The Sunbow Connection!

Why were there so many 80s shows about robots where the voices all sounded the same? GoBots and Robo Force, Voltron and Transformers, it's all the same voices just with different robot names! Join the Nostrodomatron and Colin of fairplaythings.com as we delve deep into the Sunbow Connection conspiracy and other things that I don't understand about life, the universe, and all 15 episodes of Robotix. Yes it's another Robotixtastic Podcastalyse as Colin and I return to Skalorr to discuss Robotix the cartoon and all of its mysteries like who the real villain of the show was, why nobody on either side really wanted to win the war, and how Commander X was breathing in space before Batman made it cool. What happens when humans crash on a robot planet instead of the other way around? What is the sound of evil Optimus Prime laughing? What is the difference between -trons and -tons and -cors and -cons? Find out all this (well except for the last one) and more in this WE ARE ALL THE BOOBIES edition of the podcastalypse!

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the Terracors-Nemesis, Steggor, Tyrannix, Goon	the Protectons-Bront, Nara, Argus, Jerrok

80s ROBOT VOICE ACTING: THE ONLY INDUSTRY WHERE EVERYONE WAS KEVIN BACON

Many cartoon voice actors who had previous toy robot commercial experience ended up with roles in Robotix. This is extremely coincidental considering there were only about a half dozen robot shows while everything else was a Smurf or a crime fighting team. Yet looking at the casts you would almost think that the same ten actors voiced all the 80s toy robot cartoons! Even more interesting is how this robot voice actor mafia also did most of the popular 80s cartoons that were not toy robot commercials. For example, Arthur "Argus" Burghardt who is more well known for voicing Devastator from Transformers and Nazgar from Robo Force also voiced Destro in that non-robot based cartoon G.I. Joe! Mighty Orbots is almost the only robot show to not share a robot actor with any other series except that Don "Ratchet" Messick voiced Bort. All the other robot shows' characters ended up sounding the same because they WERE the same actors!			Arthur Burghardt aka Nazgar as Argus
Frank Welker aka Trailbreaker as Bront	Susan Silo aka Pac-Man Sue as Narra	Neil Ross aka Slag as Jerrok	Arthur Burghardt aka Turbo as Boltar

Peter Cullen aka Tank as Nemesis	S.O.S. DINOBOTS WAS AN INSIDE JOB And don't get me started on Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Quick! Can you name an 80s cartoon based on transforming toy robots that had Burghardt, Cullen and Welker in the voice cast but was NOT Robotix? You have at least two other shows to choose from! Cullen alone was in everything from GoBots to Robo Force, Robotix, Transformers, and Voltron! It's kind of odd that no matter which toy robot line was being advertised, Peter Cullen got paid. Autobot, Decepticon, Protecton, Terracor, it didn't matter-Peter Cullen profited majorly from the Toy Robots Wars of the 1980s no matter which imaginary faction or toy company won! Is it possible that Cullen's characters conspired to purposely prolong the conflicts in their episodes so that he could buy a Porsche? WAKE UP, CYBERTRON!
Frank Welker aka Rumble as Tyrannix	Michael Bell aka Lance as Venturak	Neil Ross aka Slag as Steggor	Corey Burton aka Brawn as Goon

PLOTHOLES, PIEHOLES, AND OTHER THINGS ABOUT THIS SHOW THAT 'TIX ME OFF!

Robotix is really a lot of fun. It takes a lot of the standard robot war tropes of its time and stands them on their head a bit. Humans crash into a planet of warring robots and Peter Cullen is the bad guy. Right there you have 180 degree twists on the Transformers. It's also animated beautifully and the character designs are very interesting to look at. But of course the Podcastalypse wouldn't be complete without me complaining about something and so Colin and I discuss a number of what I consider inconsistencies and problems with events in Robotix. Here are most all of them and even one or two bonus nitpicks we didn't discuss.

Narra's face is the laziest attempt at anthropomorphizing a robot toy I have ever seen. Remember how Marvel Studios went to great lengths to make humanoid character models based on the Transformers toys, many of which did not have conventional faces? They did a lot of work giving Ratchet, Ironhide, Windcharger, Gears and Huffer human looking faces. Where were those guys when somebody just slapped a stick figure happy face on Narra and called it a day?
In the final episode while the Protectons are fleeing through a city's ruins they enter a room with statues of what look like dinosaurs and a large gorilla. Why were these replicas on Skalorr? Did the Skalorrians visit earth at some point? Is Skalorr really Earth? Some of the Robotix look like they are patterned after dinosaurs, so is this an attempt to explain that? Why did they show this room so late in the show? This is more of a violation of Chekov's gun than a real plot hole, but I still found myself annoyed by it.
Compucore's behavior is easily the most aggravating thing about the entire show. Why did the Protectons build a computer that is practically sentient but that has no conscience whatsoever? It constantly frustrates the Protectons by witholding information and even wipes their brains when Nemesis asks it to. This thing essentially has the power of life and death, yet anyone at all can use it! If the Terracors were such obviously terrible beings, why does Compucore's programming allow it to take orders from them?
Are the Robotix really alive? The implications of the essence transfer process are actually quite scary. Compucore explains that when Argus is restored, it's done using a backup copy. The essences stored in the chambers are uploaded and downloaded like programs and even referred to as data. So what are the Robotix? Are they living sentient machines or just zombified pre-programmed automations?
Where is Venturak when the volcano explodes? Just before the volcano erupts, Nemesis beats up and abandons Venturak who is begging for help and tells him his melted remains will be honored in Terracor history. Despite this, Venturak stays with the Terracors and is NOT with the Protectons as they escape the volcano. Then magically he appears with the Protectons and is instrumental in getting Zanadon flying, only to later betray them by letting Nemesis invade by leaving the dome open. Why would he help Nemesis who left him to die and how did he get out of the volcano?
Breathing in space. This is the biggest and most obvious flub in the entire series. During the final battle, Exeter and Argus break through the window of the Terrastar's bridge and attack the Terracors. The window is never repaired and Exeter goes on to fight Kanawk who dons a spacesuit to survive in the cold airless vacuum of space. Somehow Exeter manages to fight heroically for several minutes in outer space with no protection from the environment!
WHY DON'T THE TERRACORS ESCAPE THE TERRASTAR BUT INSTEAD STAND AROUND LIKE A BUNCH OF IDIOTS WATCHING ARGUS AS HE DOES?
At the very end Argus floats toward his friends who are now in the form of a ship that flies him back to the surface. WHAT? The Protectons could have transformed combiner style into a spacefaring ship the entire time? Then why didn't they just do that at the beginning to get the humans home? Solve that problem and then focus on the Skalorrian war which was a thousand times more interesting without the humans!

FIGHT THE REAL ENEMY

SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE

• It's been a long time since Episode 39
• People still interested in Robotix on the TFW boards
• The complete Robotix on YouTube
• Robotix at Behind the Voice Actors
• Robotix toys are still in production
• A band called Robotix
• Robotix article at Wikipedia
• Robotix at ComicBookDB.com
• Bill Sienkiewicz selling Starriors cover art
• Similarities between Compucore, TORQ III and Wheels and Roadie from Pole Position
• The Robotix comic commercial
• Robotix at the Virtual Toy Chest
• STOP POKING ME WITH THAT THING!