All the XJ-Robots in 'My Life as a Teenage Robot'
In the show, the eccentric Dr. Noreen Wakeman created the main protagonist of the series, Jenny Wakeman, otherwise known as X-J9. The 9 is a reference to the fact that she is the 9th model of her series, made to be the complete model. However, as Jenny would discover, she is in fact the successor of many failed prototypes, which she keeps locked in the basement to keep them out of trouble. Recognizing them as her sisters, Jenny would attempt to bond with them; however, because all the sisters are in some ways unstable, this led to them causing trouble and Jenny getting frustrated in dealing with their “quirks.” Despite this, the XJ-Sisters still look to Jenny as their eldest and most respected and even aided her in many adventures. Despite their visible “incompetence,” they are regarded as particularly useful, as even General Smytus of the Cluster decided to utilize them.
History:
Before even creating the XJ-Series, Dr. Wakeman, an eccentric scientist and engineer, once worked with Skyway Patrol. She had designed and created Armagedroid, a very powerful and large robot designed to eliminate enemy weapons. He was by far the most advanced robot ever created. Despite succeeding in his mission and driving away any potential invaders, however, Armagedroid had grown restless due to the fact that there had been no attacks for a while and began targeting and destroying all weapons he could find, including Skyway Patrols, because he was unable to differentiate friend from foe. Nora was able to convince Armagedroid that their ultimate weapon was hidden in the Earth’s core, which convinced him to dig himself deep into Earth’s magma, where he was presumed destroyed. With that, Wakeman left Skyway Patrol and began working on plans for a new protector for Earth to replace Armagedroid. Through trial and error, Wakeman was able to succeed with her final project, but in order to ensure its success, she had created 8 other machines along the way as prototypes.
XJ-1:
The eldest of all the XJ-Sisters, as she was the first machine created, but is often regarded as the youngest sister due to her infant-like mentality, as she cannot speak and only communicates through beeps and whines similar to a binary language. She is physically an egg-like machine with bulbs for eyes and a lower half that resembles a diaper. Unlike the other XJ-Sisters, she does not appear to have any weapons or functions of any kind, only possessing the ability to leak or barf oil from her tears or eyes. As she’s programmed to be a human baby, she tends to be easily startled and spooked and is often followed and cared for by XJ-4 due to her messy behavior. When her body is cracked in 2 she releases a substance similar to Yolk.
XJ-2:
The second eldest of the XJ-Sisters. She is the second machine created as a prototype for Jenny. Physically, she is a large ray gun on wheels. However, due to a design flaw, XJ-2 suffers a dangerous defect that causes her to uncontrollably fire laser blasts in a similar fashion to human hiccups. Wakeman repeatedly has to remind her to hold her breath to control this however this causes her to backfire, literally. Like her younger sister, although her program enables her to follow commands and understand what someone is saying, she is not programmed for speech herself; however, she can be heard saying “hiccup” whenever firing her laser blast.
XJ-3:
The third eldest of the XJ-Sisters, she seems to resemble a smaller version of Jenny, with an eye for a head and pincers for hands, as Wakeman began experimenting on the robot anatomy for the final version. Like her younger sisters, she is also mute but is the only XJ-sister to not make any type of humanoid sounds; however, she demonstrates some more advanced abilities, like the ability to transform. XJ-3, however, is very clumsy and unstable, and because of this she often falls apart (though she’s still conscious), requiring her to be frequently trailed by her elder successor and sister XJ-4 to clean up her parts and reassemble them. In terms of robotic development, she is the equivalent of a toddler learning how to walk. Out of all the XJ-sisters, she’s the only one that needs the most repairs from Wakeman due to her clumsiness.
XJ-4:
The 4th model of the XJ-Series. Built as an adolescent machine, presumably for cleaning and multitasking, she is the only XJ-sister with natural multiple arms as part of her design. She is also the only XJ-Robot design with a different design scheme that doesn’t exactly match the other XJ-sisters, such as her color scheme being lavender and not having the mini-skirt/pigtail design the other XJ-sisters have. Due to her programming, she is obsessed with cleanliness and perfection and always making sure everything is in tiptop shape, even to the point of scolding people for creating messes they cannot help but create. She even had to (under the influence of Dr.Locus) forfeit her fight with Jenny to sort through Wakeman’s shoes. Although not designed to be a combatant, XJ-4 is more than willing to fight on the front lines if need be and can transform to create different structures or weapons, though she prefers to fight using cleaning utensils.
XJ-5:
The fifth model of the XJ-Series. As pointed out by Wakeman herself, XJ-5’s circuitry is far more advanced than her predecessors, as Wakeman had begun experimenting with more complex abilities for her final product, such as socializing. She is built from what appears to be an old-fashioned radio. She has no legs and instead hovers all the time thanks to her “pigtails”. She is preteen-like and is a massive literal chatterbox befitting her design. She constantly talks, speaks her mind, and gives comments much to the annoyance of the people around her. She also tends to not be aware that her words can offend people, such as when she claimed that humans smell funny (despite Tuck Carbunkle clearly being upset at her claims). Her final appearance seems to imply it’s possible to “mute” her, as she doesn’t speak and simply plays music (even playing Taps when she’s defeated). Despite this, she displays great leadership skills and seems to be the most outgoing and extraverted among the XJ-Sisters, being more than willing to speak on their behalf and use her words to de-escalate situations. She also tends to spat with her more sociable siblings such as XJ-4 & XJ-6.
XJ-6:
The sixth model and the fourth youngest of the XJ-Series. She, along with XJ-3 and XJ-8, resembles Jenny the most, with her design being straighter, pointier, and often facing forward. She has 3 spider-like legs and a large monitor that displays her face. She’s often seen floating sometimes but is capable of walking. Due to the way she is positioned, she often appears to have one eye and one arm when she’s revealed to have both, as shown when she turns her head and body. Personality-wise, she appears to be an exaggeration of an insecure teenager, as she is often jealous of Jenny being the “perfect model,” as she believes herself to be an inferior version because she is an unfinished version of Jenny. She is perhaps the only prototype to have some sort of disdain for being locked away in the basement and deactivated by her mother when no longer useful.
XJ-7:
The seventh model and the third youngest of the XJ-Series. She is a hunched-over robot with droopy eyes and a mouth of sorts, and has treads for locomotion. Yet another experiment regarding complex teen emotions, XJ-7 is severely depressed and often frowns at just about everything, having low trust and low self-esteem issues. Very few things seemed to genuinely make her smile, such as square dancing. She also, like the others, genuinely cares about Jenny and regards her as family. Despite possessing the ability to transform herself, XJ-7 rarely fights on the front lines and even self-destructed because she “cannot even convincingly sound evil”. Like XJ-8, she speaks with a monotone voice that causes her to sound like a male.
XJ-8:
The earlier models deal with the complexity of human interactions, emotions, and feelings. Wakeman explicitly created XJ-8 to be extremely apathetic and to lack thereof. Although created to be stronger than Jenny (and by proxy the rest of the XJ-Sisters), Wakeman herself stated the reason for this is that there was no room for any complex human emotion or thought. Because of this, XJ-8 lacks social cues or any understanding of human customs, as she was convinced that a human child was harming a paper pig with a stick, and when told it’s a game and tried to teach her how to play, she responded by destroying the pig (and burning the candy) with her laser vision, causing the game to be ruined. While her successor tends to rely on more strategic planning and weapons, XJ-8 tends to rely on brute strength and force to dominate her opponents.
Her overreliance on it has proven to be her undoing plenty of times. Although she has a lack of a complex personality, there are times when she emotes and displays what she’s feeling, such as sadness, anger, or happiness (usually through her eyes and occasionally her mouth). She also displays immense care for her sisters at times, such as carrying XJ-1 or rallying the others to save Jenny when everyone was arguing. Due to her logical personality, she’s sometimes the only sister who desires to stay on task when the others bicker and is unwilling to waste time. Like XJ-7, she speaks with a robotic, deep monotone voice. Physically, she is the bulkiest and largest of the XJ-Sisters, being capable of carrying all of them in her arms at once. She’s the only XJ sister prototype to be activated more than the others.
XJ-9:
The (seemingly) final product of the XJ-Series was made 5 years before the show first started, but is designed to be a teenager. She had also taken the name Jenny, only being referred to by her model number by her mother/creator (and occasionally her enemies). Out of all the XJ-Sisters, Jenny is the most complex and powerful of all of them, possessing a near-limitless arsenal of weapons and is capable of human emotions and thought, allowing her to act independently. As the final robot, Jenny is the youngest of the XJ-Sisters but is ironically looked at as the oldest in terms of maturity and mentality, as she is the most responsible and stable of all of them.
XJ-10:
A theoretical number given to an unmade robot and usually used as a joke. In one instance, when Jenny had been brainwashed by Todd Sweeney, Wakeman had begun making blueprints to create XJ-10 to replace and/or destroy Jenny when she was believed to be a renegade before she proved her innocence. Judging from her designs, she was implied to have claws for hands and a more sharper triangular design. After Jenny proved her innocence, the idea and project were scrapped.
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