Robotomy



Take the robotic idea of a New York Times Bestselling Children's Book author, add the creative juices of some the geniuses behind Superjail, and make it fit for primetime. What you get is Robotomy, a show about two teenage robots (Thrasher and Blastus) and their attempts to get through high school. Taking place on a robot planet called Insanus, the cast of characters include a Sadist Teacher, a homicidal Spoiled Brat, and a bi-polar Lethal Joke Character. Something is destroyed every other second, and some of the jokes make you wonder why this isn't on Adult Swim. Only lasted one season (which only had ten FIFTEEN MINUTE episodes) because of high production costs and a lack of foreign investment to balance it out. The show's cult following was somewhat large, however, and there's already a Facebook page dedicated to saving Robotomy.

Aired on Cartoon Network. (Specifically, right after MAD on Monday nights, since you wouldn't know if we didn't tell you.)

Watch the teaser.

This show provides examples of:
""Weenus rocks the party that rocks the body!""
 * Ambiguously Gay: Blastus and Principal Thunderbyte.
 * Absurdly Powerful Student Council: At the beginning of "El Presidente": "I'm starting to think that giving a student body president unchecked power is a bad idea!"
 * Always Save the Girl: In the episode where Thrasher and Blastus donate there coolent they go to Maimy and she is getting attacked by a giant robot that Thrasher tamed but when losing control of the beast it kills Megawatt.
 * Arson Murder and Jaywalking: The short cartoon showing how plants are dangerous showed a tulip ripping a robot child apart, one tree attacking four robots, another robot eating a dog that was urinating on him, and the Gore-Ax adding at the end of the film, "That tree stole a dog's identity and ruined his credit!"
 * Berserk Button: Quite a few of them.
 * While the Sunshine class is known for not liking violence, don't tell them their performance of Mamma Mia has been canceled.
 * From "El Presidente": Don't take Blastus's pudding cup.
 * Bloodless Carnage: The whole show. Keep in mind, though, that they are robots that, you know, don't bleed (though they do leak coolant), so it's sorta justified.
 * Brain Bleach / Squick: The class's reaction to Dreadnot doing his stretching exercises while the class takes their No Child Left Benign exams.
 * Child Hater: The Tickle-Me-Psycho doll, whose Catch Phrase is "I can't stand kids!" as said with the screechy, grating voice of Gilbert Gottfried.
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Loads
 * Crapsack World Gone Mad: Planet Insanus
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Weenus
 * Closer To Insanus: Thrasher seems to have a little more sense than his best friend Blastus.
 * Combat Tentacles: Frenemy had these.
 * Cute and Psycho: Frenemy
 * Death Is a Slap On The Wrist and Anyone Can Die: A variation; almost all the robots, including the main characters, get destroyed constantly... but are fixed or rebuilt with no harm done a few minutes later.
 * Deranged Animation: Justified in that the show's director is the co-creator of Adult Swim's Superjail.
 * Description Cut: In episode four Thrasher and Blastus are looking for the Tickle Me Psycho doll (after it held Blastus at gunpoint and the two younger robot siblings cause a riot), Blastus asks Thrasher, "If you were smelly, hairy, and didn't like to be touched, where would you go?", followed by a Gilligan Cut to a comic book store. Subverted when the comic book store clerk (who sounds an awful lot like Master Shake) gets offended and throws Thrasher and Blastus out of his store for suggesting that his clientele (who look like the Tickle Me Psycho dolls, if you look closely) are smelly, hairy, and don't like to be touched.
 * Disappeared Dad: Blastus's father was never mentioned or seen during the show's short run.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything: The Sunshine class are a class of robots with "faulty psycho chips" who "get their own bus" and are exempt from taking standardized tests in school. I don't see any parallels between this and a special-ed class, do you? And it gets worse when Mrs. Crunshine reveals that.
 * Earthshattering Kaboom: Apparently, Insanus explodes daily (for one reason or another), to the point that all of the robots merely get on a spaceship and drive to a new one.
 * Everythings Worse With Bears: The credits of the final episode show how the robots establishing a new Insanus on a planet inhabited by Care Bears went.
 * Expy: Blastus looks like Fatbot from Futurama (the robot on the Animal House-parody episode who had to be rebooted after catching a virus in Tijuana); Thrasher more or less looks like C3PO from Star Wars (or Gus the robot from Tripping the Rift), minus the Ambiguously Camp Gay mannerisms.
 * Fan Nickname: Weenus is Robot McLovin!
 * Ironically, that's also how the creators describe the character.
 * Freud Was Right: "Bling Thing," when Blastus and Thrasher first show up with their upgrades, they are upstaged by Megawatt's large drill and chick magnet. Think about it...
 * Fridge Horror: The Sunshine class is the Insanus equivalent to a special-ed class.
 * The very name "Sunshine class" becomes a fridge horrific Stealth Pun when you realize that the name both doubles as a typical name for a "special-ed" type class.
 * In "Field of Screams," it's revealed that . Earlier, in the episode, one of the rules of Mutilation Ball was to, meaning that.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: One of the characters' names is "Weenus." It means the extra skin on your elbow, true, but it certainly has a different meaning among most boys in the 3-5th grade. And then you see this on his profile:

"Blastus: *after getting his hand melted off by Mecha-Jodie* Nice, that was my favorite hand!
 * The second episode features a masturbation joke.

Thrasher: And I don't want to know why it's your favorite..."

"Maimy: Were you talking to your--
 * So did the third episode, only it was more visual. A cutaway shows Blastus's mom walking in on her son bent over and muttering, "Aw, yeah!".
 * In the third episode, Blastus makes reference to the infamous "not fresh" commercial.
 * From the "Tickle Me Psycho" episode (episode 4): "Dude, then grow a set and talk to her!"
 * Episode 2 had a robot hooker in a bikini with a rough, mannish voice asking Thrasher and Blastus if they want a girlfriend.
 * A subversion: the donating coolant plan on episode two might seem like a robotic equivalent of donating sperm, but given how physically wrecked the two became the more they donated (cf. the teacher describing the side effects of donating coolant: jitters, paranoia, fire blisters, and rectal whistling), it's more on par with donating blood or plasma.
 * In "Mean Green", when Maimy sees Thrasher looking down and talking to his crotch (it's really The Green Spirit of Insanus hidden in his belly compartment, but Maimy doesn't know that) about how he'll take it out later:

Thrasher: No.

Maimy: 'Cause it looked like you were talking to your--

Thrasher: I wasn't talking to myself or any individual part of myself!"

"Maimy: But you ARE missing something...
 * The entirety of "The Trials of Robocles" is laced with references to puberty and killing non-robotic monsters horribly, including burning one alive, that were just trying to help them.
 * The beginning of "The Trials of Robocles" had Mr. Dreadnot arrested for trying to run away from teaching the class about puberty by draining his bank account, setting fire to his apartment, changing his name, and heading for the border -- all the while wearing a minidress, a thong, and high heels.
 * And from El Presidente:

Thrasher (sheepishly): I was born that way, but the doctor said to be patient."

"Dreadnot: I feel so good, I'm going to start taking a nap everyday!
 * The 'Frenemy' episode had the embarrassing videos of Thrasher and Blastus: the one for Thrasher showed him making out with a dummy version of Maimy; Blastus's video showed him getting his butt buffered by his mom.
 * "Frenemy" also had this: in the sequence where Frenemy first appears to them, Frenemy mentions that Thrasher's favorite website is www.kittensintighttanktops.com (though the kittens on the website {save for the ones in the live-action photos} look as if they're wearing bras), which Thrasher reacts to rather sheepishly (as if it were an actual porn site).
 * On the non-sexual side of Getting Crap Past the Radar, the show has a lot of Family Unfriendly Violence (of course, this being a cartoon, most of the characters come out of it fine a few scenes later) and lesser characters getting killed off in gruesome ways.
 * The show also has characters saying "crap," (someone said, "Oh crap!" near the end of the "Tickle Me Psycho" episode), "tool" to mean someone who is awkward or unlikeable (Thrasher's line, "I look like a tool!" on "El Presidente"), "sucks" (meaning "to be inferior or unfair"; in the "Mutilation Ball" episode, Blastus says, "Yeah. Being a benchwarmer sucks!"), and "screwed" (Thrasher in episode 2 said, "We are so screwed!"). It's minor, yes, but even the cartoons of the 1990s didn't go that far (at least in America; the cartoons in Canada do get away with this, showing that Canadian kids' TV is a lot more liberal than American kids' TV).
 * Happily Married: Thrasher's parents.
 * Hey Its That Voice: Thrasher is Patton Oswalt, Weenus is Michael Sinterniklaas, and Dreadnot is Dana Snyder!
 * Dana Snyder is also the voice of Principal Thunderbyte High and the janitor on the Mutilation Ball episode.
 * Sinterniklaas also voices various extras. Considering that it's recorded at NYAV Post, this shouldn't be a surprise.
 * Some of the guest stars include frickin' Lewis Black (as the Gore-Ax) and Lisa Lampanelli (as The Green Spirit of Insanus), rapper Lil Jon (as Mayor Amputator and King Suckerpunch), and Gilbert Gottfried (as Tickle Me Psycho).
 * Frenemy is Jack McBrayer (Kenneth from 30 Rock).
 * Here We Go Again:
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Thrasher and Blastus.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Thrasher to Maimy.
 * Ho Yay: "SAY I'M SEXY"
 * There are a lot of Ho Yay moments with Blastus, from his love of art and musicals to how jealous he gets when Thrasher finally dates Maimy. Unlike the Ho Yay moments centered around the Larry 3000 on Time Squad, the ones with Blastus on Robotomy are Played for Laughs and a bit more subtle.

Thunderbite: Oooh! We should do it together! Can you imagine?"

"Oh, Tickle Me Psycho is big and bad
 * Now to be fair, Dreadnot does seem to have an interest in impressing women, it's just Thunderbite that acts kind of...Yeah, you get the point.
 * This troper took that one as more of a casting gag, since both characters are voiced by Dana Snyder.
 * Invisible Advertising: It didn't get that much advertising when it aired, outside of being mentioned in commercials for the Monday night line-up, along with Adventure Time, Mad, and Regular Show.
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Averted. Even though the show is cancelled, it is available for viewing on iTunes and some torrent websites. It might never come out on DVD, but who needs that when you have the Internet?
 * Killer Robot: The show's general premise.
 * Lethal Joke Character: A rare non-video game example with Weenus. His CN Online profile says his arm is rumored to be the most powerful weapon on Insanus. It also says he is sweet and bi-polar.
 * Lighter and Softer: This show is essentially a more- or less-toned-down version of Superjail (It still has the gratuitous violence and trippy animation, but it's robots getting killed and pummelled, not humans, so there's no need for censorship issues over bloodletting and death). During production, the crew had to constantly be reminded that the show was airing in primetime, and so not to go too much toward Adult Swim content.
 * Love Martyr: Even though Maimy rejects Thrasher and uses weapons on him Thrasher still loves her regardless.
 * Mood Swinger: Weenus. Justified in that he's bi-polar.
 * My Little Panzer: Tickle Me Psycho, full-stop. The jingle lampshades this:

He'll maul your mom and hit your dad

He's not your friend

He's a furry foe

His name is Tickle Me Psycho!"

"Gore-Ax: No, no, no, no. This isn't the movie that makes you hate plants; it's the one that makes you stupid!"
 * Not That There's Anything Wrong With That: Thrasher. There are plenty of Ho Yay moments between him and his best friend, Blastus, but the show makes it clear that he has a crush on Maimy, a popular girl in his class.
 * Ordinary High School Student: Thrasher and Blastus... well, as normal as you can be, living in a World Gone Mad populated entirely by Killer Robots.
 * Quarter Hour Short
 * Ridiculously Human Robots: Subverted; the robots act similar to most human teenagers...when they're not destroying each other and blowing everything up.
 * Rescue Romance: Thrasher saves Maimy and they have a small moment until the giant monster falls on top of her.
 * Sadist Teacher: Dreadnot does not live up to his name. He tortures and sometimes destroys his students to make sure they are ultra-violent drones.
 * Screwed By the Network: The only reason this show does well in the ratings is due to word-of-mouth, since the network rarely promotes the series.
 * Aside from when they promote the entire Monday night block anyway (including other shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and MAD), they do mention the show then. It's not as bad as other examples, but it does feel like Cartoon Network is going to drop this robo-centric cartoon, just like they did with Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?.
 * After the premiere of Firebreather, a rerun of the show was interrupted by Regular Show out of nowhere, with very little notification during the actual movie itself.
 * This was because the show was expensive to produce and none of the foreign Cartoon Network channels had any interest in the series. With no foreign investment to help balance out the costs, the show could only hope for the demise it received. At least all the episodes are available on iTunes, so it won't become a Keep Circulating the Tapes series.
 * The show has now been purged from Cartoon Network's website entirely, just a month after the final episode, the tenth one of the only season, aired with no reruns and little promotion. Not to mention the fact that, after said series finale aired, the whole show never aired again. Arguably second to Clerks the Animated Series as being the poster boy of Screwed By the Network in Western Animation from the last 10 to 15 years.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: All too frequent.
 * Stalker With a Crush: Thrasher to Maimy.
 * Sweetie Graffiti: Thrasher's locker.
 * Take That: "Frenemy" is a merciless parody of Facebook and social networking sites in general.
 * Teenaged vampires, my favorite! (Head explodes)
 * The Twilight Take Thats continue in another episode, where Thrasher is forced to watch a movie that shows the danger of plants. Instead, we get a robot version of the movie.


 * Talking to Himself:
 * Dana Snyder voices Principal Thunderbyte, Mr. Dreadnot, the janitor of Harry S. Apocalypse High, three news anchors (as seen in the episodes "Play Date," "Field of Screams," and "Nana's Run"), and several one-shot characters.
 * Gilbert Gottfried voiced all of the Tickle Me Psycho dolls in the fourth episode.
 * Temporal Paradox: Occurs in the first episode.
 * The Teaser: Even though an average episode is only 10 to 11 minutes long, this show does have cold openings.
 * This Is Wrong On So Many Levels: A variant on "No Child Left Benign": After Blastus vomits up the books he stuffs in his mouth and eats his own puke, Thrasher says, "Well, this is all kinds of wrong."
 * Widget Series
 * X Meets Y: Futurama meets Whatever Happened to Robot Jones meets Superjail. And it's awesome.
 * Alternatively, Superjail meets Superbad with robots. And it's still awesome.
 * Alternatively, Superjail meets Superbad with robots. And it's still awesome.