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Function of the Form -Part 1- Merely Replacement Goldfish?

2/28/2012

2 Comments

 
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             Before the combat armament, before a nefarious scientist's bid world domination, and before the introduction of the Industrial Robots, there were the Household Helper Robots.  Named Rock and Roll, these two little robots were modeled after human children of the approximate age of 10 years to handle and assist in domestic tasks.  Rockman's story narrative rests it's center on this fact. But if the goal was to accomplish household chores and duties, why would anyone build mechanical children?

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very far removed from human
           If you look at today's real world modern household robots, they are streamlined machines built to accomplish tasks in the most efficient means possible.  No extraneous input receivers, extravagant processing or pointless decorative output.  Just modular mechanical actuators providing the bare minimal movement necessary to carry out a job, and the most straight forward of probability algorithms for determining how to do it.  But Rock and Roll are on the far opposite end of the spectrum of that.

           Going over all the official reference books, a reason is never explicitly given for the excessively human adolescent forms.  All that is ever said is that Rock and Roll were "just" brought to life one day and spent their days with their creator, Dr. Thomas Right.  While that would end the curious issue for some, it has left space for fans of the Rockman narrative room to speculate. After all, even in fiction, nothing happens "just cause".

Merely Replacement Goldfish?

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Art by: notanormalchild
           A popular theory I've seen floating around is that Rock and Roll are "Replacement Goldfish", individuals who are used to assume the emotional place of a lost loved one.  Relaying this back to the cause for mechanical children being built, Dr. Right would have (in theory) at one time had children, but they met some sort of unfortunate untimely demise .  So in mad scientist fashion, he created robotic facsimiles of them as a outlet for his desire to bring them "back to life" and restore his life to the way it was before their passing.

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            As a literary trope in Science Fiction, "Replacement Goldfish" is a popular driving force for all sorts of humanistic creations.  Most notably for this discussion,   Most notibley for this discussion, Tetsuwan Atom, a critical character inspiration to Rockman, credits Atom's original purpose to serve as his creator's own Replacement Goldfish.  As the story goes,  as Head of the Ministry of Science, Dr. Tenma commissions his lab to build a super robot in the likeness of his deceased son Tobio.  The super robot abilities were so that the prodigy could never be taken away from him by a mere accident, like the way a vehicular accident had taken the life of Tobio. 

           Also worth mentioning, the Rockman Franchise does already have a couple Replacement Goldfish among it's ranks.  Having the biggest impact here, Battle Network's own Rockman.EXE could very well be classified as a sort of Replacement Goldfish.  Those who familiar with the narrative will recall that Rockman.EXE programing stems from the DNA of Dr. Hikari's dead son, Netto's twin brother Saito.  (as hair-brained a concept as that actually is,..)

            But these don't really give much solid footing in terms of codifying an answer for "why mechanical children?" to Rock and Roll.  As convincing as those examples may sound, they are rather tangential.  What is important for this theory to hold weight unfortunately is something hard to just wedge in. The elaborate family man back-story and sad tragic deaths, have never been remotely hinted at.  If they were central motivations to Dr. Right's work,  it would seem truly unlikely that these facts would be glossed over.

            Also working against it, "Replacement Goldfish" as a theory carries a very ugly side.
It transforms Dr. Right into a broken man chasing the past in mad scientist fashion, and the goal of his life's work is a self-adsorbed fictionalization of his daily life.  Not a pretty picture for the Rockman Series' fatherly backbone character. And it completely throws out the canonical established picture of Dr. Right as a visionary working towards a brighter future for the world.
2 Comments
#20 link
2/28/2012 06:42:11 am

I view Dr. Light more as a Pinocchio scenario, with the lonely toymaker lamenting "I've always wanted children of my own!" But it still has that aspect of filling a void, as having missed out on something rather than a specific loss. Maybe that's part of why we never see Light break down and sell Rock to the circus like Tenma did when Atom didn't live up to his ideal goldfish expectations. He wasn't pining for something else.

Perhaps the average person may not grow too attached to a Roomba (DJ Roomba from Parks and Rec not withstanding), and Dr. Light wanted to put a robot into a household that would become like a member of the family. If he wants people to not only work alongside but to identify with intelligent robots and see them as potential equals, by giving them a humanoid form he's going to get some people consciously or unconsciously personifying them (ducking that whole uncanny valley somehow) regardless of the AI level. The presence of a child can brighten the lives of lonely adults, and with the rapidly aging majority population of Japan, such robots would be quite popular in our 20XX for assisted living.

Of course, we're never told that he put the Rock and Roll designs into mass production. Maybe he wanted to test just how complex and human-like he could make a robot become, and was only aiming for what he personally wanted in a helper robot rather than what he thought was marketable to everyone.

Personally I'd rather have a robotic Mr. Belvedere or Alfred Pennyworth picking up after me. Ordering a robot child to do things I'm too lazy or self-consumed to bother with is likely to give me a psychological complex eventually. And then there's the seedy elements involved in owning a child-like robotic slave... I could just imagine the tabloids reading "Tomas Light: Modern day Geppetto, or creeper pedo?"

I'll give Tom the benefit of the doubt that he's just a big ol' Santa Claus who loves children (Platonically), wants to spread hope and goodwill to all mankind, and prefers to make robots that might favor form over function.

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rightototoshabadoo
2/29/2012 12:30:12 pm

I would love to address all your ponderings and speculations, but if I did I wouldn't have anything for Part 2 or Part 3! But the way you are going about it, you may like how the other parts turn out.

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