Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot

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Ricky Ricotta is the fictional hero of a series of adventure novels for children written by Dav Pilkey (best known for his Captain Underpants books), and illustrated by U.S. artist Martin Ontiveros.

In each book, Ricky Ricotta, a mouse, with the help of his mighty robot, saves the world from an evil villain. Also, the books each have a villain from a different planet in order from closest-to-sun to farthest-from-sun excluding Earth as the villain of the first book is from Earth. The reader could see the villains being jailed in each series and later notice the familiar villains from previous books. So far, the villains being jailed are Dr. Stinky McNasty, Mr. Mosquito, Victor von Vulture, Major Monkey, General Jackrabbit, Sergeant Stinkbug, and Uncle Unicorn.

The books are especially appealing to young children because each contains a "Flip-O-Rama" section. In these sections, the reader can "animate the action" by quickly flipping between sets of pages. The result is a simple stop-motion cartoon. The sections are usually devoted to fight scenes between Ricky's Robot and villains.

Books include:

• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (2000)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Mutant Mosquitos from Mercury (2000)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Voodoo Vultures from Venus (2001)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Mecha Monkeys from Mars (2002)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter (2002)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Stupid Stinkbugs from Saturn (2003)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus (2005)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot Astro-Activity Book o' Fun (2006)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Naughty Night Crawlers from Neptune (in Development Hell)

The first three books were originally published as Ricky Ricotta's Giant Robot. Dav Pilkey stopped using the word Giant in the year 2002 after many young fans pointed out that the Robot really isn't a giant. He's just 12 times taller than a mouse, so he's really only about two-and-a-half feet tall. Many young readers suggested the adjective "Mighty" instead, so after careful consideration, Pilkey changed the title on all the books.

Description copied and pasted from The Other Wiki.

Tropes used in Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot include:

• Alliteration: Every book title besides the first one, after the "vs." part.
• Alliterative Name: Ricky Ricotta.
  • Also, the villains starting with Mr. Mosquito.
• Annoying Younger Cousin: Lucy, who, as Ricky puts it, is "a little pest!".
• Barefoot Cartoon Animals
• Bathroom Break Out: Ricky does this to stop a Mad Scientist.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In Uranium Unicorns from Uranus, Ricky, easily annoyed by his robot's gigantic size given that he's a little mouse, makes a wish at night that the Robot should find another friend his own size so he won't have to hang out with him all the time. However, it turns out his wish has inspired a plan by the villains, who sent a giant unicorn robot to fight with the Robot. Thus, Ricky changes his mind about his wish and ventures out to get his robot back from the unicorn robot.
• A Boy and His X: A mouse boy and his mighty robot.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Lucy, again.
• Bully Hunter: Ricky becomes one in the first book after saving the robot from Dr. Stinky.
• Continuity Cavalcade: Every book in the series ends with the villain getting thrown in jail next to the villains from the previous books.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: In the first book, the Robot's evil creator, Dr. Stinky, tries to punish him by zapping him after he refuses to destroy Squeakyville. But then the Robot was saved by Ricky...
• Development Hell: An eighth book called Naughty Night Crawlers from Neptune was scheduled to succeed after Uranium Unicorns from Uranus, but unfortunately, it never got off the ground due to a Schedule Slip.
• Edible Theme Naming: Ricky's last name was based on cheese (get it?).
• Empathic Weapon: The Robot himself.
• Everytown, America: Squeakyville.
• Four-Fingered Hands
• Funny Animal: The entire cast.
• Gentle Giant: The Robot.
• Humble Hero Kid Hero: Ricky.
• Humongous Mecha: The Robot, again.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size: ...whose head looks vaguely like a mouse.
• Hypno Ray: There's one built by the villains in Voodoo Vultures from Venus.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Ricky in the first book.
• The Kid with the Remote Control
• Mad Scientist: Every single villain.
• Nice Mice: Ricky and most of the other Squeakyville citizens.
• Once Per Episode: The Robot fighting the villains and throwing the chief one to jail.
• Punny Name: Ricky's full name is a play on both the word "ricotta"^[1] and the name of actor Desi Arnaz's character, Ricky Ricardo, from the show I Love Lucy.
• Schedule Slip: After Uranium Unicorns from Uranus was published because Dav Pilkey was taking care of his father.
• Shout-Out: One book features "Hate Potion #9", a reference to the song "Love Potion No. 9".
• Show Within a Show: "Rocket Rodent" in Voodoo Vultures from Venus. It was Ricky's favorite show.
• Shrinking Violet: Ricky himself.
• Tagalong Kid: Lucy.
• Theme Naming: Lucy was named after Lucille Ball, who had a TV show called I Love Lucy, where she was married to a musician named "Ricky Ricardo". Also, Lucy's mother and father, Aunt Ethyl and Uncle Freddy, were named after Fred and Ethyl Mertz, two other characters from the same show.
• Tickle Torture: Done by Ricky to Victor von Vulture in order to escape him in Voodoo Vultures from Venus.
• Tin Can Robot: Well, the Robot.
• Try and Follow: In Uranium Unicorns from Uranus, Ricky does it to Lucy by telling her that everything she loves would be destroyed. She bursts into tears.
• Versus Title: Every single book ever. Except for the first one, at least.
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?
• World of Funny Animals
• You Dirty Rat: Dr. Stinky in the first book.

1. ↑ which is cheese; in fictional works, mice are obsessed with cheese