YMMV / Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Some fans believe that Shannon's crabbiness towards Robot Jones is because she has personal problems that are affecting her more than she lets on. After all, no explanation is given for how she got a prosthetic leg. Of course there's always the fact Shannon started hating Robot after the events of "Jealousy".
  • Now that Word of God states that the show would end with the fact that Robot Jones would eventually exterminate the human race, does this mean that Robot Jones was Evil All Along or he snapped due to the relentless bullying he receives from the humans on a daily basis?
    • Would Shannon have shared the same fate as the rest of the human race or would Robot have spared her at the cost of becoming his love slave? A bad ending for her either way. Actually, thinkin' about it, would Robot have spared his friends, too?
  • Seeing as the Yogmans practically live at the school and we never see their house or their parents... then are they homeless?
• Applicability:
  • One Youtuber believes that the discrimination Robot Jones receives could be a metaphor for racism, as he stated in his review of the show:
    "I have a theory, that if Robot Jones was human, he would be black. Think about it. The lightbulb on his head is like his afro, and this cartoon looks like it takes place in the late 70's, early 80's, where people were still somewhat racists to blacks, and that's why Robot Jones gets bullied a lot."
  • Finding out about how the series originally ended might be an allegory to how a student would snap and attack a school due to relentless bullying.
  • Robot Jones believing himself to have no specific gender due to being a robot could also be seen as a metaphor for being non-binary.
• Awesome Music: The show's super-catchy theme song and garage-rock soundtrack.
• Base-Breaking Character: Shannon. Many dislike her for the times she is rude and inconsiderate to Robot, but there are some fans who find her crabby behavior to be misunderstood and believe that she and Robot would make a great couple.
• Broken Base: Greg Miller stating that the series was intended to end with Robot Jones annihilating all of humanity. Some fans aren't surprised that the series would go that direction because Robot has been constantly picked on by humans and would likely snap eventually, while others don't agree with the idea due to it being dark even by a Cartoon Network show's standards and because Robot deciding to kill all humans contradicts the fact that he has human friends who are close to him and was even shown to be worried about Gramps Unit killing his human guests in the episode "House Party". Some fans argue that the planned ending might be a joke created by Greg Miller and isn’t necessarily true, ignoring the fact that he mentioned the planned ending twice in the Facebook interview and really wanted to add it to the show at some point if it wasn’t cancelled.
  • Also, there is some debate over whether the AppleSpeak voice or Bobby Block's performance was better.
• Death of the Author: While series creator Greg Miller has stated that the series was intended to end with Robot exterminating the human race, many fans understandably disregard this.
• Friendly Fandoms: Especially in the 2010's and on, with My Life as a Teenage Robot, another cartoon with an adorable school-aged robot protagonist treated like dirt that came out around the same time. Their respective creators (Greg Miller and Rob Renzetti) even worked on the other show. Many artists have drawn fanart of Robot Jones and Jenny interacting.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show seem to be more popular and better remembered in Latin America than in the United States, to the point that the Latin American version of Cartoon Network still reruns the series every once in a while in the ridiculous hours of the night, something not even the American branch would do.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The title goes from being a rhetorical question to a legitimate one due to the series' descent into obscurity.
  • Word of God stating that Robot Jones would eventually exterminate the human race puts some of his moments into a more sinister light, particularly abusing his power as hall monitor in "Safety Patrol" and making everyone in the school go bald for his friends mocking him over how he'll never grow hair in "Hair".
  • In "School Newspaper", there is a paper used for the title card. On the paper the headlines read, 'Robot Invasion' and 'Robot Burns School'.
• Hilarious in Hindsight
  • AppleSpeak isn't "Hollywood enough," you say?
  • In "Garage Band", Robot Jones is told by Dad Unit that he is "grounded grounded grounded".
  • This show wouldn't be the last time a show airing on Cartoon Network involving robots had Jeff Bennett play an overweight technophobe with a mustache.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The show's title has become a Phrase Catcher whenever someone sincerely asks "whatever happened to..?". Of course, this could also be attributed to a number of other media whose names start with that phrase, and is likely a Shout-Out as to at least one of them.
  • Its short run has turned the title into a legitimate question.
• Moe: The titular character is an Adorkable Cute Machine who only wants to fit in with the humans.
• Moral Event Horizon: The Yogman Twins cross it by brainwashing Robot Jones' friends and forcing them to try and kill him.
• Retroactive Recognition: Josh Peck voices Lenny Yogman in this series, several years before he found fame on Drake & Josh.
• So Okay, It's Average: The few who remember this show tend to mostly praise it because it was a Short-Runner that flew under the radar during its initial run. Those able to track down and watch it will admit that, despite having an appealing aesthetic and a few decent episodes, it was one of the more forgettable Cartoon Cartoons and that its short run was justified.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many were irate about Robot Jones' voice being changed (and the reruns of older episodes being redubbed with the new voice).
• The Scrappy: Finkman for getting away with cheesing off Robot and causing Shannon to blame Robot for his departure.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The general cold-hearted nature and unpleasant atmosphere towards Robot that escalates to people trying to kill him can be this.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Denny Yogman. He's evil (in a sense), but he's still a little kid and acts like it.
  • Shannon, in a way. She's not beautiful, but she does have her moments of being endearing.
• The Woobie: To say that Robot Jones is sympathetic would be a huge understatement. Most humans regard him with contempt, the girl he has a crush on rarely if ever reciprocates his affections, and the Yogmans are always making things difficult for him.

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