A regular character on long-term experimental art site explodingdog.com. Red Robot is drawn with broad, red rectangular shapes and large round yellow eyes: an image that frequently contrasts with creator Sam Brown's distinctive stick people that populate the universe of explodingdog. The nature of the Red Robot is quite enigmatic: it is clear from the body of work that Red Robot is a single and distinct character, but nonetheless there appears to be a race of Red Robots that run rampant in Sam Brown's drawings.
Is Red Robot malevolent? Although he is generally depicted as a destructive force (destroying cities, holding people in his hands a la King Kong, or stomping about at a much larger scale than the stick people), Red Robot can often be seen in human scale sitting down innocuously in a contemplative pose ("sometimes i just want to kill everyone"), open and exposed to the prying eyes of humans ("we all have needs"), or even getting sucked helplessly into UFOs ("a wonton dinner on every table").
With such a diverse application at his disposal in regards to the Red Robot iconography, Sam Brown appears to use Red Robot as a symbol for that which is simultaneously intimidating and vulnerable. However to fully understand the consciousness and purpose of Red Robot, an immersion into explodingdog archives may be necessary. The effect of this website is simply better experienced firsthand than it is when conveyed by others.
Red Robot also appears on popular webcomic Diesel Sweeties by R. Stevens. Drawn with the same blocky red rectangular pieces and round yellow eyes, he is given a voice and part in the ongoing storylines as the comic unfolds. The Diesel Sweeties incarnation of Red Robot is ironic and poignant. His greatest wish is to "crush all hu-mans" and free his robot brothers from oppression by destroying their tyrannical captors. Usually, though, Red Robot gets distracted from this goal by money-making schemes or attending robot rights rallies. His destructive goals seem to lose steam when he interacts with the other robots and machines in the comic -- all of whom are focused solely on love and, well, sex.
Red Robot, then, is a terribly significant character in the community of online comics and art: he spans multiple online ventures and even stars in his own at 1000robots.com. A character, a race, an icon: ultimately, a beautiful enigma.
See Red Robot at the following sites:
www.explodingdog.com
www.dieselsweeties.com
www.1000robots.com
Also see Red Robot World Domination for information on how this works on the cultural level. (Though please note that since the time of that writeup, Red Robot has made much more than a cameo in Diesel Sweeties.)
spiregrain says Alias is made by a company called "Bad Robot", and after the show ends, a Bad Robot logo appears -- It's the Red Robot again!