• Welcome to Talking Time's third iteration! If you would like to register for an account, or have already registered but have not yet been confirmed, please read the following:

    1. The CAPTCHA key's answer is "Percy"
    2. Once you've completed the registration process please email us from the email you used for registration at percyreghelper@gmail.com and include the username you used for registration

    Once you have completed these steps, Moderation Staff will be able to get your account approved.

Names that sound like Mega Man Robot Masters but aren't

20.
Robo
images

98 Points, 4 Lists, #6 Nataeryn ​
Source: Chrono Trigger
Traveler-Type: Got to Make It Right, Explorer
Method of Transport: Teleporter, Epoch

Robo is a robot from the year 1999… or rather 2300. In the year 1999, the world was ravaged by the horrible Lavos and the robot R-66Y was knocked offline. In 2300, he was discovered by the genius inventor Lucca who restored him, renaming him Robo. However, Robo still hadn’t restored his memories but helped Lucca and her friends on their mission to save the world from Lavos. Robo would also go onto discover his own past and his own connection to the supercomputer Mother Brain. Unlike some of the members of the party, Robo is incapable of casting magic but makes up for it with his incredibly super weaponry and hulking body.


Yet another Chrono Trigger character, Robo is the character from a distant horrible future and the character carries the weight of melancholy of living in a dying world and being a remnant of a more hopeful one. Like Frog, he gets a pretty solid backstory full of pathos but even his current activities within the game, particularly one where he takes the long way around to meet his friends, has some beautiful moments.

JBear said:
I do *not* want this folded into any sort of group vote for the protagonists of Chrono Trigger; that game wins too many of these contests as is. This is a vote in particular for the beat where Robo is left in the past to cultivate land so that it will be alive and thriving in the future. What passes in the blink of an eye for our heroes is lifetimes of hard work for Robo, and there's something really affecting about that for me, and although it doesn't come up in fiction, it always sticks with me when it does (see also: Data's head in Time's Arrow).
Click to expand...

Michael Mann
 
Last edited:
7
T-800
images

249 Points, 11 Lists, #2 Natareryn ​
Source: The Terminator
Traveler-Type: Got to Make It Wrong
Method of Transport: Time Machine

The T-800 is a killer robot from the future. It was a model developed by the super computer SkyNet to infiltrate and kill humans by looking like one thanks to using living flesh to cover up it’s mechanical endoskeleton. The early Terminator robots were killers and the ones following designed to trick humans were initially easy to pick out but the T-800 was a significant and dangerous upgrade. Emotionless and relentless, the machine is designed to pick the most effective and direct means of assassination. One was sent back in time to 1984 following Skynet’s defeat (by John Connor and his human army) to kill the mother of the human who killed Skynet; Sarah Connor. Through the efforts of Connor and time traveler Kyle Reese, Sarah was just barely able to escape the attack and began planning to train her son to stop Skynet. Years later, another T-800 was sent back in time, this time reprogrammed by John Connor as a protector of a younger John Connor. Not only did this Terminator repel the attack of a much more advanced Terminator, but learned human emotions.


The T-800 (or Terminator back when there was only one of them) is definitely one of those iconic movie characters from the jump with a very memorable look. And while Arnold Schwarzenegger is more lauded for his “presence” than his acting, this is definitely the film that best leverages what he does well. There’s no camp or sarcasm here and Arnold really gets the roboticism down without being too cartoonish (a real rarity for a guy who tends to go big). It’s such a simple idea for a villain, too; this invincible thug who just keeps coming, absorbing pretty much every attack.

And making him a hero in the second film is a clever turn. It’s one of those things where it is a shame the face turn was so publicized as the scene where it is revealed he is the hero this time is actually really effective and clever (it’s a bit like how unfortunate it is that the marketing spoiled the Hulk being a big part of Thor: Ragnarok). But even in making a slightly more tender Terminator works for Arnold who knows how to play it. If anything, the few weaknesses of that film are more from James Cameron being pretty quick when adding the humour. In the first film, the Terminator is exceptional as this horrifying void of humanity and it does so well in adding that humanity as the second film goes on.


Future Man
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top