WMG / Emmy the Robot

Darcy, or someone from her family, was wronged (and/or sabotaged) by someone from the Sterling company

Why would someone as smart and gifted in robotics as Darcy, and maybe others in her family, not work for Sterling? Maybe someone else who wanted to work for Sterling viewed the Boyles as a threat to their goal and either stole or sabotaged their work so they could increase their chances while framing & leaving the Boyle family as failures

The “humanitarian incidents” mentioned by Mr. Sterling involved an android accidentally discovering government secrets.

Androids in this universe seem to be exclusively a luxury of the rich, including people like politicians and military generals. The human characters we’ve seen all seem to be pretty detached, patronizing, and borderline condescending to androids, so it’s not out of the question that a negligent official would accidentally leak confidential information to one of their androids, which would likely cause that android to be highly desired by both other nations to obtain that information and their own masters trying to seek them out and decommission them.

Mr. Sterling is dead, and his graduation speech is a prerecorded one recycled every year.

That, or he’s in some sort of suspended animation for a later date (to really bring out the Walt Disney comparisons). Either way, Emmy and her class definitely aren’t the first or the last to hear that speech.

So-called "knockoff" or "bootleg" Nandroids are in fact the real thing, but gone full Outmode.

When we first hear about the knockoffs, there's not a lot of detail, and it’s ambiguous whether the story is accurate or if Sterling Robotics is trying to cover up the fact that some Nandroids Grew Beyond Their Programming and became Outmodes themselves.

Emmy will have a major malfunction in the near future and be labeled an Outmode.

The story is all but screaming this as an upcoming event, such as establishing the existence of Outmodes and the Nandroid view on them, the worry that Emmy is being put under too much pressure, and Madeline's insistence that she would stay Emmy's friend even if she somehow became one. This will kick off the first major story arc as we follow Emmy through her preconceptions about many things being torn down.

• Alternatively, she'll suffer a minor malfunction during a critical moment (namely Madeline's birthday party). While everyone else will be understanding of a little mistake if she's overworked (at most, suggesting she get a checkup), Emmy herself will believe she’s defective and an Outmode, and will run away from home to ensure she doesn't hurt anyone else.
  • She's already suffered one minor malfunction, on page 40, when making macaron cookies. Both theories are looking more and more likely.
  • On page 51, she reacted badly to Madeline's cake and hurt Mr. Delaire.
  • On page 62 she accidentally escaped the hospital to the dumps. Considering that one poster on page 61 specifically states that robots outside their rooms will be treated as insurgents, is guaranteed that Emmy will be labeled as an outmode.

Molly will be a major if not main villain of the story

Molly has shown moments that she wasn't fond of Emmy even before her malfunction as she gives her a scowl over a conversation. Not to mention how she is the one who convinced the other nandroids the the malfunction was Emmy's fault and even grows furious with them when they question the possibility of malfunctioning themselves.

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