This show has a lot going for it. It has excellent animation for a mid-2000s Cartoon Network show and its fighting choreography is on par with The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack. It also has hilarious physical humour, with the sufferings of characters like Gus and Dr. Kamikaze drawing plenty of laughs. I also like the premise: the series is basically an homage to/parody of Tezuka's legendary anime franchise Astro Boy. And, of course, Robotboy himself is an adorable protagonist, providing an enjoyable mix of childish naivety and violent brutality.
However, there are some issues that hold the series back. Firstly, although its physical humour is great, the show uses too many fart jokes. I personally have never found fart jokes to be funny, and reliance on that sort of humour is often a sign of comedic block. In addition, the character of Gus can get EXTREMELY obnoxious when he isn't getting beat up (fortunately, he gets beat up a lot).
Secondly, the show isn't exactly "original". As I said, the series is clearly parodying Astro Boy, something that other shows had already done, while its art style is so reminiscent of The Powerpuff Girls that I would have thought that Craig McCracken or Genndy Tartakovsky were involved except that the writing isn't up to their standards (one of the show's ads even drew attention to the similarity by having Robotboy cosplay as Bubbles). Some people also accuse it of plagiarising My Life as a Teenage Robot, but honestly the two shows don't have much in common aside from both being Astro Boy parodies.
Lastly, I feel that the show overused Robotboy's "super transformation". Having a more powerful form for use against tough opponents is cool and all, but it starts to lose its impact when it is used in nearly every single episode.
So, do I recommend it? Well, if you like Cartoon Network's action-comedy shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Kids Next Door, etc., or if you like Nickelodeon's My Life as a Teenage Robot, then you'll probably like Robotboy. However, if you're expecting this show to match the writing quality of Craig McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky then you're going to be disappointed. And if you expect this series to tackle the premise of a robotic child with the same maturity and depth as Tezuka Osamu, then Robotboy will definitely let you down.
I give it a 7/10. It's good, but it's no masterpiece. The fact that the whole series is available for free on YouTube definitely makes it worth checking out, however.
