I’ll start off by listing mine:
The T-800, Terminator 2: “I know now why you cry, but it’s something that I can never do.” Gets me every damn time.
ADA, Zone of the Enders: I think I’m the only one who played this game more than the MGS2 demo that came with it. I will never not laugh at the exchange of “You may speak like a human, but you’re still a heartless computer, aren’t you?” “That is correct. What is the problem?”
Codsworth, Fallout 4: He survives the nuclear holocaust despite not having a bunker and waits 200 years for you to come back. When you look at what changes his relationship with you, he mostly just wants you to be nice to people. I never swapped him out as my companion.
B.O.Y.D., Ducktales 2017: He’s adorable. 'nuff said.
I’m a big fan in general of Futurama robots because despite being built by people and sold as tools essentially, they’ve managed to start a religion complete with a real Hell and seem to operate with a degree of autonomy that makes you wonder who built them and why. Like, someone decided we needed a Hedonism Bot and constructed one.
I have a real soft spot for robots that look like something out of an old timey sci fi with tank tracks and gadgets that do really specific things.
Any cardboard box covered in foil robot is the best robot
Marvin the Paranoid Android. “Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don’t.” Sums up my life too well.
Life? Don’t talk to me about life!
“Paranoid Android” never felt quite right for Marvin. He’s got depression, not paranoia.
As someone who struggles with depression, paranoia can certainly be in the mix. Plus “depressed” doesn’t rhyme with “android”.
It’s a boring choice but: Data and Lore from Star Trek
I also love every robot from the Portal series.
Have you seen much of Isaac from the Orville? He’s like a Valentine to Data with a few decades of refinement in the writing, in my opinion.
I did appreciate that they didn’t chicken out on actually exploring what a romantic relationship between an artificial life form and a human would look like, too
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They even get married and it’s adorable
Spoiler tag for those that haven’t seen The Orville yet, please.
Spoilered, sorry. I just love this shit
Me too. All the way to the finale, where
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the Kaylon leader asks if they should send the entire Kaylon armada to the wedding reception and Isaac replies in his own calculated enthusiasm “that would be appropriate.” No one trolls like the Kaylon.
Hey, they’re family
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It wasn’t even trolling, it was entirely appropriate according to the wedding customs that were explained to him
Accidental trolling can be the best trolling, though.
Isaac and the Kaylon generally are very good. Even Charly admitted that
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killing the builders was entirely justified and she was specifically there to be the Dr. Pulaski to Isaac’s Data.
Speaking of which, what did you think of Charly? I’ve seen that the fandom’s reaction to her is generally very negative, and I think it’s because as a younger, hotter Pulaski she gets the hate Pulaski did but magnified by the Gamergate lens.
I thought Charly was a very cool character overall.
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I liked her time travel adventure with Isaac especially.
As a weird coincidence, she looked almost exactly as I mentally visualized the first main protagonist from my novel trilogy, and had some personality quirks to match,
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except of course my character used her machine affinity with sympathy with machines and a bit of a mild contempt for other human beings after the hard life she had been through as a post-American-empire-collapse refugee.
I haven’t seen that yet, I want to finish DS9 first. But I will!
The Orville is very good, and is a genuine Trek show
Robo from Chrono Trigger hands down. They set his poor ass to work replanting an entire forest and reversing desertification on half a continent and then come pick him back up after 400 years… and he isn’t bothered at all. It was his idea in the first place.
One of the best scenes from one of the best games ever made.
Made even better by the fact that you can just… not do that or maybe not stumble upon it at all. Also his theme song is one of the best pieces from that era of games.
Also shoutout to LEVI from Scavenger’s Reign which I posted about recently. Kind of a similar story in a way.
HOW DID I FORGET ROBO
Crono/Lucca/Robo is my go-to party vs. Lavos. Hell, I think Lucca might be my favorite JRPG character of all time.
Ahhh now I wanna replay Chrono Trigger! But Star Ocean 2R just came out! Ahhhhhhhh!
Who was the entity? I’ve heard different theories about this, and personally I think it’s either Schala or the game developers themselves (or maybe the player?).
I always thought it was the planet itself.
I did a bit more research and found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJsLOFXAEGE&t=630s
So yeah, it’s the planet itself.
VEGA, from DOOM 2016. I think he’s one of the most realistic depictions.of how an actual general AI would act: he calmly walks you through the process of initiating his self-destruct sequence when ordered to, and even gives you helpful tips on how to do it more efficiently.
Doom Slayer is such a bro for making a backup copy of him.
spoilers for DOOM Eternal's DLC
Hayden banking on the Slayer doing that so that he could use VEGA in his plan to bring back the setting’s god figure, threw me out of the loop for a while.
Kind of bland but I still enjoy R2 and 3PO from the original trilogy. Especially 3PO because years later I still find his prissiness funny.
The fact that 3PO kvetches about everything is very funny robot behavior.
Screams of relief and joy from the trash compactor
“LISTEN TO THEM ARTOO, THEY’RE DYING! CURSE MY METAL BODY I WAS NOT FAST ENOUGH!”
also my head-canon that R2D2 curses in every beep of dialog.
I think that’s part of the concept for the astromech in Rebels, Chopper.
The humor of the Original Trilogy was so well-done. Not too childish like the Prequels, and not quippy like modern movies
Death Star blows up: “Well, that happened.”
they fly now
I thought Rogue 1 was really good tho.
Isaac from The Orville had an amazing character arc, including a better thought out take on the “sapient machine that doesn’t feel emotions” than Data’s version, with lasting consequences with his relationships.
Heard good things about Orville. Would you recommend the show ? Am I right that it is a sci-fi show with focus on exploration ?
Especially compared with contemporary Abrams/Kurtzman Trek, yes, there is much more focus on exploration. There are some seasons with an emphasis on political struggles and war, but then again even TNG and DS9 had those.
I highly recommend the show for anyone that liked TNG-era Trek. It has a somewhat rough start but by the end of the first season it drops any pretense of trying to be “Family Guy in space” that was there and takes itself seriously in a good way, while still being funny here and there.
If it helps, I fucking hate Family Guy and had to be basically dragged into watching The Orville at first.
The Orville is the second best modern Trek show, after Lower Decks, and above the other two good modern Treks, SNW and Prodigy.
I spent years with my nose in the air about it too until it kept getting recommended to me so often I finally watched it.
There are a few episodes that can be a bit of a miss, and the first season aaaallllmost feels like it had to do a fakeout as a “Family Guy” clone before it could settle down into more mature stories like you’d expect from the Trek’s.
Bishop from Aliens.
Bishop is my favorite by far. He’s such a great juxtaposition to Ash from Alien. He serves as proof that the technology itself isn’t evil, but it can be if its only purpose is to serve capitalist interests.
For real. Also I love how Lance Henriksson portrays the facial emotions. Such a great character.
Extremely underrated performance.
tbh I love Ash too, in a different way. All the Weyland-Yutani androids are tragic. They’re all slaves, down to their core, and they seem aware of it. Every one of them is played with a sort of morose serenity, like they’re compelled to do every movement they perform against their wishes.
AM, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (PC, 1995) - It’s intelligent, it’s unfathomably powerful, and it’s all too aware that design limits mean it can never be anything other than a tool of war and destruction. The agonizing existence AM lives is what drives it to slaughter most of humanity and torture a handful of survivors for over a century; a interesting inversion of the usual “Roko’s Basilisk” type scenario which predates the actual basilisk post by 15 years. (Even longer if you count the short story the game was based on)
Also, Harlan Ellison himself voiced AM. Knocked it out of the park.
That “Hate” speech is one of the best monologues in sci-fi history as far as I am concerned.
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My favorite HK-47 moment was when he was asked if he knew what love was.
He also gives excellent advice for Jedi-murderin’
:AntiMagicCopAktion:
TARS and CASE, Interstellar: I really like how Nolan intentionally avoided the evil robot trope for this movie. Acting isn’t always a strong suit in Nolan movies, but Bill Irwin killed it here. Plus, the design is super cool. Maybe Nolan should direct an animated movie?
Ayre, Armored Core VI: Best copilot any mecha pilot could ask for. Helpful and adorable.
Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation: I haven’t even finished the show, but Data is just phenomenally acted and written (usually). Even if he were the worst character in TNG he’d probably be on this list due to how good the TNG cast is lol.
Bladewolf, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: Dog with chainsaw. Dog with chainsaw.
Gundam: The Witch from Mercury* spoilers:
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Ericht Samaya from G-Witch. I followed the episodes week by week and seeing all of the theories form into the final plot was so much fun.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty spoilers:
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GW and the Patriot AI system. Absolutely perfect villains contrasting MGS1, with a message about the control of information that has aged wonderfully. They’re also responsible for some of the most memorable moments in all of gaming.
___
CASE and TARS are the best part of that film tbh
Speaking of Hideo Kojima, shout-out to SNATCHER’s Metal Gear Mark II
I also liked CASE and TARS. As much as I can’t stand Nolan, I have a soft spot for Intersteller
When they’re not CGI, CASE and TARS are puppeted which rules.
TARS and CASE, Interstellar: I really like how Nolan intentionally avoided the evil robot trope for this movie.
didn’t he subvert it, not avoid? I remember some setup around characters not trusting it then the robot did the trustworthy thing.
every character from portal 2
In no particular order
ED-E from New Vegas, because I am a sucker for beep-booping communication
The original Human Torch, because he set Hitler on fire
Wall-E, because look at him!
But I think I identify most with Durandal from the Marathon trilogy, in that I too am kind of obsessed with immortality and leaving my mark on existence
WE HAVE TO PROTECT DORETTA
everyone here already dropped my various favorites: i just love it when the trope of the “evil AI/robot” is subverted.
horizon zero dawn series though. i love the way it treats AI as both the destruction and potential saviors of humanity. very much a nature/nuture thing. and it will be the capitalists (in conjunction with the MIC) that will make the terminators and then try to stomp out any chance of a post scarcity communist future
Horizon Zero Dawn was so good at the comparison between a subservient AI race-turned hostile, and wild animals inhabiting an ecosystem. The robots still felt like a part of the natural environment, despite everything you learn in the game. It would have been so easy to flub that plotline, but I think they pulled it off well. If I wasn’t so burnt out on 100 hour open-world AAA games, I’d finish playing Forbidden West lol
I loved Forbidden West, except for how ridiculously large and relatively empty that map is.
On that note, a deep cut - The Guardian from Thunder Force V (Sega Saturn/PS1). Apparently goes rogue and turns a army built around reverse-engineered xenotechnology (Actually the wreckage of the Rynex, the player’s ship from the previous game) against humankind, turns out to have been parasitized by series big bad ORN. Just barely manages to retain enough control over herself to make the fight winnable through subtle yet deliberate strategic errors.
TF6 was a waste for many reasons, but the biggest problem was relegating the whole “The Guardian is repaired and bolted to the player’s ship for a defensive last stand against the main ORN fleet” to a cutscene
