A list of the band members/characters associated with steampunk automaton music group Steam Powered Giraffe.
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Robots
In general
A selection of musical automatons invented by a rich San Diego inventor named Colonel P. A. Walter in 1896.
- Art Evolution: ...well, make-up evolution. All of the automatons' makeup designs have developed and grown more complex over the years.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: They're a steampunk band, what do you expect? (Well, The Spine's more dieselpunk...) They were voted "Best Costume - Group" in the 2013 Steampunk Gazette Reader's Choice Awards.
- Funny Robots.
- Large Ham: All of the bots to some extent, especially during performances.
- Noisy Robots: The robots frequently make the sounds of hydraulics, especially when they are starting up or shutting down.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Inverted; despite the color scheme, the robots are good.
- Ridiculously Human Robots
- Robot Names: Hatchworth (A name describing his function), The Spine (it describes his skeletal structure), Rabbit (reference to robotic glitches), The Jon (References to pop culture/actual human names), Upgrade (Slightly mutated terms related to math/machinery/electronics), Zero (built out of prototype pieces, arguably the "first").
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Er, robots.
Current Robot Members
Rabbit
Portrayed By: Isabella Bunny Bennett
The Mechanical Musical Miss
A copper clockwork robot, known for being the glitchiest of the robots. You'll likely see her in old videos as a male robot wearing a black coachman's hat with steampunk-style goggles on it and a black vest with red accents, but was gender swapped in 2014 following her performer coming out as transgender, making her the band's lone female. She plays accordion, melodica, keytar, and kazookaphone.
- American Accents: Rabbit sports a bit of a Joisey accent.
- Art Evolution: ...well, make-up evolution. Even before the Gender Swap, Rabbit's makeup changed and evolved quite a lot. She even oxidized over time!
Her new design also adds a spiral to her forehead, and her makeup changes constantly (going so far as to include pincers where her jawline should be!) Currently she's solved her oxidation problem by getting a porcelain faceplate. - Clockwork Creature: Rabbit is supposedly a clockwork robot
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Mostly due to her having antique mechanical parts, but her tendency to eat almost everything that she sees and her habit of talking about things that have nothing to do with what's happening at the moment make her this. Prime examples are during the middle of "On Top of the Universe" and "Ice Cream Man". Her 'Walter Robotics Presents' video sums her up perfectly.
- Creepy Cute: She can be this to some, with her many, many malfunctions making her come as a highly unstable.
- Extreme Omnivore: She eats practically everything in front of her, whether it's a book, the Amazing Incredible Spider Hulk and Hatchworth's heart. She's claimed on multiple occasions that she's fueled by milk.
- Genki Girl: She is very excitable and is the most mobile of the 'bots, especially during songs like Captain Albert Alexander.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Rabbit's goggles.
- Quite literally - when Rabbit wears the goggles, Bunny Bennett cannot see a thing through them.
- Hidden Depths: Despite her being mostly the ditz of the band, she is apparently still feeling guilt over not getting to say goodbye to Peter Walter I, and for accidentally killing both Peter Walter II and Professor Guy Hottie. It's implied that she feeds the ducks at the Walter Cemetery outside the mansion in order to talk with them.
- Motor Mouth: Rabbit can talk when she needs to.
- Mr. Fanservice / Ms. Fanservice: She was the former before her transition, and is now the latter after. Several of her new outfits really emphasize her legs.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Rabbit has been known to wear a corset on occasion.
- Pungeon Master: Much to The Spine's annoyance.
- The Smurfette Principle: As of Rabbit's gender swap, unless you count the Walter Girls.
- Too Many Belts: Rabbit wears three over her corset. In the music video for "Automatonic Electronic Harmonics" she briefly wears six belts.
- Rabbit also wears six belts for certain live performances.
- Unusual Ears: One of her new designs replaces the hat with a pair of rabbit ears.
- Verbal Tic: Rabbit has a stuttering vocal glitch oftentimes when speaking. It doesn't come up when she sings, though.
- Vocal Dissonance: Rabbit's appearance is decidedly feminine, with huge fake eyelashes and a poofy skirt. However, she can sing in a baritone range almost as easily as The Spine can.
- Justified in that Bunny and David Michael Bennett are identical twins, so their vocal chords are similar. Also, Rabbit's feminine voice is the result of vocal training, and she can easily switch to her old male voice when needed.
The Spine
Portrayed By: David Michael Bennett
The Melodious Metal Man
A futuristic dieselpunk robot with a titanium alloy spinal column and convincing human mannerisms. His skin is smooth silver, and he wears a black fedora and red tie. He plays guitar primarily, but also plays bass, mandolin, and keys.
- Become a Real Boy: After a lot of fan speculation, Word Of God finally confirmed that The Spine's mannerisms were influenced by his desire to become human.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Even the most stoic of robots has their limits.
- Brutal Honesty: Delves into this every once in a while, like telling Hatchworth that he never had a father, only an inventor. Justified, in that he's the most robotic of the group. At least, outwardly.
- Butt-Monkey: Due to being the only sane robot of the group. In ''MK III', the song "Go Spine Go" consists almost entirely of Rabbit and Hatchworth treating The Spine as this. Though this mainly comes from him being too polite to voice his objections.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Not as notable as Rabbit, but The Spine does have a tendency to lose his focus when he's talking about the Wild West.
- The Comically Serious: Of the three robotic band members, he takes himself the most seriously and is the straight man for most of the jokes.
- Dieselpunk: He sports this aesthetic.
- Easily Detachable Robot Parts: Both The Spine and Hatchworth can detach their heads from their bodies.
- Geek: It's subtle, but his love of books, the Wild West and Disneyland, as well as the song "She Said Maybe", which paints him as being unable to ask a woman out on a date, make him this.
- Hidden Depths: He is apparently a pacifist, extremely adherent to violence unless Rabbit and Hatchworth annoy him too much. He also likes reading and has a fascination with the Wild West.
- Innocently Insensitive: He can come off as this because of his brutal honesty.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: The Spine is capable of reaching a baritone range to a high pitched falsetto.
- Memetic Badass: Attempted and denied In-Universe. The Spine is not a superspy who uses his gadgets to topple governments, and he will not fight rampaging bears on your behalf. Granted, he never says he can't do these things, just that he doesn't and won't.
- Nice Guy: (Usually) Polite, kind and friendly.
- Not So Above It All: As much as The Spine like to think of himself as the normal one of the band, he can be just as eccentric, if less outward about it. Case in point: his cover of "Diamonds" by Rihanna.
- Only Sane Man: Out of all the robots, The Spine is the most level-headed. As noted above, that... sometimes isn't saying much.
- Pungeon Master: Despite his annoyance when Rabbit does it, The Spine has his moments as well.The Spine: Hi. I'm The Spine, and I was built with a titanium alloy spine.
The Jon: A-heh! Ah... and?
The Spine: And what?
The Jon: Is that it?
The Spine: Yeah.
The Jon: Well, there's gotta be more.
The Spine: No. That's my, uh, backstory. - Robosexual: The Spine has had to put up with advances from humans on multiple occasions, and there may have been a relationship with a human in his past.
- The song Photographic Memories confirms The Spine has been in at least one relationship with a human woman. It didn't end well.
- Spell My Name with a "The"
- Three Chords and the Truth: The Spine appears to be a believer in this style of playing.
Zero
Portrayed By: Bryan Barbarin
The Clockwork Crooner
A swing-styled robot built out of prototype systems, originally known as Prototype-0. He has a golden face, gloved hands, and a chain around his neck. Was retconned as a former member rejoining the band after Hatchworth's departure. He plays bass and piano.
- My Hero, Zero: Zero is a unique robot, given that he's literally built out of incomplete systems and significantly physically stronger than the others. Ironically, if Beebop is to be believed, Zero is actually the most reliable robot Walter Robotics ever created.
- Mythology Gag: Zero’s backstory describes him as a robot that was formerly a member of the band, but who had left and had all traces of him removed, even his contributions to songs. While this is a Retcon, something very similar occurred when Upgrade left the band in Real Life.
- Top-Heavy Guy: He's portrayed as such in the comic.
- You Might Remember Me from......: Zero had a hit TV comedy in the 1990's. Trust us, Rabbit still has the hat. The catchphrase was, "What-Are-You-Doing-In-MY-HOUSE?!"
Former Robot Members
Hatchworth
Portrayed By: Sam Luke
Likes making sandwiches for badgers.
A brass automaton who sports a black army jacket with red accents, knee-high boots, a bowler hat, and his signature ginger mustache. He had been kept in storage for many years due to a leaking and dangerous power core, but was recently repaired and put to use as the Walter Manor's butler. He possesses the ability to produce a "hatch's worth" of sandwiches from nowhere. He plays the bass and drums. Left the band in December 2016. He still exists in continuity.
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: Hatchworth often uses this when singing or speaking.
- Chest Blaster: Hatchworth can unleash a vast array of artillery from his portal-armed cannon.
- Dashingly Dapper Derby: Hatchworth sports a bowler.
- Easily Detachable Robot Parts: Both The Spine and Hatchworth can detach their heads from their bodies. His arm falls off in the video for "Fancy Shoes" and he easily reattaches it too.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Hatchworth is sometimes prone to this.
- Vocal Dissonance: Probably the most likely bot performer to do a falsetto voice.
The Jon
Portrayed By: Jon Sprague
Powered by Crystal Pepsi.
An art deco-style brass robot powered by soda (primarily Crystal Pepsi), who wore a tall black top hat and red suspenders. He played the mandolin, bass, guitar, drums, occasional keys, and the electric watermelon. The Jon left the group in September 2012. Unlike Upgrade's departure, The Jon's character still exists within the canon lore of the band's universe.
- Become a Real Boy: The Jon claims to want this, though he may just be influenced by watching Pinocchio a few too many times.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The Jon fits this trope to a T, especially if his songs are taken into consideration.
- Dieselpunk: To a lesser extent than The Spine, but the influence is there.
- Eating Machine: He's powered by Crystal Pepsi, which became a problem after Pepsi discontinued that particular drink in 1994. Rabbit was able to present him with a bottle of Crystal Pepsi at the 10th Anniversary Show thanks to recent re-releases of the drink.
- Spell My Name with a "The"
Upgrade
Portrayed By: Erin Burke
Perfect in pink.
The only female robot in the group before January 2014. She left the band in 2011 to further pursue an acting career.
- Abhorrent Admirer: She had an unreciprocated crush on The Spine, and would often try to get closer to him during performances. Both him and the rest of the bots seem to find this strange.Rabbit: Y’know, we all come from the same inventor, so it’s kinda creepy, Upgrade.
- Ret-Gone: All references to Upgrade have been removed from the band's promotional material since her departure.
- The Smurfette Principle: Was the only known female band member during her tenure.
- Unperson: Upgrade has been completely wiped from the band's history. Reportedly, the band had an especially bad falling out with Erin Burke following her departure and bringing her up on their website will get you banned immediately.
- Averted, as the band have re-released the original version of Album One that includes Upgrade's vocals and her solo song, "I Am Not Alone". Link here. Erin also returned to reprise the role in the 10th Anniversery Show in January 2018.
- Averted, as the band have re-released the original version of Album One that includes Upgrade's vocals and her solo song, "I Am Not Alone". Link here
Humans
Steve Negrete
Portrayed By: Himself
Not pictured: Lil' Steve
The band's sound engineer and voice of Beebop and QWERTY. He left the group in June 2020 after allegations of sexual harassment came from fans. Unlike Michael Reed, who was accused of the same crime and kicked out, Steve voluntarily quit out of shame and issued an apology.
Michael Reed
Portrayed By: Himself
The One-Man Band
The "One-Man Band" of the group, playing the banjo, bass, guitar, keys, and drums and providing back-up vocals and lead vocals in his own song "Make Believe". He left the group in 2014, but came back full time starting with the 10th anniversary concert. Like Steve, he left the group in June 2020, with a later statement from David Michael Bennett stating that he was kicked out for sexually harassing fans. Unlike Steve, Mike denies everything.
Matt Smith
Look at his smile!
The band's replacement drummer after Sam Luke became Hatchworth. He was let go from the group in 2014 due to new travelling decisions.
Other Members
The Walter Workers
Portrayed By: Camille Penyak, Chelsea Penyak
The Wonderful Walter Workers
The mysterious women in labcoat dresses that run the merchandise stand at concerts, as well as participating in several on-stage skits. They are notable for being "Blue Matter Engineers", although what this entails has yet to be revealed.
- Ambiguously Human: White face, blue hair and lips and human bodies. It's unclear whether they're humans mutated by Blue Matter, or if their humanoid appearance is simply how they look.
- Creator Couple: Brianna, Gabi, and Chelsea were dating David while each was playing a Walter Worker, and Paige and Carissa likewise for Bunny.
- The Danza: All of them have had the same first name as their actress.
- I Am Not Shazam: They are officially called the Walter Workers, but many fans refer to them as the "Walter Girls". This misconception is furthered by the fact that, during malfunctions at live performances, Beebop contacts the "Walter Girl Maintenance Network".
- Leitmotif: Every time the robots malfunction and Beebop summons them, a distinct musical cue accompanies them while they fix them. A more frantic version is heard whenever Rabbit goes haywire and the workers have to whack her over the head with a wrench.
- The Trickster: They play this role during some of the skits where the bots' malfunction, using their devices to force the robots into very compromising positions.
- The Voiceless: The Walter Workers never speak, only communicating via body language and gestures. Averted in Episode 2 of SPG Radio Adventures, in which Chelsea actually does speak as her Walter Worker character. Chelsea and Camille can also be seen speaking out-of-character in various fan-made videos, and they also voiced the vanilla and strawberry ice creams in the cartoon "Ice Cream Social".
