Name? Ah, my serial number. It is R66-Y.
Hello and welcome to Humanity, Cherri's tribute to Chrono Trigger's lovable robot Robo (Prometheus)! I figured rather than doing a "normal" one page shrine, I'd focus on a different aspects of Robo in comparison to the Prometheus myth from which he draws his name. That and there was already a wonderful Robo shrine online. I want to be different! I hope you enjoy reading what I have and that you also love Robo. Humanity is part of Amassment's Old School Challenge.
Cherri . Part of Records of Fate
Last Updated: May 26, 2016
Listed: Legendary
Prometheus the Titan
Prometheus is a titan born from Iapetos and Klymene. He stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to humans. One does not simply trick the king of the gods and so Zeus had him punished. Not only did Zeus have Prometheus's liver eaten everyday by a bird but he also created an evil for men: women. (Yes, Zeus is a womanizing-misogynist.) Eventually, Heracles helped Prometheus out.
Robo cannot technically use magic since he is a robot. (Discrimination!) However, he has fire and dark based attacks which are Proximity Bomb and Laser spin. Now, I think the fire tech is to represent the fire he stole from Zeus and gave to mankind. Robo is very much about helping the humans rather than Mother Brain. He wants to help his friends out because they've done so much for him and so his loyalties lay with them. He has a light base tech too which I believe symbolizes him being saved, his silver lining.
I think that the dark based tech is for the darkness he condemned himself to. Prometheus stole from Zeus; really, anyone who has read Greek Mythology (or saw any movie that has Zeus in it) knows that this does not go unpunished. Robo was turned off for some reason; I believe this was because he tried to help humans before. The rest of the R-Y series turns on him too. They break him; although Lucca fixes him. For Prometheus, he got his liver eaten by a bird every day until Heracles helped him out.
The creation of woman happens to Robo too. Mother Brain tries to use Atropos XR against Robo. Before they were good friends and got along but Atropos XR got an upgrade and no longer believed the same things. Robo is forced to fight her and he helps her regain her memories. They become friends again. So Mother Brain is a lot worse at this than Zeus since she takes everything wonderful about friendship and uses it against someone that feels and loves.
Prometheus and the Making of Man
At the bidding of Jupiter, Prometheus set about the creation of man and the other animals. Jupiter, seeing that mankind, the only rational creatures, were far outnumbered by the irrational beasts, bade him redress the balance by turning some of the latter into men. Prometheus did as he was bidden, and this is the reason why some people have the forms of men but the souls of beasts." Aesop's Fables, p. 240
I'm pretty sure the creation doesn't quite match up with 2300 AD but close enough. Robo is one of the most human robots, the other R-Y series not so much. Even Atropos XR is pretty good when you can get her back. The R-Y robots are just terrible. They call Robo defective which really hurts him and then they break him because they say "he needs to be destroyed". And Robo lets them beat on him because they are his brothers and doesn't want them hurt. Of course, this is just painful to watch. (You're dead inside if this scene doesn't get your feels.) Yes, 2300 AD does have humans but they are just about wiped out and starving. So, I focus on the robots. The R-Y series just seems like a bunch of beasts doing what they are programmed to do rather than think for themselves. (These robots can, Atropos and Robo are both shown too.) I feel it fits with the Fable about some people with the souls of beasts.
Frankenstein: Modern Prometheus
Victor Frankenstein created a creature (whom he never named) out of corpses from murders and criminals. He also thought that this creature was going to be awesome. Once Victor took a look at the reanimated corpses he knew he had made a bad decision and shunned his creation. (Smooth move, Victor.) Now, since I don't want to call the creature Creature, and I've read in some places that he considers himself first, like Adam from the Bible. So I'll be calling him Adam here (even though Deucalion is an awesome name but that's from Koontz and not Mary-Shelly). Adam felt horrible, he just wanted his father's love and never got it. He was considered an abomination for being different. Adam hurt a lot of people trying to get Frankenstein's attention. He killed so many. The one person that was nice to him was blind but once he found out about Adam looks, he shunned him too. Then when Adam wanted a mate and said he would stop tormenting Victor, he tried but realized she too would be an abomination and he refused. So more hell broke loose and it ends up with Victor on the run with Adam chasing him until death.
Robo’s birth or origins are largely unknown. I know Mother Brain is the command robot, the one that tells them what to do and all that but I don't know who specifically created them all. I do believe that Lucca had something to do with it. Time traveling and meeting him, she wanted him to exist in the future and so she created a prototype in her time. At least that's what I believe to have happened. And from this prototype more where created. Because that's how Sci-Fi works....in my experience of many sci-fi movies. Robo does want to please those who created him, those who are nice to him and those who care about him. Otherwise he does not like those who wish to hurt him or his friends. He wants to live among the humans.
Robo is considered defective by the other robots and thus he isn't liked at all. However, Robo refuses to hurt them because they are his brothers. But when Mother Brain uses Atropos XR against him, he fights. He knows he has too. He wants Lucca and the humans to be happy and be with them. I feel he considers Lucca his creator. The difference between Adam and Robo is that Robo was accepted for who and what he is. I feel sad that Adam never got his father's love.
2300 AD - Future (Post Apocalyptic)
2300 AD is a post apocalyptic time that has been ravaged by Lavos. Robots are the dominate species here because the humans are dying out (they are being harvested or die of starvation or monsters kill them). This time frame is very different from the others but at the same time is the same. There is always a force trying to dominate and everyone caught up in it because there is no way out.
It's different because the lack of humans, the amount of technology and no vegetation. 2300 AD is being run by robots controlled by Mother Brain and few robots have their own will. Though having their own will makes them defective to the others. It is also a different time that the other Prometheus's because they are during creation, the age of the gods and somewhere is the 1800s. Not very techy at all.
It is similar to the fact that Zeus and Frankenstein are not fond of their Prometheus at all. Mother Brain is not happy with hers as well. Prometheus stole from Zeus and ended up punished until someone saved him. Frankenstein's creature just wanted his father's approval and did very horrible things. Victor did create him but did not love him. (Great parenting there, Frankenstein.) And Mother Brain was mad because Robo had a will of his own. So the creators aren't happy with their creations and a lot of people get caught in the middle.
Artifical Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is an academic field of study which studies the goal of creating intelligence. Major AI researchers and textbooks define this field as "the study and design of intelligent agents", where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1955, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." Wiki Article
Robo has AI or rather is an AI. He thinks for himself, what's right and what's wrong. Robo has a sense of self and what he considers to be humanity and emotions. It's like he is a man wearing armor. He doesn't seem any different from the other characters in the game. He thinks, he hurts, and he loves. He has rational thoughts and irrational ones.
Up against Flea (one of Magus' goons), Frog says "This is Flea, she's not your ordinary magician." Flea gets really upset and shouts "I'm a MAN." Then Robo, who is really confused, goes "But the exterior is that of a woman." So Flea explains "Man or woman, it doesn't matter. Beauty is power and I have power." So Robo knows the difference between men and women but doesn't quite understand the identity part. Which is the case for a lot of people. They don't understand what they cannot see and base opinions and judgments on what they do see.
When Lucca travels to the past to help her mother, Lara, Robo waits for her outside the gate and tells her she is really caring and has a big heart. He understands nice deeds for others as well. He is growing as a person. When Crono dies he is upset like all the others. It isn't just acting like everyone else. Robo genuinely feels emotions. He is sad when his friends hurt, happy when they are. He cannot explain it but he feels. I don't really consider him a robot, I consider him as a dear friend. Though he is like child, he is still learning things. Robo feels that it is important to have humanity.
About the Shrine
After playing Chrono Trigger (again), I realized I liked a lot of the characters and some of them got to me. I had a lot of feels and I decided to shrine them along with Schala (my favorite). Well, sitting through Robo's storyline and using him in fights, I realized that he is a great character. So with all the feels I decided to shrine him. And then it happened.....I found that someone had already shrined Robo. I got a little sad but decided to take a different approach on Robo. That way I could still shrine him and not feel like I was copying. So I focused on the mythology and fables about Prometheus instead. (Thankfully my sister is a huge nerd and had a bunch of books I could use.)
Layout was made in Adobe Photoshop CS4, hand coded in Dreamweaver CS4 and based off the collective I made. Images are from Chrono Wiki, background from Subtle Patterns and Dust Serif font from DaFont. Textures are from Celestial Star and Velvet Factory.
Links In and Out
You are more than welcome to link Humanity, just save the button to your own server and link back to http://chrono.piratesboard.net/robo. Thank you!
I'm up for affiliation with any Chrono related shrine, Square Enix, Akira Toriyama or shrines that participated in the same event. Just email me your name, url, and subject.
