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Rodney Copperbottom Appearances Gallery

Rodney Copperbottom is the main protagonist of the film Robots. He is the son of dishwasher Herb Copperbottom and his wife, Lydia. Rodney is an aspiring inventor who idolizes the famous Bigweld. Rodney's dream is to go to Robot City to work as an inventor for Bigweld Industries. He was voiced by Ewan McGregor.

Physical Appearance

Rodney appears early in the film and home console game as a child, though early on he is upgraded to his young adult body, which he has for the rest of the film and game. Generally, he appears as a thin humanoid robot who has a blue-green color scheme with white highlights and brown-gray insides.

As a child, he has a body emulating a humanoid child. His proportions are so that his torso is about as long as his legs.

As a young adult, his body is obviously taller. His legs have been replaced with longer ones that appear to have a spring in each of them. His body proportions have been altered so that his torso is shorter than his legs.

Personality

Rodney Copperbottom is a determined and idealistic inventor who won't give up on his dreams. He's easy to get along with others such as Cappy, Fender, and Aunt Fanny. Likewise, Rodney is a noble, well-intentioned robot who is perfectly willing to help out anyone in an awkward situation, and to look out for other Outmodes. However, he's also quite pragmatic when it comes to confronting a villain, particularly in his later interactions with Ratchet.

History

Rodney Copperbottom was born in Rivet Town to Herb and Lydia Copperbottom. As a child, Rodney and his father watched a TV show hosted by the inventor and industrialist, Bigweld, who talked about his company who would hire new inventors who created newer technologies for robots. Inspired by Bigweld and his motto, "You can shine no matter what you're made of," Rodney wanted to become an inventor like him.

Family

Friends

Trivia

  • After Rodney is dumped outside Bigweld Industries by the giant magnet, all the metal shavings from the slogan sign stick to his head, just like the old-time Magnetic Face toys.
  • Rodney's design is inspired by an old Evinrude outboard engine in Chris Wedge's garage, as well as on a Volkswagen van. An early version of Rodney makes a cameo, as the green robot with the jet pack, waiting in line during Bigweld's television show.
  • The net weight of the box in which the baby is delivered is 3.5 kilograms. This would mean that Rodney would have a birth weight of seven pounds, and eleven ounces.
  • At one point, a voicebox with a recording of Darth Vader's voice is found. Ewan McGregor, the voice of Rodney, played a younger Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, in which Revenge of the Sith, the third episode and final installment of the prequel trilogy, was released in 2005, the same year as Robots, and releasing 2 months after the release of the film.
  • Ewan McGregor used an American accent to portray Rodney.
  • The first film in which Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor voice animated characters, the second being the live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017).
  • David Spade, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael J. Fox, Sam Huntington, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Matthew Fox, Matthew McConaughey, James Marsden, Topher Grace, and Sean Faris were considered for the role of Rodney.
  • Ewan McGregor's first time voice acting in a theatrical film. Later he'd go onto voice the titular character of Valiant (2005), Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Lumiere the Candle in Beauty and the Beast (2017), and The Wish Collector in The Land of Sometimes.
  • During the scene where Rodney arrives in Robot City for the first time, a robot that resembles Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) from the Ice Age franchise can be seen briefly in the background.
  • Rodney Copperbottom has similarities to Shrek in Shrek.
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