Who is Robot Co-op?

In 2006, with a little money and a whole lot of will, Incognito Cinema Warriors XP (ICWXP) was born. An homage to Mystery Science Theater 3000, series creator Rikk Wolf exploited his love of survival horror games to great effect and put his unique spin on the story. Building on a framework of heavy metal, 90s pop culture, and video game references, episode one was created. What was intended as a single episode, soon became a four-episode season one, a five-episode season two, two comic books, and a loyal following of fans. Get the DVDs and Comics Here.

## The Story Arc

The hosted segments focused on the story of Commander Rick Wolf, an experienced soldier, headstrong, sarcastic and quick with a firearm as well as a stinging video game quip. Rick belonged to CORPS, a United States Military Special Operations Force that dealt exclusively with combatting zombies and held the rank of Commander.

Some time after the zompocalypse struck the world, Rick was deployed to downtown Kansas City, Missouri with his squad to aid in the containment of the zombie outbreak therein. Rick's Squad was lost to him, as stated in the lyrics to the ICWXP opening theme song, and the visuals displayed highly suggest they were eaten alive by zombies.

Outnumbered and low on ammo, Rick sought refuge in a nearby abandoned movie house, Cine-A-Sorrow Theater. It's there that he met future robot companions Topsy Bot 5000 and Johnny Cylon, idly passing the time inside.

The owner of the theater, Dr. Harrison Blackwood, forced Rick (and subsequently Topsy & Johnny) to view bad movies in exchange for shelter from the ever-worsening zompocalypse that was literally at the theater's doorstep. Ultimately, Dr. Blackwood would escape the theater, to parts unknown but hopefully a putrid wasteland where he died a horrible and lingering death.

In season two, we are introduced to Flux Namtari, another abandoned robot creation of Dr. Blackwood. We also meet a spy-bot, a prototype floating video camera, designed by Blackwood to monitor his test subjects as well as the zombie hordes outside the theater. We are also introduced to a new villain and a strange new group of survivors.

## Movies to Shorts to Games

After recognizing the difficulties in securing the rights to riff movies, even bad ones, the decision was made to move to short films. Season two features public domain short films, usually two per episode, while continuing the story of Rick and the Bots.

When the nature of DVD production became cost-prohibitive, the crew moved to a YouTube channel, Agonywolf Media, and transitioned to riffing movie and video game trailers and finally settled into riffing mainly video games.

With the change to video games, a name change seemed appropriate and these were christened Incognito Gaming Warriors XP. Like the movie-riffing episodes that came before, these episodes were scripted, shot, and edited before uploading. The silhouette-style shot was used into the let’s play episodes. When YouTube views and ad revenue failed to meet expectations, a new channel, Robot Co-op, was launched. Live riffing let’s plays soon followed, as did the creation of the Robot Co-op Twitch channel. While the YouTube channel still has content uploaded from time to time, Twitch is the home for Robot Co-op.

Rick, along with all the crew, continues the storyline of 20XX zompocalypse outside the theater where they now play video games.

## Adaptability

Like any endeavor that lasts for 15 years, changes are inevitable. The elephant in the room of casting changes was never avoided, but met with a party hat and riffed along with whatever film, short, or game was on the agenda for the episode. Like other changes to the show, the switch to face cameras was used as an opportunity to poke fun at trolls and those who are unwilling or unable to accept necessary changes as creators adapt to the dynamic world of internet content. The ability to adapt to changes in format, content, and platform, while maintaining a consistent level of fun riffing, fan interaction, and highly developed additional content, like songs, commercials, and notifications, attests to the sustainability of this show.

## Links

The ICWXP Wiki

The Twitch Channel

The YouTube Channel