Where is this robot illustration from?

June 3, 2005 5:44 PM

where is this robot from? It's driving me crazy! Me and a friend saw a guy with a tattoo of this robot on his back at this music festival and we both recognized it. Then I randomly saw that picture on some website. It can't be hitchhikers guide...i think the "don't panic" is just cause it's a home made shirt. Am I wrong? Make me look stupid though, I know you know where this robot came from!
posted by freudianslipper to media & arts (36 comments total)

i fudged that up!

where is this robot from?
posted by freudianslipper at 6:03 PM on June 3, 2005

Is it from here?
posted by Crosius at 6:10 PM on June 3, 2005

hmmm i suppose it's possible but it's definitely not where I saw this before. I dont know if my memory is making things up but i feel like it was an artful illustration. perhaps a webcomic or just a character on some illustrative site.

I dunno.
posted by freudianslipper at 6:18 PM on June 3, 2005

[unfudged main link]
posted by jessamyn at 6:47 PM on June 3, 2005

mm. i think i saw a cartoon duck that looks like that before. Or maybe I just thought it was a duck and it was really a yellow robot. But I don't know where the duck was from either!
posted by leapingsheep at 7:08 PM on June 3, 2005

Don't Panic suggests The Hitchhikers Guide books. i'd guess it's Marvin.
posted by willnot at 8:07 PM on June 3, 2005

Sorry, Didn't read the bottom portion of your question.
posted by willnot at 8:16 PM on June 3, 2005

I, too, have seen that robot and it wasn't from Crosius' link's creatures (never seen them before).

Must go back aways.
posted by dreamsign at 8:28 PM on June 3, 2005

It reminds me of Bender from Futurama, but the eyes aren't right.
posted by Joleta at 9:13 PM on June 3, 2005

darnit! i'm glad i'm not alone in this though. It's definitely not Bender...haha but I see what you mean.

Do you guys think it might be from a band? At first I thought 'The Get Up Kids' but i checked and it's not, they have different robots on their album cover. I know somebody knows what this is.

oh and thanks jessamyn for fixing my goof :)
posted by freudianslipper at 10:16 PM on June 3, 2005

I think it might be based of the drunk singing robot that appeared in a penny arcade strip, but I'm having trouble finding it right now. I'll try again in the morning.
posted by splatta at 12:09 AM on June 4, 2005

I don't think it's anything from Penny Arcade. It's close to the fruit friend but it wouldn't make much sense without the juicer portion. It's also not the divx player. The xbox playing robot looks similar but no more so than Bender or any generic robot. That's all their search feature could find, so anything else would be a really obscure reference.
posted by Gary at 2:09 AM on June 4, 2005

Augh. This is driving me crazy. There is an artist (modern day) who draws sketches of characters that look like this, we these heads/legs/eyes/mouths. I don't remember a robot character, but he/she could have done one. I remember looking at his work online within the last 6 months but I can't seem to find the site now. This is going to bug me for days.
posted by jeanmari at 5:47 AM on June 4, 2005

It reminds me of this. Did this guy do a robot movie?
posted by LunaticFringe at 6:59 AM on June 4, 2005

I could be totally wrong, but isn't the robot from Bad Robot Production? Check out the end of the show "Alias" when they run the production company logos.

BTW: A quick google for the logo was not fruitful for me.
posted by sillygit at 7:48 AM on June 4, 2005

Makes me think of Radiohead's 'paranoid android'.. maybe jacket art from an album of theirs?
posted by Radio7 at 8:00 AM on June 4, 2005

Props to Radio7: I was immediately reminded of Radiohead as well.
posted by abingham at 8:06 AM on June 4, 2005

Are you sure it's a robot? He/she/it looks a lot like the palm side of a finger to me. With appendages.
posted by bricoleur at 8:11 AM on June 4, 2005

I think it's probably just a robot that the artist made up. I draw a recurring robot character that looks somewhat similar, and I've seen other people drawing other rather similar-looking things. I think you're just seeing an image that's been influenced by a lot of the sources mentioned by people above [Bender, the Penny Arcade robot, the Hitch-hiker's Guide, etc], so that it looks sort of familiar.

It's definitely not Bender, the Penny-Arcade robot, or something from Radiohead [You're thinking of the song Paranoid Android, which is actually a Hitchhiker's reference. That robot's nothing like the illustrative style they were using around OK Computer.]
posted by ubersturm at 9:18 AM on June 4, 2005

uberstorm: I see what your saying but the fact that me and a friend both recognized it from somebody with a tattoo of it makes me believe otherwise.

I feel that this is or was a popular illustration. Unfortunately my example is of a homemade interpretation so it's hard to get that.

We are close I can feel it! come on google-fu!
posted by freudianslipper at 9:44 AM on June 4, 2005

This seems similar, and this is just cute.
posted by lorrer at 1:08 PM on June 4, 2005

Could be a stylized robby the robot or marvin the robot...yarrrgh. Well if the particular illustration above isn't from somewhere in particular, it could be an emerging graphic meme for seattle.
posted by lorrer at 1:23 PM on June 4, 2005

I'm pretty sure sillygit has it. It looks a lot like the Bad Robot logo, found after Alias and Lost. And a long google didn't reveal an image of that logo either. I just deleted the season finale off my tivo or I could produce a screenshot. Bummer.
posted by tinamonster at 1:37 PM on June 4, 2005

Argh, this is going to bugging me all day, too.

Just to keep the search going: it's definitely not the Bad Robot logo. That guy has a wide, red, rectangular head.
posted by (alice) at 1:50 PM on June 4, 2005

(Like this.)
posted by (alice) at 1:55 PM on June 4, 2005

Another production company logo then? I have a particular memory of seeing the little guy on TV. Anyone?
posted by tinamonster at 2:07 PM on June 4, 2005

lorrer - weeell thing is, i just moved to seattle and i've seen this robot way earlier in CA. I'm pretty sure it's a web thing but I can't be 100%. thanks guys for all the help, I really thought this was gonna be an easy answer.
posted by freudianslipper at 2:42 PM on June 4, 2005

I'm absolutely certain that it's from a web comic, but I can't find it.
posted by stavrogin at 3:17 PM on June 4, 2005

stavrogin yes I think you are right...i can't find it either!
posted by freudianslipper at 3:30 PM on June 4, 2005

It's close to the fruit friend but it wouldn't make much sense without the juicer portion.

Friend? Don't be coy...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 3:48 PM on June 4, 2005

i really thought I was close with this link I feel like its in that sorta style. How close is this though? From the same link.

ARG!
posted by freudianslipper at 4:05 PM on June 4, 2005

Hmm - the first thing that crossed my mind was that it was very reminiscent of the artwork inside some of the Radiohead albums, OK Computer, or Amnesiac.

I've just flicked through them all, though, and it's not in there; nor is it on the Radiohead Artwork site (which I think I first came across via mefi...)

Interesting one...
posted by Chunder at 4:26 PM on June 4, 2005

It reminds me a whole lot of the style of explodingdog. Which has robots occasionally. Can't seem to find an exact match at the moment, though.
posted by squidlarkin at 9:24 AM on June 5, 2005

Oh, thank you squidlarkin!!! explodingdog was the artist I was thinking of. Whew! Now my brain can get some rest.
posted by jeanmari at 12:23 PM on June 5, 2005

:( i couldn't find it.
posted by freudianslipper at 6:52 PM on June 5, 2005

Is http://explosm.net/ the same thing as explodingdog?
posted by VillainousJester at 9:02 PM on December 23, 2005