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Are Fembot and Robot Girl redundant?

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Wafer Troy Verde from the Banjo-Tooie world, meditating (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Non-Canon
Troy Verde
#1: Feb 22nd 2022 at 2:34:58 PM

I've been thinking about this a while ago. Fembot and Robot Girl are both the same thing (...a girl that's also a robot), but the difference is Robot Girl is more girl than robot while Fembot is more robot than girl. Wouldn't that make the other The Same But More Specific, then?

Edited by Wafer on Feb 22nd 2022 at 2:35:11 AM

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MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#2: Feb 22nd 2022 at 2:39:42 PM

I don't think it's more of the same. Female robots and female androids aren't portrayed the same in fiction. I don't have time to go in depth but I do think there is a difference

Macron's notes
Wafer Troy Verde from the Banjo-Tooie world, meditating (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Non-Canon
Troy Verde
#3: Feb 22nd 2022 at 2:42:40 PM

[up] Right. I do believe that they could be merged in a single trope with "More Girl Than Robot" and "More Robot Than Girl" sections, though.

Guys how cool would it be if Super Megaforce had a green ranger...
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4: Feb 22nd 2022 at 2:43:27 PM

edit: Never mind I'm wrong

Edited by WarJay77 on Feb 22nd 2022 at 5:43:43 AM

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Malady (X-Troper)
#5: Feb 22nd 2022 at 3:07:01 PM

Note this months old mention in Dupe thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15186611420A39555800&page=48#comment-1177

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#6: Feb 22nd 2022 at 3:59:07 PM

This duplication is mostly a result of our system not really taking a hard look at the sliding scale of humanity-to-robots. We have clearly metal robots under Tin-Can Robot and artificially created biological meat puppets under Artificial Human, but where exactly do we put the description of Data, who appears completely human (except for his pallor and eye colour) but internally has only metal and plastic?

Fem Bot would be a subtrope of Tin-Can Robot, but I'm not sure where Lal (Data's daughter) would be described.


female androids
You mean female gynoids tongue

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MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#7: Feb 22nd 2022 at 4:51:49 PM

I thought gynoids were already female? I used androids because more people seem to be familiar with that term but probably used it wrong.

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VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Calendar enthusiast
#8: Feb 23rd 2022 at 10:37:00 AM

The difference is that a Robot Girl is a girl (who also happens to be a robot); the narrative treats her as a girl, with the robot stuff being just extra flavour. In contrast, a Fembot is a robot (who also happens to be a girl); the narrative is about her being a robot, and her gender is largely incidental.

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Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#9: Feb 25th 2022 at 2:17:53 PM

Fembot seems to be about those works where robots are either depicted as genderless or male (or, as the description briefly mentions, genderless robots that are treated as male), but for some reason certain robots have been given female characteristics that make them stand out. If there's any focus on the "female" side it's to emphasise their artificial nature.

Robot Girl is about the humanity of the robot. It's about a girl, a girl who happens to have a gimmick, and that gimmick is "robot". If there's any focus on the robot side it's to emphasise her humanity — either by reaffirming it or by trying to deny her right to it. Sometimes it's a way of giving a girl a "super-power" via technology rather than something more mystical.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Feb 25th 2022 at 10:36:46 AM

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NoUsername she's only programmed to be very nice Since: May, 2012
she's only programmed to be very nice
#10: Feb 27th 2022 at 4:06:08 PM

as the one who brought it up in the duplicate tropes thread, i still don't think it's really significant enough of a distinction, and there's a lot of misuse on both pages because of the ambiguity of what counts as a "girl robot" versus a "robot girl". i also think Robot Girl has significant overlap with Ridiculously Human Robots.

Edited by NoUsername on Feb 27th 2022 at 4:07:30 AM

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#11: Feb 27th 2022 at 4:08:00 PM

At this point, the only thing you can really do is to make a wick check and see how bad the overlap issue is.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#12: Feb 28th 2022 at 3:23:07 PM

The distinction is very clear, I really don’t see a problem.

Malady (X-Troper)
#13: Feb 28th 2022 at 3:24:13 PM

Thinking of it as Feminine Robot makes the primacy of Robot concept in Fem Bot clearer to me...

Edited by Malady on Feb 28th 2022 at 3:24:29 AM

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#14: Feb 28th 2022 at 3:38:19 PM

Even Giant Mecha that look female are Fembots. Robots by default in fiction look male, when one is shaped to be female there is a reason for it.

Like there isn’t a Robot Girl quality about say Neo Sweden's Nobel Gundam from Mobile Fighter G Gundam it’s a piloted giant mecha that’s female and in a Sailor Fuku.

Can a Fembot be a Robot Girl or start out a generic Fembot and gain all the personality and romance elements that that trope uses through the Character Development, sure.

Edited by Memers on Feb 28th 2022 at 3:40:36 AM

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