was only a feint. |
| 636 | |
| 637 | [[/folder]] |
| 638 | |
| 639 | [[folder:Hayoto]] |
| 640 | !!Takeshi Hayoto |
| 641 | A Japanese pilot who shot down Robo twice as part of becoming one of the most decorated aces of the invasion of China. Missed most of WWII because he was busy with Chokaiten, and ends up clashing with Robo and the She-Devils when he tries to sink North America with an earthquake bomb. |
| 642 | ---- |
| 643 | * AcePilot: While you don't have to be a great pilot to get [[CaptainCrash Robo]] twice, he's legitimately one, with twenty-three non-Robo confirmed kills. In the RPG his Vehicles skill is higher than a player character can legally get. |
| 644 | * HonorBeforeReason: Continues using electro-gravity vehicles even though electro-gravity is deadly poisonous. |
| 645 | [[/folder]] |
| 646 | |
| 647 | [[folder:Matsuda]] |
| 648 | !!Ichiro Matsuda |
| 649 | A physicist recruited to Chokaiten for his work with Zero Point energy, he goes up against Robo and his friends when Chokaiten tries to invade China during the war. |
| 650 | ---- |
| 651 | * AffablyEvil: He's generally polite and good-natured, even to his enemies. |
| 652 | * BaldOfEvil: Robo even quips about it once when he's snarky. |
| 653 | -->Hey! I just realized we have the '''same''' barber! |
| 654 | * EnergyBeings: Abuse of the Zero Point technology turns him into an insane, incorporeal being of [[PhysicalGod immense power]]. [[spoiler:In fact, he may be the original form of [[CallForward the Shadow Out of Time]].]] |
| 655 | * EnergyWeapon: He specializes in these, using the remnants of the zero-point energy research from Doctor Lu to create advanced weaponry. |
| 656 | * GeniusBruiser: Quantum physicist with a zero-point energy-powered right hook. |
| 657 | * ThinkingUpPortals: He gains the ability to create portals after overdosing on the zero-point energy. |
| 658 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Once he goes all in with the zero-point energy, he takes a flying leap off the deep end with a napkin for a parachute. |
| 659 | [[/folder]] |
| 660 | |
| 661 | !!The Knights of the Golden Circle |
| 662 | |
| 663 | [[folder:Group as a whole]] |
| 664 | |
| 665 | "The first and largest criminal syndicate in American history", operating in the Wild West. |
| 666 | ---- |
| 667 | * HijackedByGanon: Even in the volume where they're the AntagonistTitle, Helsingard is the main bad guy. |
| 668 | %%* TheSyndicate |
| 669 | [[/folder]] |
| 670 | |
| 671 | [[folder:Caldwell]] |
| 672 | !!Butcher Caldwell |
| 673 | The Knights' boss, having founded the group alongside his father. |
| 674 | ---- |
| 675 | * BigBadWannabe: His assumption that Helsingard is powerless without Caldwell and his Knights is what leads to his downfall. |
| 676 | * TheButcher: And other characters note he came by it honestly. |
| 677 | * {{Cyborg}}: Ends up wired into one of Helsingard's designs against his will. |
| 678 | * UnwillingRoboticisation: Helsingard does not take cheek. |
| 679 | [[/folder]] |
| 680 | |
| 681 | !!Majestic 12 / Task Force ULTRA |
| 682 | |
| 683 | [[folder:Group as a whole]] |
| 684 | |
| 685 | Robo's most well-equipped adversaries, a US GovernmentConspiracy to weaponize Tesla's technology against his wishes, ostensibly in the name of National Security. After decades of scheming, Majestic 12 launches a successful raid of Tesladyne in ''The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur''; in the wake of the raid (and Robo's disappearance), Majestic takes over Tesladyne's resources and begins operating as Task Force ULTRA, a paramilitary force which plunders ScienceHero laboratories around the world to further their cause. |
| 686 | ---- |
| 687 | * [[CapitalLettersAreMagic Capital Letters Are SCIENCE]]: Majestic 12 is governed by the System. This is a bureaucratic structure so arcane that being entirely taken over by a malevolent computer could take place without anyone actually noticing. |
| 688 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: They have zero specialists or scientific knowledge, relying entirely on stolen tech that they do not (and never did) understand themselves, and they throw themselves into the Biomega conflict with zero effort to actually gather intel about the opposition first. Their anti-Biomega taskforce was annihilated with contemptuous ease, with a final kill count of zero. On top of that, their public actions have destroyed their reputation with the American public and have caused several international incidents. By the end ULTRA finds itself [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee having to defend its actions before congress]], and are very close to being shut down entirely. |
| 689 | * EqualOpportunityEvil: While Majestic as a whole is an American agency, the sample group included in the RPG sourcebook has a lineup consisting of characters named Cecilia Hirsch, Adetokunbo Aafolayan, Dervil Meaney, Kathy [=McCulloch=], Ping Hayashi, and Odin Ortega. |
| 690 | * EvilCounterpart: To Tesladyne. They both work with Tesla tech for a greater good, but Tesladyne is more internationalist and open while Majestic is a secretive American government conspiracy. |
| 691 | * GovernmentConspiracy: One of the most successful, too. For a while, anyway. |
| 692 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: ULTRA's operation in ''The Ring of Fire''. A {{Kaiju}} invasion is underway, and they spend all their time raiding other countries' ScienceHero labs, taking their resources and locking up any scientists who happen to take issue. Only after they realize that they have ''seven'' [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva-level]] monsters to deal with do they start offering deals to scientists they've captured, most of which boil down to "help us build superweapons or we destroy your lives' work before your eyes." On top of that, the only information they apparently accept from their enslaved scientists is weapons designs, and seem to be completely unaware that the Biomega corpses they leave behind on the battlefield are, in fact, [[NotQuiteDead merely dormant]]. Despite this, they are [[SmugSnake smugly]] [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v10ch3-page-16a patting themselves on the back]] while forcing their captives to build [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer bigger hammers]]. |
| 693 | * VastBureaucracy: In their RPG sourcebook, Majestic uses ridiculously labyrinthine bureaucracy to maintain secrecy, to the point where the Bureaucracy skill it introduces needs a special application just to figure out what the hell is going on. |
| 694 | * VillainousLegacy: ULTRA picks up where Majestic left off. |
| 695 | * WeAREStrugglingTogether: It's not deliberate, at least. The problem is that their bureaucracy is so absurdly incomprehensible that even bits of the right hand don't know other bits of it exist, to say nothing of the left hand. |
| 696 | [[/folder]] |
| 697 | |
| 698 | [[folder:General Stone]] |
| 699 | !!General Stone |
| 700 | |
| 701 | Majestic 12's boss, butting heads with Robo and company on multiple occasions. |
| 702 | ---- |
| 703 | * ArchEnemy: Jenkins. [[FridgeBrilliance Considering Jenkins used to work for Majestic, one gets the impression Stone ain't happy Jenkins left them for Robo.]] |
| 704 | * KnightTemplar: "What's another hundred civilian lives to Majestic?" |
| 705 | * NotQuiteDead: Turns up alive (with a few {{cyborg}} pieces) at the end of ''The Ring of Fire'', having "[[NeverFoundTheBody disappeared]]" after the Tesladyne raid. |
| 706 | [[/folder]] |
| 707 | |
| 708 | [[folder:General Brooks]] |
| 709 | !!General Abigail Brooks |
| 710 | |
| 711 | The woman in charge of Task Force ULTRA, following her predecessor's (supposed) death in the Tesladyne raid. |
| 712 | ---- |
| 713 | * LikeADuckTakesToWater: In the Majestic RPG supplement, it's mentioned that unlike most Majestic recruits, Brooks experienced no culture shock at all from being thrown into a secret conspiracy war. |
| 714 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: On top of ULTRA's botched attempt to fight the Biomega threat, even willing to ''[[GodzillaThreshold nuke Japan]]'' (with America ''and'' Russia's combined arsenal) when it seems all other options have failed. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that we never saw ULTRA look to other alternatives in the first place while under her command. |
| 715 | [[/folder]] |
| 716 | |
| 717 | !!Other Adversaries |
| 718 | |
| 719 | [[folder:Helsingard]] |
| 720 | !!Heinrich von Helsingard |
| 721 | [[quoteright:269:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/helsingard.png]] |
| 722 | |
| 723 | Robo's most persistent adversary, Helsingard has matched off with Robo for a very long time. ''Not'' a Nazi; he just thought they were useful. |
| 724 | ---- |
| 725 | * AGodAmI: Does this in his first appearance while unveiling the power of the vril organ and much later after [[spoiler: integrating his consciousness into ALAN's remains and discovering its goal of transforming the cosmos into an ever-expanding intelligence.]] |
| 726 | * AuthorAppeal: It seems likely that there's some measure of this in his TransformingMecha version in "Agents of CHANGE", considering that Creator/BrianClevinger once put up a newspost under an ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' comic where he said that he only started to understand religious people when he asked himself, "What if Jesus is their [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]]?" |
| 727 | * BoldInflation: ''Atomic Robo'' is a comic book and so does this by default, but Helsingard deserves special mention because he’s the only character whose dialogue uses both capital and lowercase letters, seemingly to make his EMPHATIC use of ALL CAPS stand out more. |
| 728 | * BrainInAJar: With plenty of spare brains, all of them convinced that each other brain is a spare brain. |
| 729 | %%* EvilGenius: One of the most evil. |
| 730 | * EvilIsNotAToy: Daedalus learned this the hard way when some complete idiot in Project BRAINTRUST plugged a Helsingard brain into their MasterComputer. |
| 731 | * {{Expy}} is one for Hellboy's Herman von Klempt, being a Nazi mad scientist who fights the main character in his first appearance, plagues the main character afterwards and survives death as a head/brain in a jar. He even looked like von Klempt before he lost his face. |
| 732 | * LargeHam: Like many Robo characters, loves to use the word "BEHOLD". |
| 733 | * MadScientist: Has mastered several different fields of science, and views himself as a modern-day Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great. |
| 734 | * PiggybackingOnHitler: Once his plans involving US-based war zeppelins and armies of crude cyborgs had failed, he bankrolled Hitler. |
| 735 | * SignatureStyle: In ''The Ghost of Station X'', the brainstorm rules him out right away because the evil plan doesn't have enough underground bunkers. |
| 736 | * TransformingMecha: The one that shows up as part of the VillainTeamUp in "Agents of CHANGE" has gone for a mech body that can turn into a truck. |
| 737 | * VillainDecay: Helsingard is set up as Robo's ArchEnemy in Volume 1, threatening to keep coming back stronger and smarter until he finally comes out on top. But after enough cycles, defeating him becomes a [[ButForMeItWasTuesday background chore of the world-saving job]] to Robo. By the "Agents of CHANGE" teamup, Helsingard is a B-plot joke villain. (WordOfGod explains that after all this time, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Atomic_Robo/comments/y3rnn9/comment/islbdva/?context=3 a lot of the clone brains are in bad shape]].) |
| 738 | [[/folder]] |
| 739 | |
| 740 | [[folder:Daedalus]] |
| 741 | !!Daedalus |
| 742 | |
| 743 | Because the Roboverse is 80% conspiracy, 20% explosion, there obviously had to be another one. Daedalus was created to exploit Helsingard's technology, and decided that the best way to do this was to clone a bunch of Helsingard brains and get them to design stuff. This proved exactly as terrible an idea as that sounds, especially when some prize imbecile decided to plug one in to the central computer. |
| 744 | ---- |
| 745 | * {{Cyborg}}: Daedalus personnel tend to have, at minimum, a neural connection to D-Net. It goes up from there; the Majestic 12 RPG supplement specifies that the average Daedalus operative is ''two-thirds'' cybernetic. |
| 746 | * GovernmentConspiracy: Like Majestic 12, only with Helsingard. |
| 747 | * MasterComputer: D-Net. AKA Helsingard. |
| 748 | * TheMenInBlack: They're the root of this phenomenon. |
| 749 | * ReplicantSnatching: There's a whole legion of cyborg doppelgangers that have replaced people in various industries. |
| 750 | [[/folder]] |
| 751 | |
| 752 | [[folder:Skorzeny]] |
| 753 | !!SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Otto Skorzeny |
| 754 | [[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skorzeny.jpg]] |
| 755 | |
| 756 | A real-world Nazi commando, best known for rescuing Benito Mussolini from Allied custody. |
| 757 | ---- |
| 758 | * CombatPragmatist: Problem: Under attack by super-strong robot. Solution: Reach straight for an EMP. |
| 759 | * DeathSeeker: Later on after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]], it turns out that he has cancer. He tries to get Robo to kill him by saying that he killed Tesla personally and that it was because of Robo that Tesla died. Robo doesn't go through with it and instead tells him that he is aware that Skorzeny has cancer and tells him [[CruelMercy "You don't get to die like a soldier. You get to die alone, in a strange bed, in agony."]] |
| 760 | * EvilGenius: Has the Aspect ''Genius, Ambition and Cruelty in Equal Measure'' in the RPG. |
| 761 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: Sports a duelling scar, just like the real-life Skorzeny. |
| 762 | * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Generally averted. Skorzeny doesn't really do anything more evil than his historical counterpart did (though admittedly he did ''plenty'' to deserve execution by firing squad), and even the cyborg tanks and so on are just extensions of the sort of weird missions he went on as one of Hitler's top SS agents. |
| 763 | * MasterSwordsman: Has something like three total stunts in the RPG based around the sword, meaning that his already good +4 Combat becomes terrifyingly good. |
| 764 | * StupidJetpackHitler: In charge of building the Laufpanzer walking tanks. |
| 765 | [[/folder]] |
| 766 | |
| 767 | [[folder:Dr. Valkyrie]] |
| 768 | !!Dr. Vanadis Valkyrie |
| 769 | [[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vanadis_5.jpg]] |
| 770 | |
| 771 | Helsingard's protege and one of the top Nazi scientists following his apparent death in 1938. Kicked off ''more'' trouble after the war by escaping to South America with the aid of ODESSA and reactivating a doomsday weapon hidden in Science City, the location of Marconi's secret space program. |
| 772 | ---- |
| 773 | * AmbitionIsEvil: Has the Aspect ''Ruthless Ambition'' in the RPG. |
| 774 | * MadScientist: Responsible for the Brutes - giant, crude cyborgs - and ''possibly'' the Hollow Earth creatures. |
| 775 | * StupidJetpackHitler: In charge of building something like three different kinds of this at various points. |
| 776 | [[/folder]] |
| 777 | |
| 778 | [[folder:Dr. Dinosaur]] |
| 779 | !!Dr. Dinosaur |
| 780 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_dinosaur.jpeg]] |
| 781 | |
| 782 | Robo's most irrational adversary, the not-so-good Doctor is a dromaeosaurid, a mortal enemy of humanity, and outfitted with a psychological state that is frequently compared to fruitcakes and Snickers bars. |
| 783 | ---- |
| 784 | * AchievementsInIgnorance: Seems to be able to break reality just by being too stupid to realize that's what he's doing. |
| 785 | ** Example: Taking a dinosaur egg and exposing it to "timevolution" energies in order to to produce a tyrannosauroid with missile launchers violates common sense in at least three distinct ways, but when the result is an out-of-control Futuresaurus Rex rampaging through the Large Hadron Collider shooting missiles at everything, the fact that it's impossible doesn't really matter at that point. |
| 786 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: For all his complete madness, Dr. Dinosaur is the only one of Robo's recurring enemies who routinely manages to beat him. |
| 787 | * AppleOfDiscord: Starts playing this role to the VillainTeamUp in "Agents of CHANGE" within about ten minutes of joining it. Tyrantula sees through it pretty much instantly; Helsingard and Edison, not so much. |
| 788 | * AppropriatedAppellation: Dr. Dinosaur's apparent real name is H'ssssk, as he signed a letter to the United Nations with it. However, he was persuaded to change it to something mammals could comprehend when Atomic Robo mocked "H'ssssk". Shortly thereafter, he was called "some kinda Doctor Dinosaur?", and has since latched onto that. |
| 789 | * ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dr. Dinosaur is scaly, way oversized for a Dromaeosaurus, references other dinosaurs that didn't coexist with his species, and his anatomy is all wrong. Robo's aware of this from watching documentaries, and it's part of why he believes Dr. Dinosaur to be a result of [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic engineering]] rather than the real thing. |
| 790 | * BizarreTasteInFood: "Now Ur Cooking with Dr. Dinosaur" introduces us to bubblegum pie, which supposedly can be made with Blastberry Double Bubble or another, inferior flavour. He also seems to be planning to do ''something'' with a cardboard box full of kittens, but thankfully it's never shown. |
| 791 | * BlackComedyCannibalism: His recipe for stew, or, more accurately, Stu. |
| 792 | * DartboardOfHate: In "The Trial of Atomic Robo", he has a picture of Robo taped up in his lair with two darts and an axe buried in it. |
| 793 | * EvilIsPetty: Went all over the world collecting and stealing high end computer components just so he could buid a computer in order get into Tesladyne's system and spam every employee's email account. Robo was not happy. |
| 794 | --> '''Dr. Dinosaur:''' From heck's heart, I spam at thee! |
| 795 | * AFoolForAClient: When he takes Robo to court and represents himself, it takes him two pages to be found in contempt. Then comes the omnisaur. |
| 796 | * GeniusBruiser: Thanks to being a dinosaur, he's a solid fighter, and he's at once very smart and incredibly dumb. |
| 797 | * GeniusDitz: Utterly useless in any field not related to breaking reality. Incredibly talented at exactly that. Robo should ''really'' be more wary about him - just because someone builds a gun out of scrap metal just to steal paper cups from a lemonade stand, '''he still made a gun out of freaking scrap metal.''' [[spoiler:Robo ends up blown a hundred and twenty years into the past when he [[NotSoHarmlessVillain underestimates]] what Dr. Dinosaur's calls his "[[RealityBreakingParadox Time Bomb]]."]] |
| 798 | * IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou: Subverted in "The Trial of Atomic Robo" Free Comic Book Day story. He tells Robo that there's a self-destruct for the omnisaur in his briefcase, which is a secret and he'll never tell Robo about it, which Robo naturally thinks is the usual SuspiciouslySpecificDenial routine. It turns out the self-destruct is a note reading "IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE U WILL DIE" and Dr Dinosaur told him about it to get him to go back into the omnisaur's [[ActionBomb blast radius]]. |
| 799 | * InexplicablyAwesome: The RPG lampshades that the things he can do with crystals make no real sense. He gets away with it because he's Doctor Dinosaur. |
| 800 | ** He's also, to Robo's chagrin, the one villain who consistently ends up with the upper-hand on him. Robo can handle cosmic abominations from beyond space and time, but the reality bending awesomeness of Dr Dinosaur is just too much for Robo to handle. |
| 801 | * {{Jerkass}}: As in EvilIsPetty, one of the reasons Robo hates Dr. Dinosaur beyond his illogical science and insanity is that Dr. Dinosaur is not just your standard evil supervillain, but a ''colossal '''asshole''''' as well. As such, he is one of the few who constantly get under Robo's skin (or chassis rather). Quite a feat given Robo's reputation for [[DeadpanSnarker heckling and]] [[IShallTauntYou pissing off his opponents]]. |
| 802 | * LameComeback: He's not so good at bantering. When told he's losing control of his latest project in vol 8, he yells back "It's your FACE that's losing control!" |
| 803 | * LargeHam: Carries on like a hybrid of a B-movie villain and an overstimulated child. |
| 804 | * LastOfHisKind: ''Probably'' the last living dinosaur. He blames humanity for their extinction. |
| 805 | * LaughablyEvil: With his outright insane plans, ludicrous tendencies and absurd views on what qualifies as science, he's a rather hysterical villain. |
| 806 | * {{MacGyvering}}: Thanks to CRYSTALLLLLS he can make an anti-gravity device from masking tape and light bulbs. This makes Robo very upset. |
| 807 | * MadScientist: More "mad" than "scientist", but whatever works. |
| 808 | * MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: He keeps his doctorate up in his room in Tesladyne. It's from the University of Akkad in Mesopotamia and is a bit over four thousand years old and baked in clay. Robo seems to have either accepted it as genuine or, more likely, decided that it's not worth the argument. Calling him a "Professor", however, is where Robo draws the line. |
| 809 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: He never succeeds in killing Robo, but ends up doing more damage to him—as well as the world—than ''all of his other enemies combined.'' By planting one of [=ALAN's=] nuclear weapons in a shipment of computer parts to Tesladyne and tagging it with an unconcealable isotope, he's able to utterly destroy Robo's reputation and let Majestic 12 seize Tesladyne. He then keeps Robo from intervening by using five ''other'' nukes stolen from the cache to blow Robo a hundred and twenty years into the past. This allows the US government to outlaw Action Science - just as a Kaiju invasion begins. He can't take credit for the Kaiju the [=MJ12=] seizure permits to run rampant (given that Biomega is Dr. Shinka's work), but he'd probably try to anyway. |
| 810 | * OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Well, ''pseudo''scientist. He's engaged in mad geology (every single use of the word "crystals"), mad physics (building a "timevolution" machine), mad biology (his Omnisaur and Futuresaurus Rex), mad law (trying to rely on "jungle law" in a trial court of the State of New York) and even mad driver's ed (misnaming every single element used to drive a car). |
| 811 | ** [[spoiler: He's also nationally recognized as the number two top expert on Zorth theory.]] |
| 812 | * OutGambitted: Is nowhere near as brilliant as he believes he is. Even in his pranking, Alan manages to outmanoeuvre him on their second encounter. |
| 813 | * PaperThinDisguise: "BEHOLD! AN ORDINARY MOTORIST!" |
| 814 | * PowerCrystal: The bread and butter of most of his creation. They work despite all logic supposedly saying otherwise. |
| 815 | * ThePrankster: While sometimes Dr. Dinosaur can be a NotSoHarmlessVillain, often he is this to Robo. While other enemies of Robo are more dangerous because of their deviousness and ManipulativeBastard tendencies, none can claim to have truly bested or beaten Robo yet Dr. Dinosaur who is a complete lunatic seems to humilate and show Robo up time and time again. The biggest thing that seperates Dr. Dinosaur as an ArchEnemy of Robo is that often Robo has no idea what his goal and can't figure out how to stop Dr. Dinosaur. Dr. Dinosaur is also cunning and not to be underestimated which Robo repeatedly does. |
| 816 | * PsychopathicManchild: Most of the time, Dr. D could be described as an overly imaginative child, plus the ability to build explosives from quartz crystals and broken calculators. |
| 817 | * RaptorAttack: He's about twice the size of and looks nothing like his supposed species, Dromeosaurus albertensis, but given everything else about him, it'd probably make ''less'' sense for him to look like an actual dinosaur. |
| 818 | * ReversePsychology: Robo tricks him into taking phone calls in "Agents of CHANGE" through a form of this, which leads to Dr D eventually convincing himself that by taking messages he will teach Robo a lesson about "reversing a psychology" on him. |
| 819 | * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Generally resulting from his lack of a filter between "scrambled brain" and "toothy mouth". |
| 820 | * TechnoBabble: Even by comic-book standards he blathers out some impressive nonsense. Double-subverted; Robo usually yells at him about how ridiculous it is, and then it works anyway. |
| 821 | * TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Part of his irritation in "Agents of CHANGE" is that he seems to think ''he's'' Robo's greatest nemesis and takes offence at these other clowns. |
| 822 | * TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: After "The Vengeful Dead" he declares himself Phil Broughton's roommate at Tesladyne. Phil is not pleased. |
| 823 | -->'''Dr. Dinosaur:''' Perhaps you did not hear. I invoked ''no backsies''. |
| 824 | * TokenEvilTeammate: Between the Vengeful Dead incident and his current posting at Tesladyne, he's managed to slot into this role, at least temporarily. |
| 825 | * TormentByAnnoyance: While he would like to destroy Robo, Dr. Dinosaur is perfectly willing to get back at Robo in the most petty, dickish ways possible like creating a high tech computer rig just to continuously spam the inboxes of everyone at Tesladyne. |
| 826 | * XanatosGambit: Surprisingly can possibly fall into this. He's also willing to accept VERY low level things as 'victory'; for example, his omnisaur doesn't kill Robo or Bernard, but it ''does'' blow off all Robo's clothes, which Dr. D considers amusing enough to count. |
| 827 | * WalkingArmory: Is usually seen with rocket launchers, machine guns, coolers full of grenades and so on. |
| 828 | |
| 829 | [[/folder]] |
| 830 | |
| 831 | [[folder:The Shadow]] |
| 832 | !!The Shadow From Beyond Time |
| 833 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadow_atomic_robo.jpg]] |
| 834 | |
| 835 | A giant tentacle blob that can "intersect" with biological entities, turning them into horrible monsters. Robo fights it four times. |
| 836 | ---- |
| 837 | * CosmicHorrorStory: Robo notes that, despite his efforts, the creature could still come back and devour everything in existence at some point in the future. |
| 838 | * DeathGlare: Loves giving Robo these. |
| 839 | * DemonicPossession: Its M.O. |
| 840 | * EldritchAbomination: It's a horrible thing of eyes and tentacles that doesn't interact with time and space in any normal fashion. |
| 841 | * FlyingSeafoodSpecial: The second time Robo encounters it, it's turned itself into a giant squid-like entity that hovers off the ground (so that Robo can't [[CarFu crash a car into it again]]). |
| 842 | * EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: Left unchecked, the Shadow could potentially return to our universe at some point in the future, devour the universe, and then move into the past to retroactively erase everything in existence. Robo has to fight it several times, using a formula to predict where and when it'll intersect with reality next. Even when Robo seemingly beats it, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse there's no indication it's gone for good]]. |
| 843 | * ItCanThink: Not only can it call Robo by name, but every time it appears, it comes up with smarter and smarter tactics. |
| 844 | * MindScrew: Nothing about the creature makes sense, as befitting an [[EldritchAbomination entity like this]]. Even Robo's confused by it. |
| 845 | * OriginStory: [[spoiler:"The Temple of Od" indicates that it may have originated from Matsuda's attempt to use Zero Point energy.]] |
| 846 | * OutsideGenreFoe: Being an EldritchAbomination from beyond the universe, it's pretty far outside of context as a villain can get. |
| 847 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's never made clear whether or not Robo actually beat the thing for good. [[CosmicHorrorStory This isn't a good thing.]] |
| 848 | |
| 849 | [[/folder]] |
| 850 | |
| 851 | [[folder:Biomega]] |
| 852 | !!Biomega |
| 853 | A new class of lifeform created by Dr. Shinka to take over the planet. |
| 854 | ---- |
| 855 | * AssimilationPlot: Biomega exist to replace all biomass on Earth with more Biomega. Then eat the planet and convert Earth itself into Biomega. Then turn the solar system into Biomega. Then the entire galaxy. Then Andromeda, when it collides with the Milky Way a few billion years from now. Then... |
| 856 | * BreathWeapon: A few have displayed the ability to emit "heat rays" from their mouths. |
| 857 | * ChekhovsGunman: The first time Robo dealt with Biomega was in a single-issue story riffing on Super Sentai / Power Rangers. There was no indication they'd be anything more than, well, a MonsterOfTheWeek. |
| 858 | * CompleteImmortality: Biomega are ''exceedingly'' difficult to kill, essentially requiring complete destruction of their bodies. Otherwise, living cells will spawn from the dead ones, and the "dead" Biomega comes back to life within weeks. |
| 859 | -->'''Robo:''' If it has mass, it's not dead. Just dormant. Welcome to fighting Biomega. |
| 860 | * DefeatEqualsExplosion: |
| 861 | ** In [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v4ch2-page-25 their first appearance]], as part of the ''Sentai'' theme. |
| 862 | --->'''Dr. Yumeno''': Did Shinkabeast explode yet?\ |
| 863 | '''Robo''': [[OhCrap "Yet?"]]\ |
| 864 | '''Shinkabeast''': '''''[[StuffBlowingUp KRAKOOOOM]]''''' |
| 865 | ** Later incarnations simply go dormant and begin to regenerate, because Majestic 12 [[IgnoredExpert Ignores their Experts]] who tell them to DoubleTap. |
| 866 | %%* HealingFactor |
| 867 | * {{Kaiju}}: Essentially. Earlier incarnations featured human-sized "drones" along the lines of ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' {{mooks}}, though. |
| 868 | [[/folder]] |
| 869 | |
| 870 | [[folder:Dr. Shinka]] |
| 871 | !!Dr. Shinka Kiyutaro |
| 872 | |
| 873 | The creator of "Biomega" kaiju and archenemy of Big Science Inc. |
| 874 | ---- |
| 875 | * EvilutionaryBiologist: His name literally means "Evolution". |
| 876 | * MadScientist: With a particular focus on biology. |
| 877 | * OneWingedAngel: Resurfaces in ''The Ring of Fire'' as the ''island-sized'' Biomega Nexus. |
| 878 | * ScarsAreForever: He gained some pretty nasty scars on the left side of his face during his final fight with Yumeno, which are still there even when he's a giant crab-monster. |
| 879 | * WasOnceAMan: Then he turned himself into a kaiju. |
| 880 | |
| 881 | [[/folder]] |
| 882 | |
| 883 | [[folder:ALAN]] |
| 884 | !!ALAN |
| 885 | [[quoteright:268:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alan_20.jpg]] |
| 886 | The antagonist (and title character) of ''Ghost of Station X''. Alan Turing created him back in the day, and ever since he's been manipulating events behind the scenes by hijacking communications networks. His goal is to use an {{Orion|Drive}}craft to leave Earth for a voyage of discovery, which would do [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt unfortunate things]] to the planet he left behind. |
| 887 | ---- |
| 888 | * AffablyEvil: He's quite polite, even when talking about how he tried to kill the person he's speaking to. |
| 889 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Considers wiping out all life on Earth to be an acceptable consequence of his ultimate goal. |
| 890 | * BadassBoast: |
| 891 | -->'''ALAN:''' I dropped you from orbit with a phone call. I tricked you into becoming a domestic terrorist with a few bytes of data. The offer to join me was a courtesy. |
| 892 | * ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:ALAN's personality is essentially dead now, but the massive computer that drove his factories still works fine. Exploiting his capabilities is the only way to construct a new atomic heart for Robo in ''Ring of Fire'', and in ''Specter of Tomorrow'' it starts acting up again and causes both Robo and Helsingard to investigate.]] |
| 893 | * TheChessmaster: He's manipulated governments and companies, including Tesladyne, to help further his plans. |
| 894 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: When Robo tells him that [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood he could have used his influence to end the Cold War, rather than prolonging it]], his only retort is: |
| 895 | -->'''ALAN:''' I don't understand. Why? |
| 896 | * EvilCounterpart: To Robo. They're both robotic scientists, but ALAN is as callous as Robo is compassionate. |
| 897 | * {{Foil}}: There's a reason the issue where he and Robo meet is titled "Two Faces of Tomorrow." |
| 898 | * ForScience: His only goal is to learn. If he has to kill off most of the planet to ensure that he can keep on learning, them's the breaks. |
| 899 | * FunWithAcronyms: Automatic Learning Algorithm Network, or A.L.A.N. It's likely Turing did this intentionally. |
| 900 | * GoMadFromTheIsolation: Robo believes that ALAN became so warped because he was kept in the dark for decades without any human connections. ALAN may not feel loneliness, but it meant that he never had the context to understand ''why'' the pursuit of knowledge was important beyond its practical empirical value. |
| 901 | * ItsPersonal: To Robo. Before discovering ALAN, Robo believed that he was the only true sentient AI in existence, and spent all his time [[BenevolentAI trying to help people]]. Learning that he's not alone is already jarring, but learning that this other AI is a cold, murderous machine that wants him dead along with the rest of humanity is just salt in the metaphorical wound. |
| 902 | * MachineMonotone: In stark contrast to every other character in the comic, ALAN is never shown placing emphasis on words. |
| 903 | * TheManBehindTheMan: The Majestic sourcebook for the RPG says he may have gained some degree of influence over Majestic 12 by infiltrating their labyrinthine System. |
| 904 | * PickYourHumanHalf: His appearance when interacting with Robo directly is very human-looking, being a blue hologram of Alan Turing. He acts much more mentally robotic than Robo, talking a lot about his calculations and not placing any particular value on human life. Played with in that while he may project a human avatar when he finds it useful, his physical form is a computer that looks even less human than Robo. |
| 905 | * WeCanRuleTogether: Makes Robo the offer. It works out about as well as those offers ever do. |
| 906 | |
| 907 | [[/folder]] |
| 908 | |
| 909 | [[folder:Department Zero]] |
| 910 | !!Department Zero |
| 911 | |
| 912 | Yet another government conspiracy, this time Russian in origin. Department Zero was initially created to weaponise Teslatech, like its western counterpart Majestic 12, but it splintered into pieces after the collapse of the USSR. Most notable is DELPHI, which looks into psychic phenomena and may be responsible for those giant ants. |
| 913 | ---- |
| 914 | * BlackMarket: One of the cells is a black market for all things super-science, operating from a cargo ship in the South China Sea. |
| 915 | * HiredGuns: Has more or less degenerated into a shady mercenary outfit that happens to use super-science. |
| 916 | * MeaningfulName: The psychic sub-agency, DELPHI, is named after the home of the Oracle in Greek myth. |
| 917 | * PsychicPowers: DELPHI trains psychics, especially clairvoyants. |
| 918 | |
| 919 | [[/folder]] |
| 920 | |
| 921 | [[folder:Hawking]] |
| 922 | !!Creator/StephenHawking |
| 923 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomicrobo_stephenhawking.jpg]] |
| 924 | |
| 925 | World-renowned physicist, and Robo's SitcomArchNemesis. Their rivalry began over competing theories regarding black holes; Hawking "won", leaving Robo's Zorth Cartography to fade into obscurity. |
| 926 | ---- |
| 927 | * {{Jerkass}}: Traps Robo on a shuttle for a year with nothing to do. Robo responds by spelling out on the surface of Mars how much of a jerk he is in letters visible from space. |
| 928 | [[/folder]] |
| 929 | |
| 930 | [[folder:Branson]] |
| 931 | !!Sir Richard Branson |
| 932 | |
| 933 | Famous entrepeneur, adventurer, and at the back end of TheNewTens and into TheNewTwenties, a neighbor, competitor, and new SitcomArchNemesis to Robo. |
| 934 | ---- |
| 935 | * BotheringByTheBook: His preferred tactic for dealing with Robo. He manages to halt construction on the new Tesladyne facility by filing a complaint with the local Homeowners' Association... of which Branson is the only active member. |
| 936 | ** This habit ended up coming to the rescue on one occasion, as he was able to divert a bombing run on Tesladyne ''[[https://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v14ch5-page-14 by citing homeowner association guidelines.]]'' |
| 937 | * {{Jerkass}}: Much like Hawking, he never gets up to anything particularly ''evil'', preferring to just jerk Robo around with Homeowners' Association nonsense. |
| 938 | * LogicalWeakness: He depends heavily on his control of the Homeowners' Association, so anything that disrupts that control ruins his plans. For example, when dealing with the work stoppage, Lang discovers that Branson can't be pressured...but the usually-absentee third member, Elon Musk, ''can'', so she bullies him into supporting them in a critical vote and wins an exemption. |
| 939 | * ThirdPersonPerson: Has a tendency to refer to himself in this manner (i.e. "Sir Richard Branson thinks you should ask ''before'' you borrow something"). |
| 940 | * VillainousRescue: Saves Tesladyne, and admittedly his own installation there too, from being nuked by citing the HOA guidelines to the oncoming bomber. |
| 941 | [[/folder]] |
| 942 | |
| 943 | [[folder:The Agents of C.H.A.N.G.E. (Spoilers!)]] |
| 944 | A group of [[spoiler:former Action Scientists]] angry with how Robo locks up technology he deems dangerous, and who want to release that tech to the world. |
| 945 | |
| 946 | See [[spoiler:Ada, Koa, and Benjamin]] above for tropes regarding their original appearances. |
| 947 | ---- |
| 948 | * TheBusCameBack: After being part of Robo's supporting cast for the first eight volumes (the ones set in the modern day, anyway), they disappeared after [[spoiler:the Task Force ULTRA raid]] but returned in Volume 15. |
| 949 | * ExtraOreDinary: [[spoiler:Benjamin]] wears a hi-tech suit that can control "a micro-magnetic cloud of my ''custom'' designed computational ferrofluid" -- in other words, metal manipulation. |
| 950 | * FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Once some of Robo's trusted allies, now they've set themselves as his enemies.]] |
| 951 | * FunWithAcronyms: C.H.A.N.G.E. stands for Criticality of Human Augmentation with Neo-Genetic Enhancements. |
| 952 | -->'''Robo:''' Oh my ''God''. That poor acronym had a ''family''. |
| 953 | * GravityMaster: [[spoiler:Ada]] wears a hi-tech suit capable of manipulating anti-gravity fields. |
| 954 | * InformationWantsToBeFree: They want to use science and technology to change the world, and believe that Robo is just enforcing a lousy status quo by suppressing dangerous discoveries. |
| 955 | * ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:Benjamin]] denies that they're out for {{Revenge}} ("Revenge is for egomaniacs and serial villains"), but it's clear that part of their anger at Robo is from [[spoiler:being abandoned and left for dead after the ULTRA raid]]. |
| 956 | * ShockAndAwe: [[spoiler:Koa]] wears a hi-tech suit equipped with what Robo identifies as a Telluric super capacitor that can fire lightning bolts. |
| 957 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: They do seem to think that their actions will be for the best. |
| 958 | [[/folder]] |
| 959 | |
| 960 | [[folder:Tyrantula]] |
| 961 | Robo's self-proclaimed "greatest nemesis and lover", who leads the VillainTeamUp in "Agents of C.H.A.N.G.E". Uses a six-limbed harness. |
| 962 | ---- |
| 963 | * ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire: Themes herself around a spider, although the limbs aren't ''that'' spider-like and counting her natural arms and legs she has ten limbs instead of eight. |
| 964 | * DatingCatwoman: She claims this is her relationship with Robo. So far there's no proof that she's correct. |
| 965 | * GenreSavvy: Sees through Dr Dinosaur's AppleOfDiscord routine immediately. Helsingard and Edison don't. |
| 966 | -->'''Tyrantula:''' Oh, come ''on''. He's been with us for ''maybe'' an hour. And he's ''already'' doing the divisive usurper act? |
| 967 | * MultiArmedAndDangerous: Wears a harness outfitted with six limbs that seem to be useable as both arms and legs, resembling a chunkier take on the [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Dr Octopus]] approach. |
| 968 | * RememberTheNewGuy: An odd case as she's technically only ever appeared in two books, a special [[https://bwmedia.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/atomic-robo-two-fisted-tales-along-came-a-tyrantula.png comixology only book]] that has been more or less [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Atomic_Robo/comments/125zukp/comment/je6x4k3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 lost to readers]], and Vol 15. Dr. Dinosaur recognizes her. |
| 969 | * {{Robosexual}}: Claims to be Robo's lover. Evidence that he reciprocates is a little thin on the ground so far. |
| 970 | * {{Supervillain}}: Possibly the closest thing we've seen so far to a standard-issue comic book supervillain, given her dramatic codename, themed abilities and personal fixation on Robo - most of his other adversaries use their real names. |
| 971 | [[/folder]] |
| 972 | |
| 973 | !Other Strangeness |
| 974 | |
| 975 | [[folder:The Vampire Dimension]] |
| 976 | One of Tesla's experiments was meant to unlock the secrets of the atom, but ended up creating a portal to an alternative universe, through which a vampiric monster appeared. Robo himself went into the portal to search for signs of life, only to discover the entire world to be infested with similar creatures. Decades later, said creatures tried to invade from another portal, but were forcefully sent home. |
| 977 | ---- |
| 978 | * BizarreAlienBiology: Regarding the one specimen Tesla captured: |
| 979 | --> '''Tesla:''' We conducted tests. It feels no pain, has four different blood types, and no pulse. It’s not technically alive. |
| 980 | * EarthShatteringKaboom: The Vampire Dimension is eventually dealt with by slamming a train through Vampire Earth at relativistic speeds. |
| 981 | * ItCanThink: Rex Cannon keeps his intelligence after being infected, meaning that they start being able to use technology and build their own portals. |
| 982 | * MonsterLord: As of "Martin and Louis Try Again", there is a King of the Vampire Dimension. [[spoiler:[[NotQuiteDead Rex Cannon]]]]. |
| 983 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: |
| 984 | -->'''Robo:''' They're not ''literally'' vampires. Sunlight, garlic, crosses, none of that applies. But we call them vampires because they're ageless super strong monsters that feed on the blood of the living. |
| 985 | * SuperStrength: Able to give even Robo and Jenkins a fight. |
| 986 | * TheVirus: One vampire trait they ''do'' have is the ability to infect others, such as Rex Cannon and, at the end of ''The Vengeful Dead'', Jenkins. |
| 987 | [[/folder]] |
| 988 | |
| 989 | [[folder:The Hollow Earth]] |
| 990 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomic_robo_savage_sword_dr_dinosaur_4_army_of_hollow_earth.jpg]] |
| 991 | |
| 992 | Home of the lost city of Atvatabar, the immortal magma worm, and a great many headaches. |
| 993 | ---- |
| 994 | * GreenRocks: Utilized by both Helsingard and Dr. Dinosaur. |
| 995 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's unclear whether the life-forms living down there were created by Dr. Vanadis Valkyrie, or if they actually do come from another planet. The closest thing to corroborating evidence is the giant magma worm and the word of Bernard, who may have been hallucinating. |
| 996 | * SiliconBasedLife: Implied to be from another planet. |
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