Become a Real Boy: Difference between revisions

Much as any protagonist generally works out any personal issues and neuroses they may have over the course of an otherwise unrelated story, any emotionally-stunted individual, or creature conventionally incapable of emotion, will discover what it means to be human in their journey alongside the other heroes. That this may defy their programming, their [[Our Souls Are Different|lack of a soul]], or other such assumed limits is entirely besides the point -- itpoint—it appears robots and clones are socialized like real people, only ''much'' faster.

* Despite ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]'' being frequently compared with Pinocchio, he himself rarely expresses a desire to become a real boy (which is somewhat ironic, considering he was originally a [[Replacement Goldfish]] for a real boy). In fact, on the few occasions he does get upgrades to become more human-like, he ends up regretting it and comes to the conclusion that being the best robot he can be is more important than being more like a human. This trope is played somewhat straight in the story of ''Zolomon's Jewel'' in the manga, which features L-44, a robot who signs up for a dangerous mission that ends up costing him his life because he wants to earn enough money to pay for a [[Nano MachineNanomachines|nanomachine]] treatment that will supposedly turn him into a human. Also subverted in that the villain of the piece is trying to steal the titular jewel so he can pay for an operation to become a cyborg.

* The [[Marvel Comics]] character, The Vision, has fluctuated in his emotional state many times over the years. Usually a writer will get him to nearly [[Become a Real Boy]] and a later one will reverse. Usually this is done by destroying the android's body and rebuilding him.

* The main character in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Bicentennial Man]]'' is a big exception -- theexception—the process of humanization takes decades.

* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s titular ''[[Stranger in Aa Strange Land]]'' suffered [[Parental Abandonment]] on Mars as the infant survivor of the first human exploratory mission. Having been [[Raised by Natives]] (who are [[Starfish Aliens]]), he has to learn everything from scratch to relate to humans when the next mission comes along, after he's already a grown man.

* Data from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' is an exception -- hisexception—his socialization takes place over the course of years and he clearly has great difficulty with it at times, yet eventually becomes an essentially human personality. In fairness, he was built to be that way.

* Subverted in the character of Seven of Nine from ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', who was born human, but assimilated by the Borg as a young girl (and her [[Parental Abandonment|parents were killed]] by the Borg). Many years later, as an adult drone, she is forcibly separated from the Borg Collective by the crew of ''Voyager'' and most of her cybertech implants removed against her will. She is told she is now safe and free and can be with her people again. Unfortunately, the Voyager crew doesn't grasp the fact that Seven (at least initially) thinks of the Borg as "her people". At one point Seven even asks Captain Janeway if she actually is allowed to ''choose'' between staying or going back to the Borg, and what if she tries to be human but later finds out she hates it? (It is made fairly clear that Seven will not allowed to return to the Borg even if she wished to do so.) Does this not make Janeway precisely the same as the Borg, abducting an individual and "[[Brainwashed|brainwashing]]" it? Janeway (and the script) evade the whole moral dilemma by simply pretending that Seven's initial wish to return to the Collective is merely due to her Borg drone programming, ergo she does not have free will and Janeway benevolently has to decide for her, but surely Seven will thank her later. Predictably Seven does eventually accept her new existence (after all, the Voyager crew are the [[Designated Hero|Designated Heroes]]es standing for freedom and individualism, while the Borg symbolize the evil of collectivism and fanaticism) and tries to simulate some human interpersonal emotions such as smiling (with mixed results), but in an interesting twist, Seven never feels entirely comfortable as a human and states that she has no desire to become fully human again, as she considers her nanite-augmented brain and body superior to those of humans and is currently exasperated with the emotionalism and "silliness" of other crewmembers. She feels she has more in common with the Vulcan officer Tuvok, [[The Spock|being coldly logical herself]]. Seven is one of the few characters who dare to openly criticise Janeway's decisions.

** And then there was {{spoiler|the sudden [[Last-Minute Hookup]] of Seven with Chakotay in the series finale}}, because apparently the writers decided Seven [[Become a Real Boy|couldn't possibly feel complete]] without a strong male shoulder to lean on.

* In an episode of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', Sarge needs to steal Andy the bomb from the Blue Team so that he can translate the orders from command Lopez has stored on his hard drive, which against all logic are in extremely poor Spanish, just like Lopez' regular speech. So what's he do? Gets Caboose to turn his back and then replaces Andy... with Lopez. Caboose turns around and joyously cries, "Andy! You've [[Become a Real Boy]]!" Lopez is not amused. When Sarge realizes the fundamental barriers presented by the laws of physics (i.e., the inability to interact with something that isn't there), he pulls the same stunt with Lopez and a skull. CABOOSE is not amused, and mourns Andy's "death".

* Practically every single robotic or otherwise artificial character in an [[RPG]] undergoes this process. The webcomic ''Adventurers!'' spoofed this trope -- abouttrope—about to be struck by a devastating attack, the character Spybot is told by the villain that he should be feeling terror, if he had learned emotions over the course of the adventure.

* Played with very dark humor in ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and& Mandy]]''. When [[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]] and the old guy are stuck in the whale, Billy is also eaten. The Old Guy, thrilled to have a human companion, begins to act as if Billy were his real son. [[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]], out of jealousy, decides that the only way to become a real boy, is to eat Billy, and get his [[Our Souls Are Different|soul]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

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