Robot's Drones

Robot pilots a fleet of automated drones that serve as his hands in nearly every situation. Built and steered by Rudy Conners through a neural implant, the machines let him fight, work, and move about without exposing his frail true form. Details of their origin are thin, though he engineered several distinct versions over time, and it was one of these units that first assembled the superhero squad known as the Teen Team.

The drones prove useful across many crises. Rudy sends one to beat back the Flaxan invaders and decode their language, and dispatches another on a dangerous errand to fetch a rare healing flower for a gravely wounded Monster Girl, an outing that leaves the machine badly battered. When Rudy sets out to escape his deformed body, he works through the drones to spring the Mauler Twins from prison and commission a fresh clone grown from stolen Rex Splode DNA, then turns the drones on the twins once the transfer succeeds. Piloting the units directly at first triggers panic attacks born of inexperience, but he adapts and repurposes some as laboratory assistants.

His devotion to Monster Girl shapes much of the drones' later use. He builds one modeled on her creature form so she can spar without transforming, though Amanda struggles with the headset controls and smashes several of the pricey machines in frustration. The drones also help him assemble a belt that finally halts her reverse-aging curse, one of them handing over the power source and later confirming she no longer de-ages. During the Invincible War, the variant Gogglesvincible tears through the fleet at Teen Team headquarters hunting the real Robot, only to rip one open and find a fully human Rudy inside. After the war and Conquest's fall, a drone even delivers Rudy's eulogy at Rex Splode's funeral, where he takes the name Rex in tribute.

Rudy fields a few discrete models. His standard mech unit began as a remotely operated machine before he chose to inhabit such drones directly, always keeping which one he occupied a mystery. A far larger truck unit transforms from a massive vehicle into a towering combat mech, a nod to the shapeshifting robots of the Transformers franchise. A green Monster Girl variation unit was made to copy Amanda's form for training, then set aside. Their expense keeps the fleet deliberately small.