Basic Trope: Humanlike robots act robotic and vice versa.
- Straight: AL1-C3 is a Robot Girl who acts very robotic, while B-013 is a Tin-Can Robot that is very human and gregarious in mannerism.
- Exaggerated: AL1-C3 can’t even walk down the street without glitching out and has a very odd mindset. B-013 acts so human that anyone who heard his voice would think a human was speaking.
- Downplayed: Both robots are The Stoic and talk in monotone, but B-013 has a dry wit and gesticulates more, while AL1-C3 is constantly using robot speak.
- Justified:
- Realistic-looking humanoid robots speak and talk robotically because they feel the need to reaffirm their roboticness, while machine-like robots act in a very human-like way to reaffirm their sapience.
- The current state of the art makes it impossible to fit a computer sufficient for a full human-level AI inside anything human-looking, let alone the power supply. A Spider Tank however can fit it after replacing the crew compartment.
- Tin can robots have fewer points of balance to deal with than robot girls, so don't need to spend as much of their processing power on maintaining balance.
- AL1-C3 and B-013's coding were accidentally switched, resulting in AL1-C3 acting robotic and B-013 acting human-like.
- Inverted: AL1-C3 acts very human while B-013 acts robotic.
- Subverted:
- It turns out AL1-C3 just has a shy, stoic personality, with very reserved body language.
- B-013 was actually trying to hide his identity and his normal ‘personality’ is very robotic indeed.
- Double Subverted:
- AL1-C3’s personality was programmed in as a disguise, and it turns out she’s a completely emotionless Robotic Psychopath.
- B-013 doesn’t even realize he has emotions, and edges towards a Heel–Face Turn.
- Parodied: B-013 gets a more humanoid body and immediately starts acting robotic, to the utter confusion of anyone nearby.
- Zig-Zagged: AL1-C3 is a spaceship girl, and is very bubbly and snarky when speaking on the ship’s radio, and very stilted when talking as her human avatar. It turns out she feels the latter is her “true” form, and feels shy when speaking in “person;” her radio personally is a product of the GIFT. She still has some weird moral ideas, however.
- Averted: AL1-C3 and B-013 both act like typical robots.
- Enforced:
- The creators wanted to give AL1-C3 the Uncanny Valley look while making B-013 lovable enough for their audience.
- B-013’s voice actor has trouble spouting robotic lines without Corpsing, so they don’t even bother getting him to act robotic.
- Lampshaded:
- “Statement: B-013, stop being so eager. It is offsetting.”
- “Wow, AL1-C3, you seem extra metallic today! What’s got your central processor in a Rom-error?”
- Invoked:
- AL1-C3 and B-013’s creator programmed their personalities like that as a contrast.
- B-013 acts humanlike to differentiate himself.
- Exploited: To infiltrate the HQ where AL1-C3 and B-013 were made, Carol acts and walks robotically to disguise herself as a Robot Girl, while Dave gets into a cardboard mo-cap suit in order to mimic a less human robot.
- Defied: The company that creates AL1-C3 and B-013 decide to rewrite their programming to make AL1-C3 act more robotic and vice versa.
- Discussed: “B-013 be all like “Why hello there, friendo!” while AL1-C3 be all like “Statement: Hello, my name is Insert Name Here.”
- Conversed: “It’s a bit jarring that the robot-like human and the humanlike robot occupy the same work.”
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