Robo Speak: Difference between revisions

 

Compare [[Spock Speak]]. See also [[Pick Your Human Half]].

{{examples}}

 

* Subverted and deconstructed in ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' where Section 9's main robot assistants are The Tachikomas who speak and act a lot like little girls outside their professionalism on duty. They eventually come to the conclusion that humans intentionally program robots to Robo Speak to avoid empathizing with them. At which point the Tachikomas start deliberately speaking and acting more robotic around Major Kusanagi so that she'll like them more.

* In ''[[FLCL]],'' the robotic version of {{spoiler|Naota's father}} begins speaking normally, except that he puts pauses in odd places and sounds somewhat emotionless. As he continues talking, however, his voice becomes much more stuttery, the pitch varies wildly and the dialogue becomes almost nonsense.

* The [[Magic Wand|Devices]] in ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]'' combines this with [[Surprisingly Good English]] and [[Gratuitous German|German]].

*** Except when she's [[Motor Mouth]]ing machine code due to a viral infection. And when she's saying debug information after Accelerator messes up the virus' code enough for her to think it's corrupted and reset herself.

** Her pactio scene hasn't been dubbed yet, but chances are that she'll sound as emotional as she looks in that part of the manga.

* Father Tres, an android in ''[[Trinity Blood]]'', speaks this way, including using "Positive" for "Yes" & "Negative" for "No", and having little to no inflection. Preferred method of attack: [[More Dakka|a fusillade of bullets]] from [[Guns Akimbo]].

* An interesting example, [[Robot Girl]] Aiko in ''[[Magical Pokaan]]''. Her speech is perfectly normal, until episode 4, wherein a malfunction causes her to realistically stutter and repeat words, along with a very low buzz, similar to wet speakers. Seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQCTzDTxtXE#t=2m26s here].

{{quote|"If you're just going to siiiiiiit there, -it there, at least help me bring in laundry ple-please. ....Wha-a-at's wrong? You-ou guys?"}}

 

== Comic Books ==

** When he goes to his "Rising" [[Super Mode]], the driver turns it into ''four syllables.'' RI-I-SING-GU! You know you've got a bad case if it takes a viewer a while to realize that the device is actually speaking English. And ''so many [[Kamen Rider]]'' computer voices speak in [[Gratuitous English]], but in [[Surprisingly Good English|an understandable enough manner]] that they few words they get are coherent ("[[Kamen Rider Ryuki|Final Vent!]]" "[[Kamen Rider 555|Standing by. ... Complete]]."

* ''[[The Late Late Show]]'''s Geoff Peterson. Overlaps with [[Stylistic Suck]] since he tends to keep repeating the ''same'' phrase or two throughout the monologue leading the viewer to assume "he" can only be programmed to store a few phrases at a time.

 

== Video Games ==

* While not exactly monotone, E-102 Gamma from ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'' does sound calm at all times. He talks to himself a fair amount, and while this doesn't hinder him at all, it doesn't make much sense, outside of letting players and viewers in on his data processes. Oh yeah, and stock phrases: "Insufficient data." "Does not compute." "Accessing data."

** E-123 Omega from ''[[Sonic Heroes]]'', on the other hand, gets an angry monotone, but better lines ("WORTHLESS CONSUMER MODELS!").

* The security robots in ''[[Deus Ex]]'' use this trope. Their dialogue seems to consist of only a few phrases, two -- "Scanning area" and "Target acquired" the most commonly-heard. (In the case of the bigger bots, which shake the ground with each step, "scanning area" at least is not necessarily counterproductive, but it is redundant.)

* The mechanoids in ''[[Thief]] II''. Particularly creepy in that, when idling or patrolling, they spout religious phrases.

* The turrets in ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' use a version of robo speak in an adorable female voice. "Are. You. Still. There?" "Nap. Time." "Put. Me. Down." "I. Don't. Hate. You." GLaDOS also uses a very robotic sounding computerized voice up until the final battle, after you remove her [[Morality Chip|Morality Core]].

* Robo of ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' speaks more formally than the human characters, and his text boxes are accompanied by an electronic noise, implying Robo Speak. Doesn't stop him from being a lovable character, though.

* ''[[Disgaea]]'': BEEP BEEP Thursday fits this trope BEEP BEEP

** [[Mother 3]] used the same strategy as its predecessor, in the few instances where you got to talk to robots. However, the unofficial English translation has them speaking in straight ALLCAPS, with no onomatopoeia.

* Illusion's H-game ''Artificial Girl 3'' has a variety of personalities the player can assign to a girl he creates, one of them ([[Emotionless Girl|the N type]]), has some Robo Speak lines like "Preparing to rest... shutting down... complete." and "Probability of pregnancy: 10%", the game even has the option of giving her [[Unusual Ears|robotic ears]] to fill the role better.

* Fracktail in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]''. As well as a few references to bad translations in Nintendo's past, it pretty much speaks like a malfunctioning Windows operating system, using all manner of computer speak with semi puns. ''404 Computer Hamsters Not Found!'' and ''C:/ run query identification C:/ run insult generator C:/ results: go away yeti-lip!'' being some memorable examples.

** Similarly, the Robot Peach Castle speaks in incredibly stilted Robo Speak. ''ACTIVATE BLACK HOLE ENDGAME!'' and ''BOO SYSTEM ONLINE! INVISIBILITY FIELD NOW OPERATIONAL! ENEMY EVASIVE MANEUVERS NULL!'' being a few funny examples.

* ''[[Dystopia (video game)|Dystopia]]'' plays this for laughs. The heavies are actually human cyborgs, but they use Robo Speak and make jokes related to their more robotic tendencies.

* Malco in ''[[Cave Story]]'' SPEAKS ENTIRELY IN UPPERCASE LETTERS. So do other NPC robots which aren't [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]].

* While not exactly a robot, Chaos Lord Ledgermayne of ''[[Adventure Quest Worlds]]'', who is a being made of living magic, speaks calmly and coolly in a computerized fashion. And that's not all, it also refers to itself as "we" or as "this form". It's kind of like a magi-borg!

{{quote|'''Ledgermayne''': This form complies with the master's wishes.}}

* The classic NES game ''[[Bionic Commando]]'' featured a boss robot that would begin the battle with the statement: "PI PI PI... WE HAVE FOUND AN INTRUDER... WE ARE GOING TO ATTACK"

* The Soldier of ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' takes part in this when you equip his full Halloween set, going "beep boop", or even half-assing it and just saying "Robot noises"

 

== Western Animation ==

** "Robo-Puppy preparing to lick cheek. Robo-Puppy commencing cheek-licking. Licking in progress. Licking complete."

** And the robot at the pizza place who speaks in a New York accent, but when Fry asks for anchovies on his pizza the robot responds in Robo Speak.

* In ''[[Invader Zim]],'' GIR tends to use a rather brusque and aggressive variant of Robo Speak in "Serious Mode"—and talks like a [[Genki Girl|little girl on a sugar rush]] when his normal self. His former speech pattern may be from the fact that his better-constructed counterparts, SIRs, talk this way, being part of a warrior race and all.

* Of all the robot characters on ''[[Transformers]]'', Megatron's toady Soundwave was the only Robo-Speaker, despite the fact that he transforms into a tape player, and would be expected to have an even firmer grasp of sound than the other characters—he even frequently says "By your command," a Cylon [[Catch Phrase]]. Even his subordinates, who transform into the tapes he deploys from his chest, are more articulate; at least, those who aren't animals. Primitive Cybertronians with little intelligence tend to sound more like cavemen than Cylons (see the Dinobots, or any combiner team). On the other end of the scale, Autobots Jazz and Blaster not only eschew Robo Speak, but were virtually [[Jive Turkey|jive]] characters, complete with large slang vocabularies.

** Omega Supreme talked in robo-speak, but this was [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that his mind was damaged in a failed attempt by Megatron to reprogram him as a Decepticon. This left him emotionally stunted, and this was reflected in his speech patterns. He ''could'' speak normally, with effort, but rarely chose to.

"End. Transmission." }}

* The Berbils from ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]''.

 

== Real Life ==