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Cubix | |
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![]() Title card | |
Also known as | Cubix: Robots for Everyone |
Genre | |
Created by | Cinepix |
Directed by | Joonbum Heo |
Voices of | |
Opening theme | "Cubix Theme" |
Ending theme | "Cubix Theme" (short version) |
Country of origin | South Korea United States |
Original languages | Korean English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 26 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Editors |
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Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | |
Release | August 11, 2001 – January 24, 2004 |
Cubix [a] is a South Korean animated television series created by Cinepix. Set in 2044, it follows a boy, named Connor, who is fascinated with robots and lives with his father, Graham in Bubble Town, a robot-abundant city that is a center for robotics corporation RobixCorp.
4Kids Entertainment acquired the North American rights to the series, with an English-language dub produced by 4Kids Productions to the series in 2001 shortly after the show debuted in August, retaining them until their transfer to Saban Brands, a subsidiary of Saban Capital Group in June 2012. In the United States, it aired on Kids' WB from August 11, 2001, until May 10, 2003. [1]
Cubix was created by the Korean company called Cinepix and licensed by 4Kids Entertainment [2] in North America, and aired for two seasons on Kids' WB!, lasting from August 11, 2001, to May 10, 2003. [3] In May 2001, 4Kids teamed up with a major quick-service restaurant (QSR) to promote the show. [4] The promotion ran for five weeks nationwide. [4] The show had toys in Burger King kids meals and at retail stores. [5] Trendmasters had the toy license to the series. [6] Jakks Pacific also had the licensing agreement for the toy line. [7] [8]
The show has been the theme of three video games: Showdown, Clash 'n' Bash, [9] and Race 'n' Robots. [10]
The total budget for the series was ₩6 billion. [11]
Cubix, taking place in the futuristic year of 2044, is the story of a bright-eyed young boy named Connor with a deep fascination for robots. His father, Graham, who dislikes all robots, has never truly been supportive of his efforts. That is, until they move to Bubble Town, a city with "as many robots as people," and the location of RobixCorp. The reason for RobixCorp's global success is the EPU (Emotion Processing Unit), which allows a robot to develop their own unique personality, just like a human being.
Now that Connor's dream has finally come true, he finds himself with one really big problem: everyone in Bubble Town owns a robot, except him. Shortly after his arrival, he meets his nosy neighbor Abby, who sends her flying pet robot, Dondon, to spy on him. Graham, being not so fond of a robot spying on him, attempts to capture Dondon. During his escape, he crashes into Connor, knocking him out. A worried Abby, along with Connor, hop onto her hover scooter, rushing for the one place in town that can fix her friend.
Here, Connor meets Hela, who runs a repair shop called The Botties' Pit. However, to become an employee, he has to fix a robot in less than 24 hours. Of all the robots he could have chosen, Connor picks Cubix, a one of a kind test model referred to as the 'Unfixable Robot.' The Botties all tried to repair him, especially Hela, who could never quite throw him out. Cubix is the one memory left of her father, Professor Nemo, who invented the EPU. Sadly, he vanished after an experiment with a highly volatile substance known as Solex.
Suddenly, a rogue robot inventor named Dr. K runs off with a stolen robot, leaving the Botties' Pit on the verge of collapse. Connor races back inside in a final effort to save Cubix, leaving him trapped inside. This act of kindness jumpstarts Cubix's EPU, bringing him back to life. With only a moment to spare, Cubix saves Connor from the collapsing building. It was never a matter of hardware; rather, of heart, that fixed the "Unfixable Robot". Therefore, Connor passed the test, earning him a place in the club.
That was not the only surprise Cubix had in store, with his amazing design he can transform into virtually anything. Along with their new friends, Connor and Cubix face up against Dr. K to take back the kidnapped bot.
This series follows the adventures and discoveries of the group, as they unravel Dr. K.'s conspiracy and the disappearance of Professor Nemo.
Solex was stated to have been discovered after an alien spacecraft crashed outside of RobixCorp, shortly before Professor Nemo's disappearance. It has two forms; the glowing electric blue liquid form prone to random energy fluctuations, and the more stable crystallized form used in most robots. The story suggests that it has a psychic nature as it reacts to sentient thoughts and emotions, even those of robots' EPUs. Solex in both liquid and crystallized form is capable of producing immense power. In its crystallized form, its "radioactive" glow is similar to pure isolated radium.
In the first season, Dr. K forcibly collects Solex from infected robots to utilize in his ultimate plan with the aid of an alien disguising itself as Raska, the RobixCorp spokeswoman, who it is implied to have killed to assume her identity. It is suspected that Solex was originally discovered by Prof. Nemo, who fearing the misuse of its power, separated the liquid Solex into small doses, placing it into random robots (or that the explosion in his lab the day he disappeared caused the Solex he was experimenting with to be transferred into the robots that were in his lab at the time).
Liquid Solex, however, produces unexpected effects in robots; this is referred to as Solex infection. As the EPU is placed under heavy stress or emotions, the uncontrollable energy reaction of the liquid Solex within them causes them to malfunction and go berserk. Besides the behavioral malfunction, the infected robot also gains extreme power far beyond its normal capabilities. This extreme power has the ability to overload the host and cause self-destruction unless the Solex is removed, the robot is deactivated, or its energy levels return to normal.
In the beginning of the first season, the Botties were unaware of Dr. K's reasons for chasing after robots, but eventually learned of the existence of Solex and soon began racing Dr. K in the search, intercepting the last few robots to safely obtain it themselves before he could extract it. Dr. K's plans were delayed when Kan-It unintentionally absorbed half the Solex he had collected, which ultimately ended up in the possession of the Botties. Needing more, Dr. K launched an attack on the Botties Pit to steal the Solex they had obtained, only for Cubix to drive them off while revealing that he possessed crystallized Solex. Changing tactics, Dr. K and the alien devised a plan to deactivate Cubix and take some of his Solex crystals, which they were able to pull off by deceiving the Botties into accepting a gift of explosives from Raska that were disguised as protective robots. Adding Cubix's crystallized Solex to the liquid Solex he already possessed, Dr. K was able to power a humongous EPU he had created, which he then used to transform his HQ into the Kulminator, an enormous robot. In the end, Cubix sacrificed himself to defeat the Kulminator and explode the Solex within them both, scattering it across Bubble Town. Cubix would then be revived by absorbing the scattered Solex (obtaining the ability to speak on his own in the process), ending the threat of Solex for good.
The titular Cubix is a one of a kind robot built before Professor Nemo's disappearance, who is found deactivated without visible damage, but no way to reactivate him either. He is introduced as part of Connor's initiation ceremony as the robot he chooses to fix. However, he cannot get Cubix to work until Dr. K appears to retrieve Solex from a robot. Connor brings Cubix back to life, just as the building they are in starts to fall apart. His body is made out of a number of cubes, giving him a versatile modular function- by restructuring himself and using different gadgets within the cubes, he can transform into a hover bike, an airplane, a helicopter and plenty more. He can even fly causing not need to transform into a vehicle. Hidden in each cube there is a different gadget with a solution to almost every serious situation. When it comes to fighting, Cubix is exceptionally strong, but often relies on his transformation ability and eccentric strategies to win. He is powered by a generator that runs off crystallized Solex, which is rumored to be the ultimate power source, but nobody knows exactly how it works. Cubix's body is also constructed out of a highly resistant metal that is capable of withstanding devastating amounts of damage without breaking and reversing the effects of rust. He also has additional parts that when added to his structure can increase his strength. Cubix's modular cubes contain special items that may contribute to the transformations like a Glue gun, ForceField generator, and an extra arm. The orange discs on cubix's body can separate and hit enemies with a shock on impact. Cubix can control his body parts to attack enemies when he is pinned and if he has enough energy he is able to generate a small forcefield on his chest to prevent enemies from getting to his power source.
Cubix is a friendly and helpful robot, but lacks speech capability, while speaking seems to be common place among other robots. Usually he just repeats what people around him say, and uses the LED display where his eyes usually are to communicate emotions. However, later in the series this improves greatly and he becomes capable of forming sentences and dialogues, and once he regains the crystallized Solex at the end of the season 1 finale, he repossesses the capacity for independent speech, He uses less of his abilities as the series goes on; however, this may be due to not having as much Solex after fighting Kulminator.
Character | Korean Actor | English Actor |
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Cubix | Hong Siho | Scottie Ray |
Haneul (Connor) | Lee Mi-Ja | Andrew Rannells |
Yuri (Abby) | Choi Duk Hee | Veronica Taylor |
Dondon | Bae Ju-young | Eric Stuart |
Mong | Jimmy Zoppi | |
Plump (Cerebrix) | Bae Ju-young | Jimmy Zoppi |
Min Woo (Chip) | Woo Jung Shin | Amy Birnbaum |
Locomotor (Maximix) | no voice actor | Frank Frankson |
Hela | Jung Mi Sook | Rachael Lillis |
Doctor Ball (Diagnostix) | Bae Ju-young | Ed Paul |
Professor Nemo | Lee Jong Hyuk | Rodger Parsons |
Dr. K | Kim Ki-hyun | Maddie Blaustein |
Raska | Lee Hyun-jin | Lauren Kling |
Demonix (Kilobot) | Lee Jung-gu |
Release Order | Title | Original US airdate | Episode Number |
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1 | "The Unfixable Robot" | August 11, 2001 [13] | 101 |
Connor moves to Bubble Town and meets the Botties; Abby, Mong, Chip and Hela. In order to join the club, he has to fix a robot in 24 hours. He chooses Cubix, the "Unfixable Robot". When Hela brings a WeldNFix gone mad to the Botties Pit, Dr. K shows up to steal it. Luckily, Cubix awakens just in time to save Connor and together, they fight Kolossal and Dr. K to save the Solex infected bot. | |||
2 | "Electrix" | August 18, 2001 | 102 |
Connor now has a robot of his own, Cubix. But unfortunately, his father, Graham does not feel the same way about Connor's new friend and kicks Cubix out of the house. Charles, the mayor's son, also has a new robot - Quixtreme 5000, and while they are playing cat and mouse at the Botties Pit a Lectrix shows up not feeling well. Hela volunteers to talk to Graham, which only makes things worse - while the Lectrix's Solex goes unstable at the charging station. Dr. K shows up with Kolossal and the battle for Solex ensues. | |||
3 | "The Underground of Bubble Town" | August 25, 2001 | 103 |
When the power keeps cutting out in Bubble Town, Abby decides to take matters into her own hands and catch the culprit. The rest of the Botties join her mission and soon they are led into Bubble Town's sewer system, where Sewwix is the offender. Soon enough Dr. K and Kolossal show up and manage to break a gas main - sending the Botties on a race to save Sewwix, get Solex, and save Bubble Town from exploding. | |||
4 | "The Iron Chef" | September 1, 2001 | 104 |
The beloved spokesperson for Robix Corp, Raska is in Bubble Town shooting a commercial for the new Delishix. The Botties sneak onto the set, but not very stealthily - they get caught. Raska thinks that Connor would be the perfect star for the commercial and his house the perfect set. But unfortunately, Delishix is not the perfect robot and it goes berserk, so the Botties chase the Solex infected robot, but so does Dr. K, leading to a fight to the finish. | |||
5 | "Dondon for Dinner" | September 22, 2001 | 105 |
Robots are disappearing in Bubble Town, but the Botties are on the case. They initially think Dr. K is responsible, but when Dondon narrowly escapes being disintegrated by Disposix, he knows otherwise. But unfortunately, Dondon's voice module gets broken in the attack and leaves him speechless. Finally, Disposix's Solex becomes too unstable not to notice and of course, Dr. K shows up to collect it. Knowing that he will have to put up a fight, he brings Kolossal and Katastrophe to ensure his success. | |||
6 | "Heat Wave" | November 17, 2001 | 106 |
Mong installs a Hazard Early Response Option unit, simply known as "HERO", in Maximix that he gets from his friend Ixtinguix - the Bubble Town Fire Chief. But when Ixtinguix starts acting strangely, the Botties suggest that he come to the Annual Robot Inspection at Town Hall for a check up. The strange behavior turns into flame-throwing rage, which turns out to be Solex. And soon Dr. K shows up with Kolossal and Kannon to take "kontrol" of the situation. | |||
7 | "Hurricane Havoc" | November 24, 2001 | 107 |
As a hurricane approaches Bubble Town, Connor and his father, Graham have a huge fight and Connor runs away to Abby's house. As the storm intensifies, Graham gets worried and goes out to look for his son. Hela joins him and they drive all over town. Connor now starts to worry about his missing father and rushes to a highway crash he thinks Graham was in. To make things worse, he does not find him there, because Graham's car is teetering off the side of a cliff. But fortunately, the Botties find them just in time for Cubix to save them all. | |||
8 | "Magnetix Personality" | October 6, 2001 | 108 |
One of Dr. K's robots, Attractix, runs away from his lair, infected with Solex, and heads straight for Bubble Town. Once there, his super magnet wreaks havoc on the otherwise peaceful town; everything is collected, including Dondon. Dr. K chases his AWOL bot with Kolossal and Krab - but the magnetic field is too strong even for them, Cubix uses his drill mode and brings Connor close enough to save the day and get the Solex. | |||
9 | "K's Kages" | January 5, 2002 | 109 |
Racing through Bubble Town gets the Botties into trouble again, this time at the Robot Graveyard. A strange robot, named Konfusion appears and leads them into the Robot Zoo. Once they get there, they realize that they have just set foot into Dr. K's secret lab. | |||
10 | "Fixed Competition" | December 1, 2001 | 110 |
The Annual Robot Grand Prix is on the way - promoting technology and beauty - and all of the Botties are working furiously on their robots to win. Even Charles is planning to take home the prize with his Quixtreme 5000. But unfortunately, Quixtreme is infected with Solex and to make matters worse, Dr. K, Kolossal and Klawber show up, and instead of the final round of the Grand Prix, they go another round with evil. | |||
11 | "Office Politix" | January 26, 2002 | 111 |
While Hela experiments on Solex, Dr. K and his alien boss launch an attack on the Bottie's pit. The Botties beat the battle-bots, but it turns out to be a fake attack. Raska shows up expressing her concern for their safety and offers Hela the Robix Corp facilities for her research. The Botties go to Robix Corp where they are treated like royalty, until a new robot goes berserk and almost kills them. Hela decides to stick to the Pit, so Raska gives them new miniature safety robots, which turn out to be evil decoys that want to blow up Cubix. Cubix sacrifices himself in order to save everyone else. | |||
12 | "Kubix!!! (a.k.a. The Doctor's office)" | February 2, 2002 | 112 |
Connor and the rest of the Botties go searching for Cubix or what is left of him - only to find that he has been kollected by Dr. K. due to Attractix's returned memory, they literally fall into Dr. K's lair. Once inside, they have to overcome many obstacles, until Connor can get to Cubix, eventually, he finds him, but only after K has stolen his Solex crystals. Connor also finds out that Raska is an alien and that Nemo has been held prisoner there. Luckily, they fix Cubix and escape the clown tower just as it transforms into the world's largest robot. | |||
13 | "Kulminator (a.k.a. The Unbeatable Robot)" | February 16, 2002 | 113 |
Connor, Cubix, and the Botties, in Dr. K's battle bots, attempt to save Bubble Town from Dr. K's enormous robot. Eventually, they wind up having to save each other - as Abby gets sucked back inside and Connor runs to her rescue. Eventually, it comes down to Cubix and the big monster and Cubix's only chance to win is by transformation. He changes from mode to mode until he overheats and overwhelms his opponent. But unfortunately, he also overheats and overwhelms himself, and Connor is the only one that can revive him. |
Release Order | Title | Original US airdate | Episode Number |
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1 | "Roller Koaster" | March 15, 2003 [14] | 214 |
Dr. K creates the Ultimate Robot, Cubix's major adversary in Season 2. When the UR absorbs the powers of other robots and shape-shifts into look-alikes of them, Cubix is initially blamed for the damage he leaves behind. | |||
2 | "The Chipinator" | March 18, 2003 | 215 |
Tired of being called "shrimp", Chip gains more than height when he straps on some sinister robotic armor. But it magnifies his anger and changes him into the Chipinator, a cyborg who needs to be cut back down to size - a tall order indeed, even for Cubix. | |||
3 | "The Incredible Shrinking Robot" | March 19, 2003 | 216 |
To rid Bubble Town of its rodent problem, Cubix, Connor, and a smelly Exterminator Robot shrink down to invade a mouse colony, but wind up face to face with a cat who's a rat - and at the mercy of the big feet of Chip, Mong, and Abby - who can't see them. | |||
4 | "Crash Test Pest" | March 17, 2003 | 217 |
The kids and Cubix befriend a bunch of invulnerable Crash-Test Dummy Robots, but when the Dummies turn on them, the question becomes "how do you defeat an enemy you can't possibly hurt?". | |||
5 | "Tyrannix" | March 20, 2003 | 218 |
The annual Tri-hockey competition is taking place - and the underdog Botties Pit team shocks everyone by taking on the dinosaur robots from the all-new Jurrasix line. But Cubix and gang will need more than teamwork to win once Kilobot shape-shifts its way into the contest as Tyrannosaurix - who is set on making Cubix extinct. | |||
6 | "Tomorrow's Robots Today" | March 22, 2003 | 219 |
Robix Corp is about to present its newest robots, like Demolishix, Correctix and Endurix, a colonizer with the ability to instantly transport himself anywhere to the general public. But things go awry when Kilobot shows up and absorbs Maximix, Dondon, even Endurix and faces off with Cubix. | |||
7 | "Media Storm" | March 21, 2003 | 220 |
There is a spoilsport in Bubble Town's robot-kite flying contest; jealous Celciux; the new hovering Weather-Control Robot, who feels the skies belong to him, and will defend his place with weather-attacks on Cubix and the kids. | |||
8 | "CirKus" | March 29, 2003 | 221 |
The robot circus is in town, to everyone's excitement, but when the Botties literally run into a trapeze robot running for her life, they realize that something is not quite right under the big top. During their search to find their new trapeze friend's lost memory the Botties discover an underground EPU erasing station. Dr. K is stealing robots, erasing their memories and this is the last stop before they get shipped to their new home - in Kontraption. | |||
9 | "Bubble Town Wishes and EPU Dreams" | January 24, 2004 | 222 |
Dr. K manages to zap all of Bubble Town's robots into a "community sleep" and convinces them all to aid him with his nefarious plans. The Botties figure out that the only way to revive their robots without losing them forever is to send Cubix into their bizarre dream world to find a way to wake them all up - and show Kilobot who's boss. | |||
10 | "Klank" | April 5, 2003 | 223 |
The kids find and activate the last of the Mechanical Men-Bubble Town's earliest robots-outmoded years ago by Nemo's EPU version. But when the old clunker has trouble adjusting to the modern world, the kids add an EPU to his system. It gives him odd powers and the desire to find his beloved old master - a funny robot-loving boy who became Dr. K. | |||
11 | "The Importance of Being Maximix" | April 12, 2003 | 224 |
Kilobot, sick of Dr. K's shortcomings strikes out on his own and returns to Robix Corp to steal the tools necessary for world domination that K had failed to obtain. But it is not as easy as he thought it would be and he is forced to impersonate Maximix to get the job done. Meanwhile the Botties work on Cubix's new power up module. | |||
12 | "War Triangle (a.k.a. The Lost Robots)" | April 19, 2003 | 225 |
Dr. K sends his army of zombots to Bubble Town to attack - but shortly thereafter they attack him. Kilobot has his own plans, but their plans do not include Dr. K. Now it is an all out war as Maximix sacrifices himself and Cubix's cubes get disseminated amongst the Zombot army. | |||
13 | "Final Showdown (a.k.a The Diehard Machine)" | April 26, 2003 | 226 |
It is up to Connor, the rest of the Botties and surprisingly Dr. K to restore Cubix, Maximix, ward off the zombot army, prevent all of Bubble Town's robots from Kilobot's evil brainwashing and beat him once and for all! |
In the United States, it aired on Kids' WB on August 11, 2001, until May 10, 2003, with reruns until mid-2003. To help provide their affiliates a half-hour of educational and informational programming credit, the series was later rerun on FoxBox (owned by 4Kids Entertainment, later renamed 4KidsTV) from August 30, 2003, to June 12, 2004. The show remained off the air until July 24, 2010, when it resurfaced on 4Kids' then-current block The CW4Kids (later renamed Toonzai) on The CW. In 2012, the license for Cubix was purchased by Saban Brands and aired on the Vortexx block, but was removed from the block after four weeks on September 22, 2012, and replaced with another episode of Rescue Heroes . The show was pulled in late 2014 before Vortexx was replaced by the Litton-produced live-action block. Since September 2007, the show has been streaming online, being uploaded in its entirety as of early 2008, first on the now-defunct 4Kids.TV website and then on Hulu.
Both seasons were broadcast in the UK on Cartoon Network and CBBC. [15] [16] As of May 2010, the series is airing in the UK on the kid-oriented TV channel Pop.
North American DVD releases of Cubix – Robots for Everyone were licensed by Funimation Entertainment.
The series was first broadcast in its native Korea on SBS on April 18, 2002, less than a year after premiering in the US. [18]
The 3DO Company produced three video games based on the series. Cubix - Robots for Everyone: Race 'N Robots was released on the PlayStation and the Game Boy Color in 2001. Cubix Robots for Everyone: Clash 'N Bash was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2002. [19] Cubix Robots for Everyone: Showdown was released on the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2003.