My Life as a Teenage Robot



My Life as a Teenage Robot was an Animated Series that premiered on Nickelodeon in 2003; previously-unaired episodes were later broadcast on the Nicktoons network from 2008 until 2009.

The show, which takes place Twenty Minutes Into the Future, revolved around a Robot Girl named XJ9 (or simply Jenny Wakeman) who was designed in order to protect the Earth by a female scientist, but, after meeting her next door neighbor Brad and his little brother Tucker, decides she would rather live a normal adolescent life. Jenny attempts to fit in at school, but usually fails, with hilarious results.

Her antics cause friction with her "mother" Nora Wakeman. Nora's strict treatment doesn't sit well with Jenny, either. Despite this, they care about each other, and eventually accept each other as mother and daughter.

Jenny must also fight various menaces in the series, most notably The Cluster, a race of alien robots bent on conquering Earth, led by the evil Queen Vexus.

One of Jenny's friends, a nerd called Sheldon, has a crush on her, but she doesn't like him that way. He adopts the identity of a superhero robot himself (the Silver Shell) by wearing a suit of Powered Armor, but must keep this a secret from Jenny and the rest.

By the made for TV movie,

"Tuck: You're going to blow us up, or vaporize us, or get us grounded! [Brad lifts off the UFO] Or get us un-grounded."
 * Acme Products: Apparently, they sell life insurance
 * Air Vent Passageway: In "Future Shock".
 * Aliens Speaking English: The Cluster and several other of the spacegoing creatures Jenny meets. But inverted in an episode where feline aliens only say "Meow" ...but Jenny, Brad and Tucker understand them.
 * Alpha Bitch: Brit and Tiff Crust, the "Crust Cousins".
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: Nora Wakeman on occasion, though Jenny has also been known to embarrass her in return.
 * Ambiguously Brown: It's not stated what Brit's ethnic background is, though Indian makes the most sense, considering her English accent and Britain's past colonisation of India.
 * An Aesop
 * And Then What?: In "The Legion of Evil".
 * Angel Face, Demon Face: A rather extreme example in Todd, at the end of "A Robot For All Seasons". When he learns the true meaning of Christmas, his dour, dark face cracks and falls away revealing a smiling, rosy cheeked face.
 * Anime Hair: A lot of people, actually, in this rare western example.
 * Animesque: The style is a Shout-Out to Astro Boy.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Tuck.
 * Anticipatory Breath Spray
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The crystals in "Dressed To Kill".
 * Arch Enemy: Vexus.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: From "Unlicensed Flying Object":

"Killgore: Surrender! Jenny: Crikey!"
 * Art Shift: In "Daydream Believer", Jenny gets a hold of some software that allows her to dream, which she eventually abuses to work while she's awake. Each of her dream sequences has a rather large art shift, from Greco-Roman style to even more 1920s than the show was to begin with to - of all things - Dr. Seuss.
 * Ass Pull: The sudden paperwork fetish of Skyway Patrol when they were unable to act without having to fill out mounds and mounds of paperwork the whole series, just to show Brad that being a hero isn't fun.
 * Though, like in Hot Fuzz, this could be evidence that the crew has Shown Their Work and fleshed out the formerly two-dimensional "STOP THAT ROBOT" Skyway Patrol.
 * Soak it in folks, this is likely the only time the two will ever be mentioned in conjunction.
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The spongy monster in "Speak No Evil."
 * Attack Pattern Alpha: In "The Legion of Evil".
 * Audible Gleam: After Jenny buffs her nails with an auto-chamois. And after she uses the "vacuum thingie" to capture invading Minusians.
 * Badass Adorable: Jenny.
 * Badass Family: The Wakemans, obviously. Nora Wakeman is a Mad Scientist and a former officer of the Skyway Patrol, and can still hold her own in combat at an advanced age; Jenny is a ridiculously powerful crime-fighting robot; and Jenny's sisters (XJ 1 through 8) are single-purpose prototypes who are still pretty strong in their own right (plus, they kick major ass when they join forces). Arguably, you could also include Armageddroid in the family roster (he might be a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but he's the most powerful robot ever created).
 * Bad Job, Worse Uniform
 * Bandage Mummy: Brad in "Tuckered Out" and Tuck in "Indes-tuck-tible".
 * Bare Your Midriff: Jenny's default look.
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space: Jenny, being a robot, is justified. Less justified is the first episode where she was able to rocket into space, blast away several meteors, get smacked around a bit, and reenter the atmosphere and return safely to Earth... with Tuck clinging onto her every step of the way. And he survived. And thought it was "Cool!" Don't even go into the facts about survival in space.
 * Then there are the scenes where non-robotic characters seem to have no problem breathing in space (though it is Lampshaded very often).
 * Such as poor Sheldon, when he was launched into an orbit around the sun by Jenny and spent 75 years in space, working in several situations including an open-top pirate ship with no space suit or anything. Jenny barely gets a slap on the wrist...
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted in "Stage Fright".
 * Berserk Button: Melody is very mild-mannered and excessively sweet.
 * It's pronounced Teresa!
 * Big Ham: Sheldon as The Silver Shell. Though this is done intentionally.
 * Big Little Sister: Played straight with XJ8, Jenny's immediate prototype and her 'little sister'... who's twice Jenny's size and about as powerful. They have to fight during a Brainwashed and Crazy episode, and Jenny is not looking forward to it...
 * Armagedroid might count, but the XJ series is explicitly a different line from it - half-siblings, maybe?
 * Bizarrchitecture: Mesmers has an interesting front deco-cat sign.
 * Not to mention some of the architecture on Cluster Prime, some of which are apparently giant sentient robots.
 * Not to mention Jenny's pad in "Crash Pad Crash."
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Vega gets a version in "Escape From Cluster Prime".
 * Bragging Theme Tune
 * Bullying a Dragon: Jenny is sweet, gentle, and kind. She wants to fit in with her peers, and is a generally good person. Her tormentors, however, don't ever seem to grasp that she's also a walking, talking, sapient weapons system capable of destroying entire space fleets on her own. As mentioned below, this requires a very special kind of stupidity.
 * However, they're probably fine... given that she probably couldn't get away with using those weapons on even the meanest of bullies who was totally asking for it.
 * Big In Japan: There's a lot of Doujinshi for Jenny in Japan.
 * It's true in-universe, too.
 * Bungling Inventor: Krakus, despite the fact that one of his inventions worked perfect in the episode he was introduced, it is clear from dialog that it is not a common occurrence.
 * Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin': Lancer, almost, in "The Legion of Evil".
 * Captain Patriotic: The Silver Shell sometimes evokes this for glorious hammitude.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: Killgore, in a very literal sense (well, technically, it's a pricetag)
 * Catch Phrase

"Five o'clock, get a call to go blading at the skate park down by the mall But my mom says I gotta prevent hostile aliens from annihilating us all..."
 * Chosen One: Jenny is thought of to be the 'chosen one' by tiny aliens in the episode "Teen Idol."
 * Clear My Name: In the Christmas Episode of all things.
 * Comic Book Fantasy Casting: The bodybuilders in "This Time With Feeling" have the heads of The Three Stooges.
 * Competition Coupon Madness: In "Girl of Steal".
 * The Computer Is Your Friend: Armagedroid.
 * Convection, Schmonvection
 * Conveyor Belt of Doom: In "Enclosure of Doom" and "Escape From Cluster Prime".
 * Cooking Duel
 * Cool Loser: Jenny. Brad is also a possibility, but considering that he's somehow able to get invites to Don Prima's parties on his own, it's debatable.
 * Cool Old Lady: Nora Wakeman.
 * Crowd Song: Parodied in "A Robot For All Seasons".
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Jenny vs. Gigawatt in "Mind Over Matter", several times over.
 * Curse of Babel: "Speak No Evil".
 * Dark Reprise: The theme song's film reel disintegrates in Escape From Cluster Prime, which begins an orchestral arrangement of the song that isn't so cheery.
 * Death Course: The eponymous "Enclosure of Doom".
 * Deathbringer the Adorable/Harmless Villain: Killgore. Terrifying name, the robot itself...not so much.
 * Delegation Relay: In "Mama Drama".
 * Demonization: Deconstructed In-Universe: Queen Vexus of Cluster Prime demonizes XJ9, presenting her as an Exclusively Evil, horrible monster robot that wants to destroy her own kind in various propaganda videos shown to the robots. When XJ9 accidentally goes to Cluster Prime, all the robots see her for the cute, normal, heroic robot who wants to help and protect others. Even when someone recognizes her and the Robot police try to catch her, she is helped by her new friends. This leads to Queen Vexus’ downfall.
 * Destructive Saviour: Armagedroid. Jenny actively tries to avoid being this.
 * Distracted By the Shiny: In "Stage Fright".
 * Dude in Distress: You can bet that Brad and Tuck will usually be in danger if they are part of the focus of an episode. Sheldon can fall victim to this often as well, especially in his first appearance.
 * Do Androids Dream?: Lampshaded by Dr. Wakeman in the episode "Daydream Believer".
 * Do-Anything Robot: Jenny. But as a teenager, whether or not she'll actually do anything is related to her mood at the moment.
 * Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Jenny has some initial problems fitting in due to this, but eventually gets used to her surroundings.
 * At home, she seems to have either figured out how to lounge around without breaking stuff, or Dr. Wakeman has simply reinforced a lot of the house.
 * Downer Ending/ Bittersweet Ending: "No Harmony With Melody" and "Mist Opportunities".
 * The Dragon: Smytus.
 * Dressed All in Rubber: Jenny tries this to fight Gigawatt, but it backfires badly.
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: In "Last Action Zero". Played by R. Lee Ermey. Of course.
 * Drive-In Theater: "Future Scope"
 * Drugs Are Bad: "Daydream Believer". It's not hard to imagine it being about psychoactive drugs instead of daydreaming.
 * Easy Amnesia: Invoked in "A Pain In My Sidekick".
 * The Eeyore: XJ-7.
 * Enemy Mine: Jenny and Killgore in "Enclosure of Doom".
 * Enter Stage Window
 * Evil Laugh: Marty in "Mama Drama" has a suberb evil laugh. Tuck also has a pretty good one... and Vexus... Oh the show is full of them.
 * Expository Theme Tune:

"Jenny: Well, that's my understanding of it, anyway..."
 * Expressive Mask: Sheldon as the Silver Shell, and Tucker as his sidekick, the Tin Can.
 * Expy: In Escape From Cluster Prime, the robots that Jenny meets are all (with the exception of Vega) modeled after her human friends.
 * Face Palm: This is a trope that the characters on this show seem to really like.
 * Fantastic Racism
 * Fantasy Gun Control: In "Escape From Cluster Prime",
 * Feel No Pain: Only once, when it was relevant to the plot.
 * Flawed Prototype: Of a sort. XJs 1 through 8 are clearly not as complete as Jenny, although 'flawed' isn't really the right word here, as they all seem to be testbeds for various functions eventually incorporated into Jenny. (Dr. Wakeman herself describes them as "failed" and "incomplete" in successive sentences.) Armagedroid, on the other hand, is something of a Gone Horribly Right...
 * Foreshadowing: Parodied in "Good Old Sheldon."
 * Fruit Cart: A fish cart in "Voyage To the Planet of the Bikers."
 * Funny Foreigner: "Around The World In 80 Pieces" has several of them.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Sheldon - nearly on par with Wakeman herself. Mog and some of the others are somewhere between Gadgeteer Genius and Mad Scientist.
 * Played with, with Krackus. He has few problems with building his gadgets, but getting them to stay together, let alone work, is another story entirely...
 * Genki Girl: Jenny, so very much.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar:
 * "Hostile Makeover" - "...and it smells like fish tacos!"
 * The beginning of "Good Ole Sheldon" where Jenny has just finished telling the boys how babies are made, leaving them with horrified expressions. That is all.

"Sheldon: Nice set...of wheels."
 * Watch the backgrounds in a few episodes.
 * "Puppet Bride" - Little Acorn talks about how all the other puppets have a life partner: Punch has Judy. Ert has Bernie...
 * "The Boy Who Cried Robot" - "The dike! She is about to blow!"
 * "Voyage to the Planet of the Bikers" - Tammy is teaching an elementary school class. Behind her on the chalkboard is the equation "Birds + Bees = Baby". She then request the class open to page 69.
 * Not to mention the recurring biker chicks with a dom/sub theme. Or Jenny's speaker system that comes out of her chest....OK, let's just say this whole show as a whole can be Getting Crap Past the Radar.
 * In one episode, Jenny is expelled and has to be home-schooled. Dr Wakeman sets up a fake prom, and pairs Jenny up with XJ-8, her sister.
 * In one episode she has to keep saving the world during school, and since she already used "I have to go to the bathroom", she leaves a blow-up doll of herself in her chair. She comes back and lets the balloon blow off - and it zooms into Sheldon's desk, who closes it with a smile...It's a robot blow up doll. He's just creepy.

"Jenny: No time, Mom! I'll just download some new upgrades from the Internet! Nora: XJ-9, don't do that! You'll go blind!"
 * Then this, from the fashion episode...

"Sheldon: Twin-manifold access ports? Ohhh, baby!"
 * And what's the first thing Sheldon notices after stealing XJ-9's plans?

"Jenny: Uh, that's... CEO: Exactly; it stinks!"
 * Cockroach Fighting.
 * How about when Ms. Wakemen takes off her coat. It cuts to a between-legs angle where we see Tuck and Brad looking away, but Sheldon's eyes wide open.
 * Giant Equals Invincible: Armegedroid. And a few others, but Armagedroid is really the only foe Jenny can't beat in a straight fight.
 * Giant Spider: Jenny pretends to be one to scare Britt and Tiff in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Troubles."
 * "Sibling Tsunami" starts with Jenny having just defeated one, using its severed head as a ventriliquist's dummy.
 * God Guise: In one episode, Jenny is mistaken for a prophesied comet goddess by adorable tiny aliens.
 * Goofy Print Underwear: Sheldon's undies in the episode "Saved By the Shell" has what appears to be a kitty-face on it.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: "Around the World in Eighty Pieces"
 * Green-Eyed Monster
 * Granola Girl: Nora Wakeman's sister, Wisteria.
 * Handy Remote Control: In "Turncoats".
 * Have a Gay Old Time: Invoked in "A Robot For All Seasons".
 * He Is Not My Boyfriend: Sheldon.
 * Heart Symbol: Sheldon
 * Deadly Change-of-Heart: In their first appearance, Brit and Tiff actually defended Jenny when the police were planning on bringing her downtown after the science lab caught on fire (which they caused), as thanks for saving their lives. They actually wanted Jenny to start hanging out with them, until Brit shook Jenny's hand too hard and dislodged the hair pin Tiff shot into it. As the two were being led away by the police they blamed Jenny for it.
 * Heroic BSOD: Jenny, when Brad tosses an old calculator for a new one and tells her about Planned Obsolescence.
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Jenny in Escape From Cluster Prime, especially in said place, where she was framed for destroying special defense chips, although there was so much focus on an artist's interpretation, no one knew that Jenny was the enemy.
 * Hive Mind: The Cluster
 * Honor Before Reason: In "Samurai Vac".
 * Hot Amazon: Though you can't tell from the character designs, XJ-9 is 6 feet tall, according to Professor Wakeman's specs.
 * Humongous Mecha: Jenny briefly becomes one in 'Mind Over Matter', using a robot built out of her house.
 * I Broke a Nail: Played straight and mocked.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Jenny's got no chance or real desire to actually be human, but she does want to fit in - in fact, Dr. Wakeman seems to have designed her with this in mind.
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Subverted in "Sister Sledgehammer".
 * I See London: Sheldon, more than once.
 * I'm Going to Disney World: Used in "Histrionics".
 * Implacable Man: Armagedroid
 * Improvised Armour: Brad in "Humiliation 101".
 * Incredibly Lame Fun: In one episode, a toy company CEO introduces a slide rule as his company's "latest toy".

"Tuck: Hey, who are you guys singing to? And how'd you memorize those lyrics with no practice?"
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Krakus, Killgore
 * Interspecies Romance: Sheldon's crush on Jenny, for one. And Jenny's attraction to Don Prima in the first season.
 * Not to mention the fanfics where Jenny and Brad end up together.
 * Let's not forget Brad's near-marriage by Tammy.
 * Brad seems quite prone to this, considering his short relationship with Melody.
 * In with the In Crowd
 * Just a Machine: No better way to stab Jenny in the ego!
 * Just Between You and Me: Subverted in "Bradventure". Dr. Locus thinks he told him his secrets though, and proceeds with the Bond Villain Stupidity.
 * Karma Houdini: Jenny gets away with a lot.
 * Kaiju: Used and parodied.
 * Keet: Tuck.
 * Killer Rabbit: Literally.
 * The Ladette: The whole Space Biker gang
 * Lampshade Hanging: Frequently.
 * Laugh with Me: Smitus monologues about his evil plan and then lets out an Evil Laugh, while his minions just stare. He gives them an icy glare and says, "You laugh too." The minions all start laughing themselves silly, so much so that they accidentally let the episode's Applied Phlebotinum out of their ship's airlock.
 * Lawful Stupid: The Skyway Patrol. So much so that they need to fill out a mountain of authorization forms (in quintuplet, mind you) to take unauthorized actions.
 * Armagedroid too, although he's just programmed to be extremely single-minded.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "A Robot For All Seasons":
 * Armagedroid too, although he's just programmed to be extremely single-minded.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "A Robot For All Seasons":

"(while filling out papers) Brad: Mother's maiden name. Dentist's name. Dentist's mother's maiden name..."
 * Leitmotif: Several. Sheldon has one, Brit and Tiff have one, and Jenny has one for when she's in superhero mode.
 * Lilliputian Warriors: The Minutians.
 * The Martians in "The Wonderful World of Wizzly", but are just Lilliputians.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded for an entire episode.
 * Loves My Alter Ego: Sheldon -> Jenny -> Silver Shell = Sheldon.
 * Long-Lost Relative:.
 * MacGyvering: Double-subverted.
 * Mad Scientist: Among them, Dr. Wakeman is the sane one.
 * Magical Girlfriend: The components of the fantasy are all there: Sheldon, the Nerd Loser Protagonist, falls in love with the Superhero Robot Girl who saves him from bullies, and becomes her Dogged Nice Guy. Too bad she's not interested.
 * Magic Skirt: Many times. Best example is the first episode. We see Jenny and Brad looking through a box, and her position clearly shows her in a way that she is showing what she has (if anything) to the world. Next shot of Tuck aiming at her shows differently, though the next shot goes back to the original position.
 * A publicity picture shows Brad and Tuck going through Jenny's drawer and pulling out a pair of her steel panties.
 * Media Mirroring: The episode Future Shock provides the page's image.
 * Meddling Parents: Nora Wakeman.
 * The Men in Black: Parodied hard.
 * Misaimed Fandom: In-universe. Killgore's squeeing fangirls. Which he will destroy!
 * Mistaken for Murderer: "Future Shock".
 * Melody also qualifies, provided you don't hit her Berserk Button.
 * Mood Motif: The violin of tense suspense.
 * Motherly Scientist: Dr. Wakeman; Jenny calls her "mom".
 * Naked People Are Funny: Sheldon at the end of "The Price of Love."
 * Nerd Glasses: A few times, but not on Sheldon (the biggest nerd of the show) or Tuck (second-biggest).
 * Never Mess with Granny: The majority of Tremorton thinks Nora's a dotty old lady at best and a demented Mad Scientist at worst. But she was once Skyway Patrol, and the asskicking she did then she has not forgotten by the time Escape From Cluster Prime occurs.
 * Never Say "Die": Although inconsistently.
 * No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Invoked.
 * No Waterproofing in the Future: Pretty much all robots in the show react negatively to water exposure. Well, at least if the plot needs them to have said negative reaction to water.
 * No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted - Jenny has "sisters" who are prototypes (it's even played more realistically than is usual). However, this doesn't stop her from being the only one like her, ever.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Sky Patrol when Brad temporarily joins.

"Killgore: SURRENDER!"
 * Obviously Evil: Triple-subverted in "Mama Drama".
 * Oh Crap: Jenny on occasion. One of the drawbacks of a near-human personality.
 * Vexus at the end of Escape From Cluster Prime, when
 * Older Than They Look:
 * Jenny herself is technically 5 years old physically, but was being designed and built a good 11 years before that (so, 16, including a really long gestation period).
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Misty in "Mist Opportunities".
 * Ontological Mystery/You Wake Up in a Room: "Enclosure of Doom".
 * The Other Darrin: In the episode "Around the World in 50 Pieces", Vexus is voiced by Cree Summer (who also voices Tiff). Eartha Kitt returns to form in the TV Movie.
 * Out-Gambitted: Killgore in "Enclosure of Doom".
 * Overly Long Gag

"Sheldon: We don't have time for sci-fi brinkmanship! My Jenny needs me! * proceeds to hotwire a starship*"
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: In "Dressed to Kill", monstrous alien warrior Smytus convinces several characters that he's a Ukrainian supermodel by putting on a wig.
 * In "Escape From Cluster Prime", Jenny's superhero costume is the Cluster Prime flag and a pickelhaube.
 * Parental Obliviousness: Nora Wakeman, again.
 * Parody Names: Dear god, some of the episode titles.
 * Picked Last: Sheldon got picked last for everything.
 * Pick on Someone Your Own Size: Vexus.
 * Pie-Eyed: Most of the cast has these eyes, unusual for a modern cartoon.
 * Pinocchio Syndrome: Averted with Jenny - she's perfectly fine with being a robot, but wants acceptance and assimilation... which sometimes means playing the trope straight.
 * Planet of Hats: Played straight in "Good Old Sheldon" and subverted in "Voyage To the Planet of the Bikers".
 * Playing to The Fetishes: It's debatable, but the episode "Victim of Fashion" is rife of these...y'know, if you have a thing for catsuits, Victorian era dresses, sea life, and the Notorious B.I.G.
 * Portal Slam: In "Escape From Cluster Prime".
 * Post-Kiss Catatonia: Sheldon, every time Jenny kisses him. For that matter, it happens if she hugs him, too.
 * Power Fist: Dr. Wakeman gets a pair of power gloves in "Escape From Cluster Prime".
 * Pressure Point: Invoked in "Call Hating" on Jenny.
 * Punch Clock Hero: Misty in "Mist Opportunities". Jenny herself will occasionally gripe about having to save the world on a regular basis (=less time for a social life), but is always on duty.
 * Punch Clock Villain:
 * Punctuation Shaker: "Meat's 4 You" and "Vacuum's".
 * The Quisling: Brit and Tiff in Escape From Cluster Prime. They make a Heel Face Turn in just the right minute, and get away pretty easily.
 * Unless you count them being riddled with filth as punishment, which was unintentionally caused by the ship Jenny and friends are riding in.
 * Also, in one time travel episode, they were shown to have horrible lives in the future.
 * Redheaded Hero: Sorta, when Jenny tries wearing a human suit (one that isn't terrifying to look at) she gets red pigtails... and a lot of attention.
 * Reverse Polarity/Techno Babble: Parodied in "Escape From Cluster Prime". Completely subverted later on:

"Wisteria: What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?"
 * Ridiculously Human Robot: Who else?
 * Actually played with throughout the series. Jenny experiments with devices that make her more like a human (she's mostly cool with being a robot), including pleasure/pain sensors. But they're still working out the kinks.
 * Also, Melody.
 * Robo-Family: Jenny has several "sisters" who are actually failed/incomplete prototypes created by her inventor who have since been shut down and locked up in the basement.
 * Robot Kid: Or teenager, whatever; a couple of her 'sisters' fit this better than she does.
 * Rogues Gallery
 * Ronin: Referenced in "Samurai Vac".
 * Running Gag: "Hey, look! It's snowing!"
 * Safety Worst: Tuck is almost hit by a car. As a result he shuts himself away from the outside world. Jenny tries to reassure him of his safety by showing him at a ripe old age through the "Future Scope", which leads him to believe he will live to old age no matter what. He spends the rest of the episode performing a number of life threatening stunts, forgetting that even if he lives he still could get badly injured.
 * Scare Chord: Spoofed by Killgore in "Enclosure of Doom".
 * Screwed by the Network: The second season was delayed for many months. After lack of adverts, the third season didn't air for years after the show was canceled.
 * Scooby Stack: Jenny, Sheldon, Brad and Tuck spy on Dr. Wakeman's boyfriend this way in "Mama Drama"
 * Screams Like a Little Girl
 * Screw the Rules, I Make Them: Skyway Patrol
 * Self-Destruct Mechanism: The main warship in "Escape from Cluster Prime." Also used in Armagedroid, for a bomb, and by Killgore in "Enclosure of Doom".
 * Shapeshifter Baggage: Flat-out abused.
 * Possibly explained in "Victim of Fashion": Tuck is sifting through Jenny's arsenal and discovers an object that opens up into nowhere.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Spoofed. When Jenny wants to get pretty for a party invite, she visits a garage and gets a full tune-up and new paint job. ...from a bunch of greasy gearheads, at that.
 * Ship Tease (despite being explicitly platonic, the writers gave Jenny and Brad a few scenes that had shippers Squee-ing.)
 * Shout-Out
 * To Elvis Costello, of all things.

"Alien: Yeah, well, personally I can't wait to get off this hick planet! Bunch of rip-off artists, these earthlings: five bucks for a cup of coffee, no Extraterrestrial discount at the hotel, and I know that bellboy stole my tricorder."
 * There was also in "Mist Oppportunities" a fire-breathing rabbit.
 * The male half of the alien couple in "Unlicensed Flying Object" sneaks one in.

"Invention: What are you doing, Nora? I'm just trying to complete my mission."
 * She flew, she fought, she conquered.
 * In "Future Shock" when Jenny gets to the Vault: Jonny Quest, Batman, Tintin and probably a couple others.
 * The Cluster (for the most part a fully roboticised version of the Borg from Star Trek) uses the "resistance is futile" line.
 * Vexus says "be seeing you" to Jenny in her first appearance, complete with the same hand gesture.
 * The bad guys in the first part of "Speak No Evil" are a reference to Zedd's putties (remember the giant frickin target on their chests?) in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
 * In "Weapons of Mass Distraction": "He got better."
 * One episode includes a shout out to the Shojo anime Magical Princess Minky Momo via Brad singing a "One-Hit Wonder".
 * Shout-outs to Jurassic Park and Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory in "Histrionics", and to Sweeney Todd, Red Dawn and How the Grinch Stole Christmas in "A Robot For All Seasons" (with Jenny-Santa basically being a non-Egyptian Giant Robo). "Escape From Cluster Prime" references the cat bus from My Neighbor Totoro.
 * In "The Puppet Bride", the boy that eventually finds Little Acorn looks identical to Lucas from Mother 3.
 * That episode is also based on the original story of Frankenstein.
 * In one episode, Tuck calls Dr. Wakeman to get Jenny and Brad in trouble for throwing a party while she is away. When Brad decides to let him stay for the party, Tuck responds to Dr. Wakeman's "Hello?" with, "I just called to say I love you."
 * The Mad Hammer Bros., complete with one instance of the Super Mario World jumping sound.
 * The scene in "Ball and Chain" where Jenny bangs on the window while shouting Brad's name is an obvious reference to The Graduate.
 * Nora's first hypothesis of what androids dream of? Electric sheep.
 * The runamuck invention in the beginning of "Turncoats" sings "Daisy" as it shuts down.

"Brad: It even reminds you to take a shower! I have mine set for once a week whether I need it or not! [the plant Brad has just walked past keels over dead]"
 * When Brad and Tuck wind up in front of a Japanese crowd, one man shouts "Do Freebird!"
 * In "Queen Bee", Vicky Vexus throws Brit and Tiff into unpopularity, and by 'unpopularity' I mean the D&D club.
 * In "Historionics", Sheldon refers to Caesar as a "salad dressing dude".
 * In the first episode, Larry 3000 can be spotted on a table full of robotic scraps.
 * The final scene to the episode "Dressed To Kill" where the Krusts box up the crystal dress and put it in a large storage house.
 * You would be hard pressed to miss The Wonderful World of Disney Wizzly and the famous It's a Small World After All
 * Tuck saves Jenny from the bikers in a Mini-Mecha à la Aliens: "Get away from her, you bitch fish!"
 * In the episode that introduces Jenny's sisters, XJ-7 is asked what's got her so depressed, and she answers "Oh, life, the universe, everything..."
 * Heeeeeeere's Jenny!
 * Vega could be seen as a shout-out to Zero, just by virtue of being a sword-weilding robot who is best friends with another blue robot who fights for justice. Did we mention that she also has an evil parental figure that acts as an arch-enemy to their best friend?
 * After Brad finds out that Melody is a robot, he asks how he can trust her again, and she kisses him. His response: "So she's mechanical!"
 * Shown Their Work Combined with Genius Bonus: While the episode “Puppet Bride” is a fairly faithful parody of the original Frankenstein book by Mary Shelley and it’s tropes (Parental Abandonment, Uncanny Valley, Calling the Old Man Out, Then Let Me Be Evil, You Need to Get Laid), the episode “Tuckered Out” is a parody of all the Lost in Imitation tropes about Frankenstein in the subsequent movies (The Igor, Mad Scientist, Lightning Can Do Anything:, etc).
 * Sibling Team: XJ-9 and her prototypical "sisters", XJ Mark 1 through 8.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Nora and Wisteria, science VS nature.
 * Slave Race: Robots; sometimes Played for Laughs.
 * Slow Doors: In "A Robot For All Seasons".
 * Space Is Cold
 * Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Subverted somewhat in "Ball and Chain" - Jenny bangs on the window and calls Brad's name. Brad tells Jenny he doesn't want to be rescued and marries Tammy anyway. He justifiably begins to regret it because Tammy's species treats spouses as somewhere between slave and house pet and calls the marriage off at the reception, resulting in him needing to be rescued.
 * Spontaneous Choreography: In "Humiliation 101". Comes out of nowhere.
 * Spoof Aesop: A parody of Comes Great Responsibility in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Troubles". Anvilicious And Knowing Is Half the Battle segments themselves are mocked in "Weapons of Mass Distraction" as well.
 * Squashed Flat: Usually very briefly and possibly outside the domain of Cartoon Physics as she's just a robot.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Sheldon. Viewer reaction with him tends to swing between, "Aw, that's kind of cute." and "What the hell is wrong with that boy?"
 * Stop Worshipping Me!: In one episode, Jenny is mistaken for the Comet Goddess by a group of Adorkable aliens, and while the worship is nice at first, she eventually gets sick of it.
 * Suicide Attack: The Horde in "Humiliation 101" uses this.
 * Super Prototype: XJ8 is physically stronger than Jenny... but doesn't have Jenny's quirk and charm.
 * Super Strength: "The strength of a million-and-seventy men," if the theme song is to be taken literally.
 * Surprisingly Good Japanese: Jenny is voiced by Janice Kawaye, who is Japanese-American.
 * One episode has Jenny lost her Language OS Disc, forcing her to speak Japanese for almost the whole episode.
 * Telescoping Robot: Jenny does this for comedy mostly, with a stretchy neck and even pigtail-antenna (not to mention "stretchy arms and extendo-fingers", to which an entire episode was devoted), but can use her body as a combination Green Lantern Ring and Shape Shifter.
 * Quickly deconstructed as well, as she is unable to make her self smaller or thinner when the Krust sisters come up with a social situation requiring it. (She settles for completely removing all her external armor... and decides to never do it again.)
 * Tempting Fate: So many, many times.
 * That Poor Plant "Girl of Steal"

"Tuck: What? Can't a guy wear pearls and taffeta around here? Nora: Strictly speaking, only after 6."
 * Theme Tune Cameo: Jenny sings it in "Pajama Party Prankapalooza".
 * There Was a Door "Daydream Believer" - Jenny rushes through a wall to rescue Tuck from a monster; he advises her she could've used the door.
 * Oil is Thicker Than Water, too.
 * Thick Line Animation
 * Third Person Person: Killgore talks like this.
 * Through A Face Full Of Metal: Jenny often blushes.
 * Title Theme Tune
 * Too Dumb to Live: Tucker in "Indes-Tuck-tible," and Jenny's tormentors Brit and Tiff pretty much all the time. See the above entry for Bullying a Dragon, and note that more than once, their schemes have backfired with extremely severe consequences.
 * Took a Level in Badass: Sheldon in "Agent 00Sheldon".
 * Trailers Always Spoil: Semi-Averted for Escape from Cluster Prime, Vega, or basically any footage Jenny having fun in Cluster Prime, wasn't featured, but we did get to see . To be honest though, we were expecting that to happen, so not a huge problem.
 * Truly Single Parent: Dr. Wakeman, at least, tries to avoid this.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future - The set year is never explicitly stated, but one episode mentions that Jenny, being built only 5 years prior, missed Super Bowl C (100).
 * Dr. Wakeman, when she's homeschooling her, once asked her who the first female president was, so certainly farther than 2012?
 * Well, Super Bowl C will be played in January 2067, which means that the series takes place in late 2072 or 2073 at the absolute earliest. Of course, during the same conversation where this is brought up, Brad also mentions that Jenny missed seeing the "Great Blizzard of '24", which is someone puzzling; assuming that he's referring to the year 2024, there's no way he could have experienced the latter event and still be a teenager, either, unless Brad's older than he looks (like Sheldon after he was lauched into space) or Time Travel is somehow involved.
 * ...OR the "Great Blizzard of '24" started in 2024 and stopped a few years after Brad was born...
 * I would say the blizzard was in 2124, and there were a lot of Superbowl-less years for some reason.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Travis' dad in "Weapons of Mass Distraction".
 * Unlimited Wardrobe: The Krust Cousins
 * Unusual Euphemism: "Thank [Steve] Jobs!" was used once.
 * "By the Great Cluster Hives! It's XJ9!"
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight - The show is about a robot packed with a huge arsenal of incredibly destructive gadgets/weapons attending a local high school. Other people in the show very rarely find this concept, or even Jenny herself, odd, even though she appears to be the only one around.
 * Urine Trouble - In "Trade Show Showdown", a robotic dog lifts its leg after it gets annoyed with Jenny deriding it for being a one trick pony puppy.
 * Very Special Episode: "Victim of Fashion" has Jenny competing against Brit and Tiff to see who can be more fashionable. But when it comes to getting slim, being a robot her only option is having her armor and weapons removed leaving her body as just a robot skeleton, of course an obvious metaphor for anorexia. She's so weak that even the smallest member of the biker chicks gang kicks her butt easily.
 * Villain Team-Up ("The Legion of Evil")
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Killgo--the cutest thing ever!
 * Vexus in Queen Bee, even AFTER the school finds out that she's a villain.
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Played straight and lampshaded.
 * Wasn't That Fun?: Frequently uttered by Tuck.
 * Weirdness Magnet: Lampshaded hard in "Humiliation 101".
 * We Will Meet Again
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Armegedroid is on a mission to destroy all "weaponry" (and then presumably himself when he's done - maybe). Jenny doesn't have much of a problem with this, just that he's hurting people in the process.
 * What Happened To The Exo-Skin?
 * What Happened To Melody?
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Brad's response when Jenny  tries to prove Melody is secretly evil. Also when she attacks one of two groups of alien visitors not realizing Beauty Is Bad.
 * And in "Escape From Cluster Prime" when everybody in Tremerton, including Dr. Wakeman, calls her out for accidentally ruining a parade while stopping a bad guy.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Generally played straight, although it's usually only Jenny who has the power to invoke this trope at all in the show.
 * Wheel of Pain: When first informed about the Cluster, we see humans chained to this, apparently to power some kind of Ice Cream Parlor for robots.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Tuck.


 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: One of Jenny's love interests had Phobia to Technology.
 * Wild Teen Party
 * Wingding Eyes: Wisteria's glasses turn into mod and psychadelic symbols sometimes.
 * Wire Dilemma: Subverted in "Escape From Cluster Prime".
 * Word of God: It's probably a great comfort to many shippers that Rob Renzetti said in an interview that he and his team would've loved to see Sheldon and Jenny as a couple.
 * Written Sound Effect
 * Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Himcules' speech pattern, which may or may not have been a calculated insult.
 * You and What Army?
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Jenny.
 * You Just Had to Say It
 * Younger Than They Look: Jenny looks and thinks like a teenager, but it's been pointed out she was born/made five years ago.
 * Of course, one episode required her to return to kindergarten because she's technically five years old.
 * ...which she escapes on a technicality because she was designed sixteen years previously.
 * Your Brain Won't Be Much of a Meal: Trope Namer
 * Zeerust: This show is deliberately drawn in a very old fashioned sixtes futuristic way.