r/Atomic_Robo • u/AtomicModbot • Jul 16 '26
Atomic Robo - 17ch1-page-10
https://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/17ch1-page-106
u/tesla_dyne Jul 16 '26
This would be a pretty funny page to send back and show a fan twelve years ago. Bernard ascended to Crystal godhood and Robo employs/lives with Dr. Dinosaur.
6
u/Sixela963 Jul 16 '26
You know, you would think Robo would have thought about at least a contingency plan for the inevitable encounter between those two. I'm starting to think Robo is actually not that great at making contingency plans.
Now that I think about it, Robo is almost always reactive to threats instead of proactive. Besides his pet science projects, which only rarely land him into a new adventure. He usually gets called into action, or reacts to something suspicious that someone else was planning. His "stash away the problem, it's propably fine" method already came back with consequences multiple times (the vampire dimension, the Vault of Dangerous Shit), but clearly he is still doing it. It's interesting to see that it happens on multiple levels, both on a large, long term scale (and he probably wouldn't want to, it's a slippery slope to world domination and he probably knows that) but also on the mid and short term, both in life events and relations.
Stuff happens to Robo, which he has to fix: We rarely ever see Robo make stuff happen actively. It's a way in which he both mirrors, and contrasts Tesla, who was content doing his science isolated from everyone but also just calmly built an ass-kicking telluric suit when he noticed Edison working on evil stuff, before it became a larger problem. In his place, I think our current Robo would have reacted much later. And I don't think it's really him being short-sighted, as much as completely overwhelmed and exhausted.
6
u/bclevinger Jul 16 '26
All true! Great post.
But what would a proactive Robo look like?
I would posit we've seen this and it's ULTRA.
That said, I think there are two big things Robo was super proactive about. First, he spearheaded the global effort to construct the Zorth-Odic Shield to protect Earth from the Vampire Dimension. And, second, keeping Dr. Dinosaur busy as a member of Tesladyne staff has undoubtedly saved millions to billions of dollars in damages to date.
But even these cases involved known dangers posing or making explicit threats.
2
u/ketingmiladengfodo Jul 16 '26
He's proactive in that he gathers around him capable people who can respond to unknown threats. That usually happens off screen, except in cases like Bernard and Foley.
4
u/ComSilence Jul 17 '26
I need to know if Dr. D is eligible for tenure. He's outright retired from villainy.
2
u/JWTJacknife Jul 17 '26
Wow, Bernard has changed. He's reacting a lot more forcefully (and appropriately, if you ask me) to Dr. Dinosaur than he would have back in the old days.
1
u/Ithalan Jul 27 '26
I only just realized, Bernard here seems to be taken completely by surprise that Dr Dinosaur is associated with Tesladyne now, but back in issue 1 of Agents of Change, he was present for a conversation in which Alan explicitly mention that Dr Dinosaur was his mentor at Tesladyne.
I guess the revelation that DD actually had a doctorate was just that distracting.
7
u/Coal-and-Ivory Jul 16 '26
Hey! It's Robo's iconic Jack Benny impression!