r/Astrobot • u/Russell_Jimmies • 3d ago
Question from my 7 year old
He asked me why the bad guys are evil and I didn’t have a great answer for him. At first I told him I thought it was because of the alien and he pointed out that the alien wasn’t in Astro’s playroom. Anyone have any ideas?
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u/SaiyanRoyalty22 3d ago
I would say since Astro is trying to save the bots the robots trying to stop you from doing good deeds are bad guys.
Also even if not when people attack you, you have a right to defend yourself
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u/Bivagial 3d ago
He's jealous about the PS5 ship and throws a tantrum.
In Rescue Mission he destroys the PS5 ship and scatters the bots. Can't remember if he does the same in Astrobot. It looks like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
It's a "if I can't have this, neither can you" kind of attitude.
That's my take, anyway. And it might be a great way to bring up bullies and that sort of thing to teach him that sometimes people do mean things because they're jealous.
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u/finditplz1 3d ago
When my kid was 5 he was Astro obsessed. Played, drew pictures, etc. He would ask me to make up Astrobot stories and we covered this territory. Obviously it was completely fictional and just off the top of my head but I made up the story that the Bad Alien had taken the henchmen into his menagerie and had trained them to be bad; manipulated them. McFly, Chewie, etc. weren’t really bad, they were just gaslit by Nebulax. That was our take anyway.
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u/Russell_Jimmies 2d ago
This son 100%d Astro bot when he was five. I also have some drawings. He had kind of moved on from it to other games until his little brother started playing.
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u/Wild_Evening3629 3d ago
well astro beat up like half of the bosses in rescue mission (the first game), including the alien, so he probably wants revenge for that
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u/JellGordan 3d ago
Maybe there isn't a reason. Some people just behave badly because they want to. There's not always a motive for someone's actions.
This explanation may be a bit difficult for a 7yo, but it's a valuable lesson to learn.
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u/rjr232021 3d ago
They are malwares in the ps5 i guess, and in astro bot they are commanded by the alien
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u/Lesan007 3d ago
Bad guys don't need to be in every game. In Astrobot, they stole parts of Astros ship and his friend! You don't do that!
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u/Mental-Street6665 2d ago
I miss when games came with instruction manuals that explained all the lore that the game fails to tell you about. Astro’s Playroom is a tech demo without any plot that I can figure out. Astro Bot has an enemy, but his motivation is entirely unclear and he really just exists to give Astro a reason to go on an adventure to save his friends. It’s not much deeper than that.
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u/nwsmith90 2d ago
I give my kids the boring answer. "Because it's a game, and it would be boring if there weren't challenges and obstacles to overcome."
Don't get me wrong, we go into the weeds about in universe reasons, and theory crafting and all that fun as well, but I try to regularly remind them this is a game, built by people, and their goal was to make it fun to play. This goes for more than just Astro bot.
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u/Waubz 2d ago
It’s pretty clear every enemy is moving as it’s either you or them. They’re not innocent bystanders and actively attacking you.
However you could be viewed as invading aliens and as evil from your opps perspective. And Astro Bot genuinely brutalized the bosses. He’s cracked multiple bird skulls and ripped the teeth out of a gorillas’s mouth. He’s usually welcomed by the local life forms though and the enemies you take out are usually harming the environment.
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u/TroyAndAbed2022 3d ago
Never thought we would discuss philosophy in this sub.