Atomic Robo: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote| '''''[[Nazi Nobleman|Baron]] [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Heinrich von]] [[Arch Enemy|Helsingard]]:''' Are we not both men of [[Large Ham|SCIENCE]]??''<br />

 

Atomic Robo is a comic about, well, Atomic Robo, a robot built by [[Nikola Tesla]] in the 1920s. Given citizenship by the US government in exchange for missions against [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Nazis and other similar scumbags]], he later started TeslaDyne, a high tech organization devoted to fighting really weird evil and advancing human knowledge. Along with his elite team of Action Scientists, he travels the world (and further) fighting things on the fringes of human knowledge.

There are six complete volumes so far, and a seventh will begin in June 2012. Every year on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Comic_Book_Day Free Comic Book Day], a new short story is released. In addition to these, a parallel series called ''Real Science Adventures'' has been started as of 2012, with each issue containing several new stories, either one-shots or multi-parters. A short animated film, ''Atomic Robo: Last Stop'', was at first [[Development Hell|expected to be released in the first half of 2011]]. It seems that it'll be [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZrKE2MT0o coming out in 2012].

 

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Tropes used include:

 

* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]

"But do ''they'' know that?"<br />

"Probably not, no." }}

* [[Anachronic Order]]: The story readily jumps around from any time period to another in Robo's decades of exploits. Sometimes the background or resolution to a story will not be shown until a few volumes later.

* [[Animated Adaptation]]: [http://thefictory.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Fictory-Atomic-Robo-Last-Stop-Press-Release.pdf In the works]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZrKE2MT0o Have a trailer]!

** There's also Dr. Dinosaur (a super-stupid dinosaur scientist opposing a super-intelligent robot scientist) and Undead Edison (who was the arch enemy of Robo's father).

** Basically, Helsingard is Robo's most frequent and dangerous enemy (Robo calls him "an unparalleled genius"), Doctor Dinosaur is his most humiliating (since he is stupid and yet manages to continuously outwit Robo), and Edison is Robo's oldest and most personal (Robo even calls him "[his] greatest enemy"). Based on what little we have seen, [[Stephen Hawking]] is either another one or simply [[The Rival]].

* [[Badass Normal]]: Jenkins in Volume 1 (and a backup story in Volume 2), who has survived the Vampire Dimension, blown up an ancient Egyptian monster while the others were debating what to do with it, crippled the Big Bad's giant robot body, and killed an entire crime cartel (including an ''entire beach full of armed people'') while sent on an enforced vacation to unwind. Also, James Milligan in Volume 2, essentially a Scottish Jenkins in WWII as part of the British Royal Commandos.

** And with regards to invading Vampires, "[[Watchmen (Comic Book)|Oh no, we're not trapped in here with them. They're trapped in here with Jenkins.]]"

* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: It's revealed in Volume 5 that the {{spoiler|''War of the Currents'' was a front for Thomas Edison's attempt to distill and bottle Von Reichenbach's Odic Force as an immortality drug using a Direct-Current "Odic Capacitor"}}. It [[Hoist By His Own Petard|didn't end too well]] for him.

* [[Big Bad]]

** You just ''know'' that the mysterious grumpy gentleman from the first issue of ''The Deadly Art of Science'' is going to be revealed as Edison, even before you actually see his face.

* [[Big Damn Kiss]]: {{spoiler|Helen and Robo's kiss in 5.3 gets an entire page.}}

* [[The Cameo]]: [[Word of God|According to Wegener]], many of the Action Scientists are based off real people, including [[Creator Cameo|the creators]]. [[Warbot in Accounting (Webcomic)|Zack Finfrock]] is among them. The '50s team was supposed to be based on [[Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia|The Gang]], but it got lost in the transition.

* [[Car Fu]]: Giant Ants? Just use Buicks!

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In ''The Ghost of Station X'': Robo calls Steve Jobs to complain about how his hands don't work on touchscreens. Later, he finds a smartphone that he can't use because of the same impediment.

** Also, his signature [[Revolvers Are Just Better|WWII revolver]] gets trashed {{spoiler|on re-entry}}, and he has his quartermaster repair it. The guy gives him an ''anti-materiel handgun'', which Robo later uses {{spoiler|to take out an Apache.}}

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Robo. He's a grumpy old man in the body of a super-strong robot.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: "What's this about a ''fifth'' cardinal direction?"

* [[Deface of the Moon|Deface Of Mars]]: STEPHEN HAWKING IS A BASTARD.

* [[Dem Bones]]: Undead Edison.

** {{spoiler|Note that ''none'' of this did anything to actually kill the monster. The only reason why it exploded after Robo did those things is because, in doing them, Robo had actually transported himself into the Shadow's [[Another Dimension|dimension of origin]]. There, the 4 versions of Robo set up a chain of events that enabled them to jury-rig a bomb to blow it up, retroactively dispelling it throughout history.}}

* [[DVD Commentary]]: Sort of. The website has pages of writer [[Brian Clevinger]] and artist Scott Wegener commenting on their issues over instant messenger ([http://www.atomic-robo.com/?p=187 here is the page for issue #1]), doing such things as mocking the early art, arguing over how Helsingard should have been more obviously not-Nazi and pointing out that [[Improperly Placed Firearms|they gave Germans English guns]].

* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: Subtly done: {{spoiler|Robo repeatedly accuses ALAN of not having helped humanity end the [[Cold War]], despite having the ability to do so. ALAN does not understand the question}}.

{{quote| ''To what end?''}}

* [[Five Token Band]]: Based on their names, the six primary Action Scientists (Alpha Team and Beta Team) are of German, African, Hawaiian, Indian, Chinese, and some kind of Germanic origins.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Lewis' comment about {{spoiler|how we're lucky Robo is morally upright}}.

'''Robo:''' You ''joined'' our ''newsletter!''<br />

'''Dr. Dinosaur:''' ''You can't prove that!'' }}

{{quote| '''Robo:''' You guys don't ''look'' like adventurers.<br />

'''Fort:''' Adventure was more a hobby. We're ''writers'', really. }}

* [[Gun Fu]]: [[The Gunslinger|Jack Tarot]] is an interesting case. His marksmanship looks nothing like this, but his aiming technique is an adapted form of "Zen Archery".

* [[Hand Cannon]]: Besides the Webley Mk VI Robo got in the 1930s and carried as his main gun for nearly eighty years, in Volume 6 his weapons technician gives him a custom made pistol described as an anti-material handgun. Soon afterwards, it proves its credentials by shooting down an attack helicopter.

** At the climax of Volume 5 we see {{spoiler|''Tesla'' flying and shooting [[Hand Blast|energy blasts]] with the help of a [[Clothes Make the Superman|minor rig]].}}

* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]:

* [[Kill All Humans]]: Ivan Koshchey, the villain of the 2008 Free Comic.

* [[Large Ham]]: Several examples:

** Helsingard, who can't resist making grand speeches about how he is definitely, absolutely, for sure this time going to kill Atomic Robo after seventy years of trying. And whose ''first appearance'' sets the tenor for pretty much all his other appearances. "'''Behold, the Helsingard!'''"

** Dr. Dinosaur. "Behold my mastery of the mammal haiku!"

** The device was seen in an earlier backup story. Edison used it to communicate with Rasputin's ghost. This is based on actual reports from the 1920s that Edison was working on just such a device.

* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: Robot mummies in a steam powered attack pyramid. With solar death rays.

** Recent ([[Anachronic Order|or not]]) developments suggest otherwise... a revision might be in order.

* [[Obviously Evil]]: The computer Robo's employees construct in Volume 3 Issue 5.

{{quote| "Computers that ''solve'' problems don't look like this. They're [[Boring but Practical|unassuming boxes on a desk. They're refrigerators without the exciting brand names.]] Computers that ''are evil'' have all kinds of unnecessary ornamentation. This thing's ''venting steam!'' Why's it doing that?"}}

* [[Our Monsters Are Different]]:

** [[Cyborg|Cyborgs]]

** [[Giant Enemy Crab]]

** [[Kaiju]]

* [[Pin Pulling Teeth]]: Jenkins uses his teeth to yank the pin out of a frag grenade while fighting the cyborgs in "Unearthed".

* [[Power Crystal]]: Dr. Dinosaur swears by these things. Robo is more skeptical about them.

{{quote| "When you return to your unobservable but empirically determined dimension of origin, tell them ''CARL SAGAN'' sent you."}}

* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Most of the Nazi soldiers.

** Robo is wearing a [[Nedroid|Beartato]] T-shirt in ''Ghost of Station X'' #4.

** In vol. 1, issue #5, Robo has a one-panel flashback to his last encounter with Heisengard, in 1985 France. In that flashback, he and his three Action Scientists are dressed like members of the G.I. Joe team; Robo has Chuckles's outfit on, while he's apparently got Roadblock, Scarlett, and Bazooka with him.

{{quote| '''Jack Tarot''': {{spoiler|after witnessing Tesla's thunder suit}}. ''It's official, we are'' '''out''' ''of our league''. }}

* [[Shown Their Work]]: It's not uncommon to see Brian blog or [[Twitter|tweet]] about doing research for upcoming issues.

* [[Stable Time Loop]]: Only it's not a time loop, because [[How Unscientific|time travel is obviously impossible.]]

{{quote| '''Robo:''' I met three future versions of myself who turned the lightning guns into a bomb using science they told me to invent.}}

* [[Those Two Guys|Those Two Idiots]]: Martin and Lewis.

* [[Time and Relative Dimensions In Space]]: The page quote comes from Robo's thorough debunking of time travel.

** The original title for the fourth series/volume was "Atomic Robo's Two-Fisted Science Tales". Scott Wegener has also mentioned that he and Clevinger play an unwritten "Atomic Robo: Two-Fisted Tales of Action Science" tabletop RPG.

* [[Translation Convention]]: When someone is speaking in a translated foreign language it's written <in angular brackets>.

* [[We Are Team Cannon Fodder]]: The Action Scientists aside from Jenkins turn into this during the Helsingard fight.

{{quote| '''Robo:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|Why do I even]] ''[[Lampshade Hanging|bring]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|Action Scientists?]] }}

** Thomas Edison's plan in 1931 was {{spoiler|to use New York as an antenna for his Odic Capacitor, and concentrate enough [[Life Energy]] into himself to become immortal. When the machine exploded, his consciousness got scattered across the Od, only pulling itself back together as a [[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghostly manifestation]] in 1999. When he finds that Robo's analysis inadvertently restored his corporeality (in part), he's [[Villainous Breakdown|not happy about it]]. He's later seen nostalgically returning to his historical estate, now a museum.}}

{{quote| ''You shouldn't have brought me back!''}}

* [[Write Who You Know]]: Examples include:

** Clevinger mentions that Robo (inevitably) ended up being based on his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Novosel grandfather].

** Example: moving a ''house'', intact, out of Bletchley Park, England, to Japan, via truck, boat and the sixth-ever-built Airbus Beluga (of which there are only 5), ''with no paper trail''.

{{quote| '''Lewis:''' The sheer bureaucratic gymnastics behind that are ''mind bending''.}}

{{quote| '''Lovecraft:''' See how it vainly cobbles together a string of sounds not unlike words?}}

 

[[Category:US Canadian Comics]]

[[Category:Atomic Robo]]