Atomic Robo Questions Thread

[The Evil Dr. Bolty]

Thought I'd make a thread for any miscellaneous questions about Robo.

One that I have, after reading Shadow from Beyond Time:

How good is Robo's memory? Does he have a photographic memory with perfect recall, photographic memory with imperfect recall, or a human-level memory?

[Kurosen]

Robo has slightly better than average memory.

We haven't gone into much detail about Robo's mental capacity, but he doesn't benefit from the usual suite of I'm A Robo Character traits. He isn't a walking calculator and he doesn't have a perfect memory.

What he does have is a brain that's permanently stuck in that stage of extreme intellectual curiosity and energy that peaks around the early to mid-twenties.

[Meister]

Does Robo have an accent when he speaks another language (which I'm just going to take for granted he's capable of)?

[Kurosen]

That's another thing we've not gone into. Robo has learned quite a few languages over the years. It takes time and effort, though, so he tends to put off learning a given language until after he has a reason to. You never see him speaking German in Vol 2 (1943-44), but he knows German in Issue 5 of Vol 1 (2005) because he picked it up after the war.

I would imagine he has an accent, though it probably depends on the language being spoken. Romance languages would be more strongly accented by his Latin, while German, for instance, would be more influenced by his English. His Japanese would have a Chinese quality because he learned Cantonese or Mandarin (don't remember which he knows) first. His Arabic is probably just atrocious.

[Green Spanner]

Were there any attempts to 'replicate' Robo?

I get the impression that it would be the kind of thing the US government, the USSR and Nazi Germany (among others) would do.

[Kurosen]

Yes.

The Communist Robot Army from FCBD 2008 and the Laufpanzers from Vol 2 were USSR and Nazi Germany answers to Robo. Neither attempt possessed Robo's intelligence, so maybe those don't count.

Edison made several attempts to build his own Robo. Some of those attempts involved plots to steal and dissect Robo.

[rpgdemon]

Were there any successes?

[Kurosen]

You'll find out!

[Green Spanner]

Ok, I got another one.

Do you have a definite ending for Robo planned for the very distant future or is it too early?

[EVILNess]

Does Robo rebuild his body every so often to take advantage of lighter/stronger material, and just to what extent is his body rebuildable? If so is he lighter or heavier that when he was first built?

[Kurosen]

Ok, I got another one.

Do you have a definite ending for Robo planned for the very distant future or is it too early?
We never plot stories that take place in the future, so there is no planned end.

Does Robo rebuild his body every so often to take advantage of lighter/stronger material, and just to what extent is his body rebuildable? If so is he lighter or heavier that when he was first built?
It's probably true that there isn't a single part of 1923 Robo left in 2010 Robo. He doesn't rebuild his whole body, but parts get repaired, replaced, or upgraded over time due to damage or progress. Robo is stronger and more durable in 2010 than in 1923, but of course weaponry is more advanced as well. Relative to the threats his faces, Robo's just keeping up with the sci-fi arms race.

His weight has remained relatively constant. Generally any savings in lighter/stronger materials is made up for somewhere else.

And he looks the same despite all these changes because he's quite vain.

[EVILNess]

In issue 4.1 was Robo wearing a Servbot shirt? Or maybe a Lego man head?

Also, on page 16 when Jenkins goes back for Miller I would like to point out that one of the vampires looks suspiciously like her.

[Kurosen]

Lego man.

[Arcon]

In atomic robo vol 4 issue 2 dr yumeno and robo have conversation about robo's ability to sing,dr yumeno seems sure robo can't, hence the question: Has robo been singing to a audience at some point and if so then why?

[Kurosen]

I'm going with Doc Yumeno having heard Robo do karaoke at some point.

[stefan]

I remember you saying at one point that Science Team Super Five were based on a specific (pre-PR) sentai team. Am I right in guessing that its bioman, or was it a different group entirely?

[Kurosen]

Diff'ernt.

[Carade]

Probably just me, but one of the Science Team Super Five members seemed to look like a goofier version of Thief.

Intentional?

[Kurosen]

Nope. His armor had to be Yellow to match the super sentai character he was inspired by. Scott decided he'd have blue hair because he's a Robotech nerd.

[Nique]

What is Robo's emotional capacity? Are there any issues that have explored his creation and/or exactly how his brain works?

I assume his brain works more like a normal human brain than your traditional android/ robot, as he can't always recall specific figures off the top of his head.

[Kurosen]

Robo has displayed a normal range of human emotions in the comics we've seen so far. We tend to see him expressing negative emotions, but that's not surprising since we tend to see him fighting things that wish him or others harm. He hasn't explicitly shown love, per se, but empathy for living things can be implied by his actions. Vol 5 will kinda sorta deal with love.

There's a text piece at the end of Vol 1 and another in Vol 2 that go into some detail about Robo's construction, but we've never explained how his brain works.

[The Evil Dr. Bolty]

How are Robo's neural functions affected by EMPs and similar electromagnetic phenomena? He didn't seem affected much by the electromagnet in the first FCBD comic, but then there were those anti-Robo bullets that Skorzeny used.

[Kurosen]

Short answer: they screw him up pretty bad. Thus, Robo has developed better shielding against EMP-like effects as the years go on.

By the modern day his defenses against them are pretty solid, but he's not immune to them.

Generally folks have had better luck using explosives against Robo. 1. they're cheaper and easier to get; 2. even if Robo is fundamentally unharmed by an explosion, it'll knock him around, or daze him, or pose a significant threat to human life and therefore distract him.

Good question!

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

This sounds silly but does Robo ever...sleep for lack of a better word

I remember in Vol 1 he says he doesn't have a shut down mode, but do his mental facilities decrease after long time activity.

[Kurosen]

Nope, he doesn't sleep.

Robo's only real mental superpower is that he's permanently locked in a state of peak intellectual curiosity, ability, and alertness. This is also something of a weakness, because he's easily bored as a result.

This is demonstrated in the Mars issue of Volume 1, which I suspect is where your confusion arises. His mental ability doesn't decrease over time, he just needs things to do or to read to keep from going crazy. Being locked up in a space coffin for eight months with no books or people to television is the exact opposite of that.

[Astrobot7000]

This isn't really a 'Robo' question, but does fall under the miscellaneous catagory of questions concerning Robo, so...

Do you see a piece of the profit if I buy the trade paper backs online? Obviously I don't mean if I buy it used from another person via ebay or amazon, but often times online retailers have sales and convenience that just can't be beat. However, I want to make sure what I am buying doesn't stiff you, as you gave me many years of great enjoyment with 8bit. So do you see a piece of that pie if I were to buy your comic online?

[Kurosen]

Yup. I get the same royalty from any non-used purchase regardless of its price.