"As a robot, I don't have human emotions and sometimes that makes me feel sad."
      -Bender B. Rodriguez

"If the robot is a single red light in a space ship, it's always gonna be evil."
I smell potential for trope subversion.

Human: "I hate you."
Robot: "But I am optimized for hugs..."
Give the robot a hug, dammit.

"*Only* depicting good autistic-coded characters as robots is bad" and "robots are freaking awesome and as an autistic person I think it's cool to be represented by them" are statements that absolutely can coexist. Signed, a fan of Zane Ninjago since season 1.

“Robots usually comes off as aromantic or asexual”
Japan: Hold my beer

Human: "Wow, you seem really human!"
Robot: "What do you mean?"
Human: "Well, you seem to understand pop culture references and human sexuality so well!"
Robot: "You do realize the internet is mostly memes and porn, right?"

"Robots are terrible at adapting"

Skynet: Okay, sending a terminator back in time to kill the leader of the resistance didn't work the first 10 times so we need a new plan...
...
...
Skynet: I got it, I'll send a terminator back in time to kill the leader of the resistance at an older and more capable age.


I think the terminator sequels make so much more sense now.

"we don't have real ai's that can pass as humans"
oh how i yearn for six years ago

Now I kinda want to write a story with a human and a robot both with neurodivergent characteristics, and they kinda just bond and chill.

Robot: "I do not comprehend human humor."

Human: "Neither do I, man. Neither do I."

Honestly, robot racism lost pretty much all plausibility for me when we all grieved for Opportunity, a car sized science drone on a whole other planet that we programmed to sing happy birthday to itself with its drill. "My battery is low and its getting dark" never held so much weight in science fiction as it did on the real surface of Mars.

"...but if the robot is a single red light built into a spaceship, it's always gonna be evil."
far away, HAL 9001 sheds a single tear

I've always loved the trope of Robots as Art where every robot is an expression of their creator
Baymax, for example, is Tadashi's magnum opus, being the perfect amalgamation of Tadashi's programming and desires to create a personal healthcare companion, and after his death, Baymax is the last piece of Tadashi's personal expression that Hiro has. Hiro bonding with him and learning about Tadashi through his is basically like Hiro finding Tadashi's journal/sketchbook.
Honestly, I think more robots should be written this way because
1. It's a creative and expressive window into the minds of the creator characters
2. I creates a strict, unconfusing definition of what robots are in-universe while still allowing for the full range of human to inhuman robots
"Droids are neither good nor bad. They are the neutral impressions of those who have imprinted on them." -Kuiil from the Mandalorian (I know that's not the exact quote but still)

“A friendly robot whose relatable social quirks were played for laughs by the rest of the cast”
Boy if this isn’t the story of my life

"Doomba the Roomba" is my new fav. character from trope talk

"You wouldn't ask Optimus Prime to justify his personhood....maybe someone should. Would make a soothing monologue. Then again I'd listen to him read the phonebook"

Red speaks to me on a level so deep I feel violated.

A good quote from a close friend of mine went a little something like, "If your toaster woke up one day and starting asking if it had a soul...would you teach it about life or toss it into the trash," has really stuck with me. After all, it's very easy seeing yourself help and care for a humanoid robot, but would you even care if a kitchen appliance gained a similar level of sentience? While I was very quick to say yes, I'm not so sure... I still ponder the question to this day...

The most relatable sentence I've ever heard: "I didn't get my degree in math to actually DO math."

4:09 "Roomba...what's that you got there?"
"A KNIFE!"
"NOOO!"

You know, it's actually interesting that almost all the robots on the "pure logic" end of the spectrum are genocidally evil. See, while the characters are robots, they're written by people. For some reason, when confronted with the question of "what would a being whose actions are dictated by pure logic do", humans usually drift to the answer of "hmm yes kill every last one of us, no doubt, it's just obviously the most logical thing to do" and honestly that's quite a mood.

I never really thought about it, but I think I’d like Baymax even more if he IS just a normal, emotionless robot. Because there is a sweetness to that. Just because he doesn’t experience love for Hiro in the way a human would doesn’t mean he doesn’t ‘care’ about him. In fact, making sure Hiro is safe and emotionally healthy is one of the main aspects of Baymax’s programming. And he was programmed by Tadashi, who loved and cared about Hiro. So Baymax is, in a way, an expression of Tadashi’s love and kindness.

And just because Baymax doesn’t feel human emotions or love doesn’t mean that he and Hiro’s relationship doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t mean that Hiro’s love and care for Baymax isn’t real or valid or meaningless. This can honestly apply to a lot of real life situations. For example, kids will have their favorite stuffed animal of all time that they will play with for years, and even keep around in their house as an adult. The stuffed animal can’t feel anything. It’s literally a glorified fabric bag filled with stuffing. But people will always love them. I know that Little Lambie doesn’t actually feel emotions, but it doesn’t mean I don’t or can’t love Little Lambie.

Hiro and Baymax’s relationship dynamic is real and valid and beautiful, whether Baymax feels love or not. And that’s wonderful to me.