Story Prompt--What if it was Toby?

[YJ_Doodle]

I personally think we didn't get enough screentime of Toby(As he is named in the movie) to get to know him properly. That's just the reason why I love the 2003 series so much. It actually fleshes out Tobio a little bit more, showing us how lonely he felt, his passion for robots, and maybe even an inner fear about whether his father loved him or robots more. I mean, the show made us love a character used for a plot device!

Anyhow, back to 2009: Sure he was quite bigheaded about his smarts in class, but I personally think it's because he could feel the attention his dad doesn't give him. I would definitely like to hear some praise from my parents if I got 100% on this Rocket Science test if I were in his shoes.

On the other hand, I don't really like how he reprogrammed Orrin without a hint of guilt. Orrin clearly shows emotions, has his own personality, even though he's a butler. Both Toby and his dad seem to naturally look down at robots to some extent. I honestly thought Toby would die BECAUSE he reprogrammed Orrin into that unstable state!

And then there's this subtle comparison between Toby and Astro. Remember Toby was real interested in advanced weaponry, which can be related to violence in general? But when Astro got hold of the Da Vinchi book, he cringes while glimpsing the page about war machines, then gets intrigued in the Flying part. I don't know if it's the Blue Core that's making Astro different, but he definitely has bigger differences with his human counterpart than any other AB adaption...(Unless I'm missing something from the manga or 63 anime)

Sorry about the long drabble. I'm very passionate about dear Tobio Tenma XD

[Rejoyce]

The first time I saw the movie, I actually didn't catch the differences between Toby and Astro. I was confused about some of the stuff that happened that depended on Astro being a different person. I felt that if they were going for that distinction they should have spent more time on Toby and made the differences more obvious. But then if they spent more time on Toby then the death would be more tragic and that's a no-no for a kid's movie.

Also, Tenma not paying a lot of attention to Toby wasn't pronounced enough in the movie, too. Tenma randomly building a robot replacement was kind of weird because the guilt thing wasn't very obvious. The scene in the car with holo-Tenma could have been a recorded message, that would have been better for the neglect theme.

As for the Blue Core making Astro different, that is a possibility, but if it makes him "nicer," look at Zog who didn't hesitate trying to kill Hamegg. He had blue core power too, so maybe the blue core doesn't affect personality or maybe it only has a small influence. What if the blue core is an entity on its own? That would explain the differences between Toby and Astro, plus then there's a distinction between having the blue core itself and having blue core energy.

I liked how in the movie, Toby reprogrammed Orrin and didn't seem to care, but then Astro shows respect and treats him as an equal. That was the biggest difference to me. Maybe at that point, Astro's subconscious knew he was a robot?

[YJ_Doodle]

Why couldn't the movie have spent a little more time on Toby? All audience/children movies like Big Hero 6 and How To Train Your Dragon 2 both got more than enough characterizing for the soon-to-be-dead, especially in Big Hero where Tadashi's screentime is relatively short(But definitely longer than AB 2009). It might get a bit darker, but that still helps us understand Tenma's character and his reason to build Astro. I bet if they got rid of the whole RRF fiasco(Which could've been something quite deeper, like the Blue Knight in 2003, but ended up as a gag), they could've included some more of Toby and Dr. Tenma, or just Astro himself learning to be himself than just a mere copy.

Nonetheless, I feel we're going a bit out of topic here. It's nice to speculate about the movie, though

[Fanficlover99]

Welp, this is all I can manage today. I'll try to do more tomorrow, but meanwhile lemme go do my homework XD

(No, Tobio is not using a stun gun on Atom, it's just my lack of design creativity and zero knowledge of robotics and repair)

jeez, what kinda fight was Astro in?, a street fight with a robot hating human?

[Dragonrider1227]

In my mind I see Tobio as a boy genius (hinted at in the 2003 series, and stated so in the movie). He takes after his father and is fascinated by robotics. Being an only child, and often left alone to fend for himself to keep himself amused (because of Umatara's workaholic ways) the boy starts to make use of his fathers home workshop and creates a robotic 'brother' for himself using spare parts he secrets out of the ministry of science. The result is a super-robot that looks just like himself, which causes some interesting problems when people (including his father!) can't tell them apart!

I actually really like this idea =D