My Life as a Teenage Robot (film)/Tropes

My Life as a Teenage Robot is a film franchise based on the Nickelodeon TV series lf the same name, and produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Much like the series, the franchise centers on Jenny Wakeman, a robot created to be the Earth's best defender, who wishes to live a regular life as a teenager. The franchise is composed of two theatrical films, two TV series, and a short series.
== Tropes for the franchise ==
* Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The franchise depicts Jenny's struggle to live life as a teenager in a more dramatic light.
* Adaptational Badass: Vexus, in this version, is a far more physical threat to Jenny than in the original series, mainly due to her feline design.
* Adaptational Nice Guy/Adaptational Villany: Skyway Patrol as a whole fills both, with some officer being nice and willing to work with Jenny, and others being downright corrupt.
** The "Adaptational Nice Guy" part does get downplayed with the town, as they are explicity shown to not to have Fantastic Racism towards robots. Not that it prevents them from often mistreating Jenny.
*Adaptational Personality Change: The franchise gives Jemmy musical aurations she lacked in the original series.
*Role Reprise: Janice Kawaye and Cree Summer reprise their roles as Jenny and Tiff from the original series.
== Tropes for the film ==
*An Aesop:
** Jenny:
*** So what if the whole world dosen't like you, as whole as one person does it and for the right reasons, its OK.
*** Never fall to peer preasure. True friends will stick with you 'til the end and won't force you to do something you don't want to.
** Nora: 
*** Family is not just whom you are biologically related with. Its those who love you and you love.
*** Never shut off your heart from loving someone.
** Brad: Adventure is out there. So go for it.
** Tuck: There are more important things in life than yourself.
*And The Fandom Rejoiced: The announcenent of a fully animated My Life as a Teenage Robot film brought a lot of joy to fans of the original series, seeing how it is perceived as one of Nickelodeon's most underrated series, so seeing it receive the feature-length film treatement was a welcome surprise.
*Awesome Moments: At the climax, when Vexus tries to torture her into submission, Jenny only responds with "Not ever". And while Vexus punching her and ordering her to be executed is horrifying, she is clearly doing out of spite because this one little teenage robot won't submit to her. By refusing to give up, Jenny just touched a nerve in Vexus.
**Even better is that her response is pretty much what a teenager would say. Meaning it wasn't X-J9, superhero robot, but Jenny Wakeman, teenage robot, who managed to get under Vexus' "skin" and expose her as the control-obsessed thug she truly is.
*Company Cross-References: A SpongeBob toy can be seen in a toy store.
*Darker and Edgier: Sort of. While calling the film "dark" would be an inmense stretch, as it retains most of the original series' tone, the film does explore more profound themes than the series such as identity and family. To not to mention Vexus veers into full Vile Villain, Saccharine Show territory in this continuity.
*Disney Villain Death: Subverted with Vexus as part of a Shout-Out to The Emperor's New Groove.
*Does This Remind You of Anything?: Vexus' behavior towards Jenny would be intended to come off as a bully pick on the new kid.
*Even Evil Has Standards: Vexus is an evil overlord, but she was geniunely outraged when she learn that Jenny left her home without telling her mother, claiming Jenny is a terrible daughter for leaving like that, and Nora is a terrible mother for locking her inside all the time, saying that she thinks childs should always be given certain freedoms and certain limits.
* Funny Moments: According to Jenny, the film's version of Wizzly was Disney until Uncle Wizzly acquired them. Now that is a karmic fate.
*Fridge Brilliance: Jenny at the start listens to "C'mon Get Happy" by The Partridge Family. The song is about a family asking the world to be happy while spending time together. This reflects Jenny's situation at that moment: She's trying to get herself to be happy, but in truth she wants to have friends and a family.
*Heartwarming Moments:
**During the climax, Jenny, still emotiobally hurt by how her so-called friends used her, finds herself overwhelmed by the Cluster soldiers. She considers quitting, and tries to call Nora, who dosen't answer... because she suddenly shows up with Brad and Tuck, ready to save her. And why was the line open? Because, right before showing up, Nora began playimg for her daughter "I Will Follow" by U2, a song about a mother's love for her child. This is the moment Nora showed Jenny she does love her, and where Jenmy realized she now has what she always wanted: Friends.
**At the end of the film, as Jenny shows anxiety over going to school, Nora assures her everything will be fuie by playing "Ain't No Mountin High" on her music player, as a way to tell her that, no matter what happens, she will aleays be her daughter, and she will always be with her when she needs her the most. This is followed by a montage of Jenny expending time at school, Helen and Tuck helping her friend, and Nora looking at a picture of Jenny in joy, befire the film closes with Jenny and her fruends leaving school to hang around together.
*Hilarious in Hindsight: The original series' episode "I Was a Preschool Dropout" shows that Jenny was unaware of several moments from a few years before she was created. This film potrays Jenny as someone who, due to boredom due to bring locked up for 5 years, ended up watching media from centuries before she was created.
*Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: While Vexus is an evil supervillain and the film's Big Bad, her Awesome Moments, funny scenes, and charisma prevent her from being completly unlikeable. The deceased Skyway Patrol leader, on the other hand, is such an unbearable Jerkass that when he got killed, the audience actually laughed both at how funny his death was and of relief for having that asshole gone.
** Averted with the Crust Cousins, who are Jerks towards Jenny, but are as enoyable to watch as in the original series due to keeping nealry all of their characteristics.
* Lampshade Hamging: Near the climax, Vexus points out how, when it comes to worl-vonquering/destroying scenatios, people expect the MacGuffin tk be some weird and obviously extravagant, namely colorful stones or alien techno-boxes. Which is why she hid her hypno-bomb in a normal frisbee.
* LGBT Fanbase: Given how the original show already had one, this was expected.
*Moment of Awesome: Jenny using a washbashin to punch one of Vexus' soldiers off the ground and onto a building at the opposite side of the town!
*Mythology Gag:
**Jenny in this version says "Oh yeah" whenever she agrees or is excited. This is an homage to the Oh Yeah! Cartoons program, where the original pilot for the animated series was aired.
**The first song that plays in the film is "Daydream Believer", a song an episode of the original series was titled after
**The opening sequence in which Jenny destroys a meteor is an homage to the ending of the pilot episode, where she did the same thing, albeit responding sooner to the threat and without Tuck. Her video-call with her mom also features a few lines from their talk in the pilot.
**Mrs. Wakeman says she gave Jenny human emotions because she "scientifically proved a cold and calculated mindset is not ideal for a world-saving robot". This is not-so-thinly veiled reference to Armaggedroid.
**During a montage at the start of the film, Jenny's body uses her head as a ball, similar to the episode "Indes-Tuck-Tible".
**Jenny's shell cover is referred to as a "silver shell". In the original series, "Silver Shell" was the name of Sheldon's superhero alter ego
**Jenny's room has a poster with the name "Polterguest", a discarded character from the original series.
**Upon meeting the Crust Cousins, Jenny tries to befriend them by using outdated teen lingo, calling back to the dpusode "Queen Bee".
**At one point, Brad is seen hearing the song "Micky Momo", from the episode "I Was a Preeschool Dropout", in his headphones.
**At one point, Jenny briefly changes into her "Hot Rod" appearance from " The Great Unwashed".
**During her night talk with Jenny, Vexus vows to turn her into a part of the Clyster "even if it is as a battery"; in an episode of the original series, Smytus used her as a battery for a machine.
**The weapons Jenny uses against Vexus' army at the climax are all taken straight out of the episode "Dressed to Kill", while the motorcycle form she takes is s reference to the episode "Voyage to the Planet of the Bikers".
**A shot during the climax in which Jenny saves Brad and Tick recreates a poster for the original series.
**During their final battle, Vexus grabs Jenny in a similar to Melody in "No Harmony with Melody".
**During the credits, Nora is seen showing Jenny an early version of her design, which is her design in the pilot for the original series.
**The post-credits scene has Jenny hallucinating so she sees everything in the style of a Looney Tunes cartoon after being overloarded with energy, as an homage to the episode "Daydream Believer".
*Nightmare Fuel:
** Vexus may still be a hammy and over-the-top villain, but she still comes off as scarier than in the original show.
*** Her very first scene has her threatening that, if it wasn't because of Krackus' inventing skills, she would just kill him and use his parts on other robots. Her voice tone and movement make clear that she is not bluffing.
*** At one point, she approaches Jenny at night and asks her to join her army, with the scene playing as if she was a child groomer. And when Jenny refuses, her tone changes to authoritarian and threatens to kill her if she interferes with her plans once again.
*** During the climax, she once again proposes Jenny to join her, this time with a chainsaw as a hand and near her neck. When Jenny refuses once again, Vexus delivers a bone-chilling "Fine", making clear she won't just kill her, she will love it.
***Later, she turns her hand into a knife and uses it to threaten Tuck. In front of his brother.
*** The moment where, after Jenny makes it clear that she will never join the Cluster, she gut-punches her and orders her to be killed. This unveils who Vexus truly is behind her supervillainy and resources: A brute who wants everyone to do what she says.
** In a more mundane way, the way the Crust Coudins and their friends manipulate Jenny to do their bidding. They exploit the innocence of a young girl just looking for friends to engage in criminal behavior that could result in said young girl hurting herself and others. A chilling potrayal of an all-too-real scenario.
* Not-So-Harmless Villain: Vexus is a hammy villain who likes to chew the scene. But make no mistake. She is still a planetary conqueror and remorseless murderer who has no qualms with killing children.
*Shocking Moments: The fact that the filmmakers took a one-off gag from the series, Jenny having a washbashin inside her, and used it to creaye a scene worthy of being in a Dragon Ball film will surely be one for the fans.
*She Also Did: The director for this film was Domee Shi, who previously helmed the Pixar productions Bao and Turning Red.
*Shout-Out: 
** The animation on Nora's feet resembles that of Marvin the Martian.
** The use of "All Outta Love" in the opening is a nod to the opening of Deadpool 2.
**The opening montage of Jenny trying to have fun while locked away is a nod to the montage of Scott Lang in house arrest at the start of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
** When Jenny imagines she's talking with somebody else with her reflection, she asks "are you talking to me? Are you talking to me?".
**While playing a snow fight with fake snow, Jenny and Brad fecreate the "Almost There" sequence from Beauty and the Beast (1991).
**Jenny reveals herself to Vexus in the climax the same way Miles Morales revealed himself at the climax of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
**The scene where Jenny holds Rackus at gunpiint is an homage to the ending of the Looney Tunes short Duck! Rabbit, Duck!.
**At one point, Jenny flexes down her arm and takes down a Cluster robot áka Popeye.
**Jenny's restraining laser resembles a proton blaster from Ghostbusters. A sequence near the end also sees Jenny taking down an army in a similar way Holtzman fought Rowan's ghost army in the 2016 remake.
** The final fight between Jenny and Vexus was inspired by the climaxes of Stuart Little 2 and Venom: Let Thete Be Carnage.
**Before their final duel, Vexus says to Jenny "Misery, misery, misery. That's what you deserve. I offer you friendship, and you spat me in the face!", exactly what the Green Goblin said to Spider-Man at the end of the 2002 film.
**Jenny refusing to vow loyalty to Vexus and Vexus ordering her to be executed as a result was inspired by Esmeralda refusing Frollo's advances in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
**The licensce plate in Jenny's bike form say "ARC33", a refdrence to Transformer character Arcee.
*Tearjerker:
** Jenny's interactions with the Crust Cpusins and their friends. As much as she may believe they are her friends, the truth us that they are using her and she dosen't know nor she wants to believe it. When she dances to "The Candy Man" and "What's New, Pussycat?", its easy for the audience to see they laugh at her, while she remain blissfully unaware of that.
**After Jenny fails to arrive in time to stop Vexus from finding the final piece for her plan, the Crust Cousins and Pteresa claim she forced them into commiting vandalism and that she dosen't care about anyone but herself. The town then leaves in anger, aside from Tuck and Brad who are dragged. And when Jenny confronts them for tjrowing her under the boss, they nonchantantly instead ask her to accompany them to another reunion, causing Jenny to realize they were just using her. Heartbroken, she leaves her classmates, leaving her alone, sad, and feeling unloved.
*Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Vexus. While not devoid of a few comical moments and a hammy actitude, this version of Vexus is a dangerous conqueror willing to kill anybody who stands in her way to world domination, a charactetization that far cobtrasts with the film's lighthearted coming-of-age tone.
*Visual Effects of Awesome: The film has a beautifully fluid hand-drawn animation that wonderfully evokes the feeling of the early 1950s cartoons, just like Rob Renzetti originally intendes for the original series, while also fitting with the CG-created robots.
== Tropes for the TV series ==
* Ascended Extra:
** Characters such as Jenny's sisters, Misty, and Melody appear in far more promenient roles than in the original series.
** Armaggedroid appears as the main antagonist in season 2, whereas he only appeared twice in the original series.
* Ascended Fridge Horror: Inverted. Fans originally worried over the idea of Jenny being locked with her sisters should Nora build an XJ-10. This series not only shows Nora choosing to permanently let the others be free, but specifically builds an XJ-10 for situations Jenny can't handle not even with her friends.
* Central Theme:
** Sisterhood and family are depicted as the main theme in seasons 2 and 4, througth Jenny's interactions with her extended family in season 2, and with X-J10 in season 4.
** The complexities of morality is the main theme in season 3, througth Melody and Misty.
* Darker and Edgier: Much like the film, the series featites greater character development and more emotional themes than the original series, albeit still retaining much of the comedy.
* Narm Charm: Jenny waking up the morning after the Exo-Skin possesed her. Seeing a regular girl's feet while horror-esque music plays may be sillly out-of-context may not be scary. Watch it in-context, througth, and you'll be afraid. Very afraid.
* Nightmare Fuel: The Exo-Suit, already a creepy character on its own, turns out to be worse. Its posesion of Jenny feelsstraight out of a supernatural horror film, and its control over her has all the marks of a Demonic Posesion!
** The form it takes when talking to Jenny. It looks just like Venom in his 2018 film, but with a human-esque dace, making it far more unnerving to watch it.
** During their final clash, it begins to sing "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 to Jenny. And, just like HAL singing "Daisy Bell", it has a singing vouce that will haunt your nightmares.
*** Even worse is that Jenny is a Disney/Wizly fan, yet she was never once seen watching Toy Story 3 in the series, implying the Exo-Skin was reading her mind.
* Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: The Crust Cousins are depicted as this for Jenny.
== Tropes for the short series ==
* Lighter and Softer: The shorts generally ditch the superhero action and character development from the rest of the franchise in favor of a Slice of Life approach.
* Slice of Life: The shorts generally center on Jenny's regular teenager life.
* Truer to Text: Due to the lighter tone and focus on Jenny's life as a teenager, the shorts feel more faithful to the series than the rest of the franchise.
* Whole Plot Reference: The "Rap Battle" short was written as an homage to the rap sequence in Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).
== Tropes for My Life as a Teenage Robot in Cluster Prime ==
* Adaptation Expansion: The film features the events of the special Escape from Cluster Prime in far greater detail than the special, both physically and emotionally.
* Adaptation Ending Overhaul: Instead of simply returning home, Jenny is declared a liason between Earth and Cluster Prime. allowing her to interact with her friends on both planets.
* Awesome Moments: The moment where everybody at Cluster Prime works with Jemmy to defeat Vexus after learning of Vexus' lies. Underscored by Twisted Sister "We're Not Gonna Take It".
** Jenny also manages to contact Vexus from Cluster Prime to Earth to pretty much brag of what happened by invoking Be Careful What You Wish For as a Badass Boast, with a Mythology Gag to the original series to boot.
** Furthermore, this is how Vexus discovers Jenny's presence on Cluster Prime. She's been looking for Jenny for days, and she finally found out where she is... by finding out she destroyed her life's work within a week without her noticing. Vexus' reaction is priceless and oh-so-satisfying to watch.
*Mythology Gag:
**When revealing Vexus what she did in Cluster Prime, Jenny quotes her original self by saying: "All this time you wanted me on Cluster Prime. And look what happens when I get here!".
**Much like Smytus at the end of the original.soecial, Vexus trues to use a world-destroying bomb as a last meassure, albeit on Cluster Prime instead.
**Vexus at the end escapes Cluster Prime and ends up stranded in an asteroid where she loses her sanity, which is near exactly how it happened in the series, except that this time she is alone. She even refers to a rat as "Mr. Pillows".
*The Power of Rock: Jenny havks into the system of Vexus' ship and turns the speaker into sonic weapons that she uses by playimg "We're Not Gonna Take Ot" by Twisted Sister.
*Sequel Hook:
**Near the end of the film, Vega takes over as queen, and she comments that "It won't be easy to get used to this", subtly hinting at her upcoming spin-off.
**A near-insane Vexus is stranded in an asteroid and swears revenge.
* She Really Can Act: Awkwafina is mostly known as a comedic actress, and Vega has ger mostly walking those shoes again via a slightly snarky yet friendly personality. However, her performance when Vega discovers her mother's evil nature, and pretty much every moment after, will tug at your heartstrings and make you hug her.
*Shout-Out:
**Jenny usimg her music to fight her alien foes echoes the Enterprise fightimg Krall's ship the same way in Star Trek Beyond.
**The post-credits scene with Vexus was lifted straight from Sonic the Hedgehog (2020).
*Villant Exit, Stage Left: Vexus flees from Jenny and Vega, but crashing imto an asteroid.
== Tropes for Vega ==
* A Day in the Spotlight: The entire series centers on Vega and her life as queen of Cluster Prime.
* And the Fandom Rejoiced: Given how Vega was an Ensemble Dark Horse in the original series, the very idea of her starring in her own series was met with joy from the fandom.
* Rogues Gallery Transplant: The Space Bikers appear in this series as enemies of the Cluster instead of Jenny's.
* Something Completly Different: This is the very first entry in the entire My Life as a Teenage Robot franchise to not to center on Jenny., throught she still appears in the series in a secondary role. 
* Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: 
** Unlike the original series, where Vega becoming queen was declared a full-blown happy ending, this series shows how such a radical change ended up affecting her personal life.
** The second season also shows that relationships between Earth and Cluster Prime have not improved significantly. After all, the planet kept attacking Earth for a long time, so not everybody will embrace people from Cluster Prime with open arms.
* Shout-Out: At one point, Vega comes across soem inhabitants of Cluster Prime that resemble the Botbots, from the Transformers line of the same name.