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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Robots Are Cool

You know what I think are generally under appreciated in comics?

Robots.

Be they big or small, boxy or humanoid, scary or cute, faceless cannon fodder or a lead character.

There's just something so quintessentially comic book (or bad B-movie) about robots. No comic can't be made better by the presence of a robot.

I suppose a cyborg will do in a pinch. But it's got to be a pretty tight pinch. (And have you ever seen a non angsty/broody cyborg? It's like getting metal parts requires you to mope or something, yeesh.)

I think my favorite android character is probably Spartan from WildCATS. Mostly because he blew up in almost every issue and that amused the hell out of me. Then he started taking over the world via benevolent corporate mastermindery and I didn't really understand what was going on so much, but I had fun reading it.

I'm also particularly fond of Hourman III/Tyler. And Fury's many multitude of LMDs. LMDs are the ultimate awesome cannon fodder in my opinion.

So what about you guys? What robots do you like best?

posted by kalinara @ 5:31 AM  

16 Comments:

  • At August 30, 2007 5:59 AM, Blogger LurkerWithout said…

    Red Tornado
    BOB from The Black Hole
    post Nextwave Aaron Stack
    K-9
    Bender

    Oh and the sarcastic little dude from the Buzz Lightyear cartoon. XR I think...

     

  • At August 30, 2007 6:51 AM, Blogger Dogma Central said…

    L-RON!

     

  • At August 30, 2007 8:20 AM, Blogger Tom Bondurant said…

    Awesome Andy!

     

  • At August 30, 2007 9:17 AM, Blogger joncormier said…

    Pneuman, then again that's probably because I just read a bunch of Tom Strong recently.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 10:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I like it whenever Captain America has to fight a Nazi Sleeper robot. The finest German technology can't face up to Steve Rogers PUNCHING THE HELL OUT OF IT.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 10:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    The Vision...as well as the fact that he's an upgraded version of the original Human Torch. He was way ahead of the Reduce/Reuse/Recycle bandwagon.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 10:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    M-11, the Human Robot.
    Aaron Stack, and Bender as said before.

    Of course, for every rule (in this case, that Cyborgs aren't as good)
    there is an exception:
    Men call him ROM, greatest of the spaceknights.

    Sure, he angsts, but not quite as much as vision, red tornado and pre Nextwave Machine Man.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 10:58 AM, Blogger googum said…

    Y'know, even though it was only for a couple panels in "Rock of Ages," I thought a reprogrammed Amazo was a really good idea. It seemed earnest enough, while Green Arrow's screaming "We're gonna die!" behind him; but sadly his program glitched out or caught Anti-Life or something.

    Spartan? Well, there may be something to be said for a completely disposable teammate. But wasn't Voodoo using him for, um, other stuff?

     

  • At August 30, 2007 11:14 AM, Blogger SallyP said…

    L-Ron of course. Gosh I miss L-Ron.

    Skeets is fun, I'm glad that he's not evil anymore.

    Aaron Stack is just hilarious. AND darned attractive.

    Dammit, I miss Max! Who wouldn't like a slightly crazed, mind-controlling cyborg with control issues? I STILL maintain, that it wasn't really Max that Wonder Woman twisted the head off of. Can DC have LMD's? Yes, that's what it was...and LMD.

    You must also admit that Ultron is rather on the badassed side. A robot with an Oedipus complex is something out of the ordinary.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 12:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'd have to say the first incarnation of Machine Man and Robot from "Lost in Space."
    WM

     

  • At August 30, 2007 1:04 PM, Blogger Will Staples said…

    I like Red Tornado when Brad Meltzer isn't making him all emo. I wish they'd play up his connections for the JSA, actually -- maybe even make him a reservist.

    And Skeets! I love that little guy! Especially 'cause he's voiced by Billy West.

    "I would like your autograph, sir!"

    "Shut up, Skeets."

     

  • At August 30, 2007 2:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What robots don't I love? Robot from Lost in Space is a particular favorite, though.

    And I have to say, I know people think he's irritating, but I also like Twiki. My favorite was the Buck Rogers episode where Twiki got a girlfriend who looked pretty much like him but instead of "beedy beedy beedy" said, in a girly voice, "booty booty booty." Seriously.

    In comics, I'm a big fan of the severely underused Ameridroid, the 20-foot-tall Captain America robot with a Nazi brain. Tony Stark's Thorbot ain't got nothing on him.

    I also like the Super-Adaptoid and Amazo, who are really pretty much the same robot. And the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android is pretty . . . well, pretty awesome.

    But this robot pretty much takes the cake. Also, it takes your camera. For smashing purposes.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 5:03 PM, Blogger Michael May said…

    I tend to like clunky robots who are perfectly happy just being robots (as opposed to ones that look human or want to be human).

    Ironically, the Human Robot from Agents of Atlas is where it's at right now.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 5:03 PM, Blogger Michael May said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     

  • At August 30, 2007 7:20 PM, Blogger Marc Burkhardt said…

    The Metal Men of course!

    Hopefully, the new mini-series will remove the focus from the boring Will Magnus to the much more interesting title characters.

    We want to learn more about Copper!

     

  • At August 31, 2007 1:10 AM, Blogger Ragtime said…

    Not comics, but "Marvin the Paranoid Android" was my first robot love.

     

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