Robotboy is a French/British/American/Luxembourgish co-produced animated television series which is produced by French production company Alphanim with TV Channels France 3 and Cartoon Network as well as Luxanimation. It was created and designed by Jan Van Rijsselberge and was directed in Alphanim's studio in Paris by Charlie Bean. It was first aired in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2005 on Cartoon Network. The pilot episode premiered in the United States on 5 August 2005 as part of a "sneak peek" preview week for the network's new Saturday morning cartoon lineup that debuted on 14 January 2006. The series is still running to this day in the United Kingdom but is no longer shown in the US.
Plot
Robotboy is the latest creation of the world-renowned scientist Professor Moshimo. Due to fears that Robotboy would be stolen by his arch-enemy Dr. Kamikazi and his main henchman Constantine to be used to take over the world, Professor Moshimo entrusts Robotboy to 10-year-old Tommy Turnbull,[1] his biggest fan. While being protected by Tommy and his two friends Lola and Gus, or "G-Man" as he calls himself, Robotboy learns how to behave and act as if he were a real boy while occasionally battling Dr. Kamikazi and Constantine who sought out to capture him.
Characters
- Robotboy - The robot title character of the series is best friends with Tommy Turnbull. Robotboy has three modes: deactivated, activated, and superactivated.
- Tommy Turnbull - A blond, square-headed boy and Robotboy's 10-year-old[1] owner and human best friend. He is smart, responsible, sensitive, likable and acts as a mentor to Robotboy. Tommy tries to teach Robotboy the ways of the world through his eyes
- Augustus "Gus"/"G-Man" Turner - Gus is overweight, weak-willed and selfish. He loves playing pranks on people (but most of the time they go wrong) and boasting about many skills that he claims to have... but obviously doesn't. Despite all that, Gus is one of Tommy’s best friends." .
- Lola Mbola - 10-year-old Lola is the confident and smart daughter of a rich African ambassador. She can fly jet planes and control speedboats despite her age, and is secretly in love with Tommy (but would be devastated if he ever found out)."
- Robotgirl - A super fighting robot just like Robotboy, who was introduced in the episode of the same name "Robot Girl" and her last appearance was in "The Return of Robotgirl". She quickly made good friends with Robotboy and was only seen superactivated twice, both times in episode "Robotgirl". In the first place, she had to be convinced by Moshimo to use her ultimate powers, otherwise she would never see her friends again. In "The return of Robotgirl" she was brought back to Tommy with a distress message by Moshimo, she could not be activated until she was repaired by Tommy and she suffered from a major memory loss, but was convinced by Lola to use her emotions in favour of the kids' team. In the end she was defeated in a fight against Protoboy and then was saved by Robotboy.
- Dr. Kamikazi - A small old man with thick glasses and a suit/bathrobe combo who is a self-proclaimed evil genius and the main antagonist of the show. He wishes to capture Robotboy to create a template for an army of super robots, with which he will be able to achieve his dastardly goal of world domination. Most of his henchmen have a large letter K on their uniforms, to show that they are on Dr. Kamikazi's side. He has had many pets, ranging from snakes to cats, but they usually hurt him.
- Constantine - A fat hunchbacked hitman of Dr. Kamikazi who also is a master of sumo wrestling (though it is unknown if he has ever been a yokozuna, or "grand champion"). He is a sensitive and none too threatening sidekick to Dr. Kamikazi who mainly acts as his muscle power as well as his assistant. Constantine is also a refined chef, being able to create dishes ranging from Sashimi to tapas. It was mentioned in some episodes that Constantine used to be an orphan before working for Kamikazi. Despite looking like a Japanese version of a hitman, Constantine is actually Spanish, suggesting that his outfit is simply a uniform assigned to him by Dr. Kamikazi.
- Donnie - Tommy's older Brother and secondary archenemy, he is a constant bully to every child in the neighborhood, including Gus and Tommy himself. He frequently calls people names, threatens them etc., and yet despite this, Tommy still treats him as family. Some people exploit his attitude for their benefit, usually Dr. Kamikazi. His bullying backfires in the third season after Robotboy tortures him when he decides to play hooky from school in order to humiliate and possibly destroy Robotboy.
- Kurt - A sadistic bully at Tommy's school, he has blonde hair and wears a hat. He constantly bullies Gus and Tommy, as well as any other kid he finds. His dad is a spy who has used Kurt to try and capture Robotboy. Tommy sometimes has outsmarted Kurt and his cronies by outwitting them, usually with Robotboy.
- Björn Bjornson - An evil boy who is about Tommy's age and claims to be a greater genius than professor Moshimo. He has his own prototype robot named Brother Björn orBjorn-Bot. Both were first introduced in the episode of the same name - "Brother Björn". Their mission is to destroy Moshimo's creation - Robotboy, so Bjorn-Bot would remain the only fighting robot in the world.
- Protoboy - Robotboy's evil brother, who was created by Moshimo in his earlier years, but later stolen by young Kamikazi and Constantine and turned too evil to control. He was then forcibly deactivated by Constantine and stored in a large storage room inside of Kamikazi's quarters in Kaziland until he was saved by Robotboy. His first appearance was in episode "Brother", but he returned in episode "The Old Switcharobot" and was later permanently destroyed by Robotboy in "The Return of Robotgirl" - the last episode of the series. He also has the ability to superactivate just like Robotboy, but the cannon built into his left arm is static and cannot be switched with an arm or another weapon. Robotboy was seen superactivated in Protoboy's body in "The old swticharobot" but his cannon was damaged because Protoboy (in Robotboy's body) had removed some of its parts prior to the body switch.
- Klaus von Affenkugel - Affenkugel lives a life that is blessed and cursed. He is obscenly wealthy to the degree he has his own form of currency. He lives in a large castle and could afford to buy the very best of everything. Yet desires the one thing his money cannot truly buy, a strong body. Affenkugel now dedicates his money to capturing Robotboy so he can use his robot parts as power armour for himself.
- Ludwig - After being bullied by both kids and squirrels, Klaus went near a zoo, where a missing ape, Ludwig, decided to protect him and give him company. He is a large ape who serves as the assistant to Klaus at all times.
- Felonious Hexx - Is a magician. He wowed the crowd with incredible feats of secretly real magic. However Gus, being his usual self, was not impressed with the show no matter how amazed the rest of the audience was, and contiunually jeered, insulted and mocked the otherwise brilliant magician. This lead Hexx to become angry and lash-out with his magic.Which after a scuffle with Robotboy got him fired from his job and kept him from black balled from performing ever again. From then on, Hexx became Gus's archrival.