Found 12 entries in 0.045 seconds.
Aerin
What does M-Bot have against Doomslug and Rig?
Brandon Sanderson
M-Bot treats Rig kind of like you might treat a doctor. Even though he's good for you, you may not enjoy having someone poke around at you.
With Doomslug, it isn't that he has a lot against Doomslug. Doomslug just isn't a good conversationalist. She does a lot of repeating back at you what you say. So getting trapped only with Doomslug would be--
Aerin
Can the second book have Doomslug with a bow?
Brandon Sanderson
In a bow? I will try to get Doomslug a bow.
Questioner
Is M-Bot your ideal own pet dragon, essentially?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, M-Bot's pretty close. I've mentioned before that M-Bot came from me basically writing a dragon story but with a spaceship instead.
Questioner
Is M-Bot intelligent and sentient?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. M-Bot is, I would say, above animal intelligence but not quite human level intelligence. Oh no, M-Bot? I thought you were saying Doomslug. I would say M-Bot is above human intelligence and is sapient, is sentient.
Questioner
Who was your favorite character to write?
Brandon Sanderson
It was definitely the character named M-Bot, whom you haven't met yet. :)
Questioner
Does the M in M-bot actually stand for anything?
Brandon Sanderson
He says it stands for Mushroom-bot. Spensa thinks it stands for Massacre-bot. Let's just say they have a difference of opinion on that. It's not going to get answered. She started calling him that and he was like, "Oh Mushroom-bot! Mushroom-bot sounds right!"
Questioner
I did have a question about Doomslug and M-Bot, where they came from?
Brandon Sanderson
Those are questions that will be answered, I promise.
Questioner
Are they connected?
Brandon Sanderson
That's what we call a RAFO, Read And Find Out. You will find out; I'm not gonna tell you know. You'll find out some of those answers in the next book.
Questioner
How did you develop M-bot?
Brandon Sanderson
M-Bot grew out of many different inspirations. I love quirky and odd robots and so you can go all the way back to some science fiction history and you'll find all my inspiration.
Kaley
Will M-Bot be restored again? I hope so, he is the best! He should be called Mushroom Bot: The Massacrer of Krell.
Brandon Sanderson
I agree! That is a RAFO to you also.
Michael M. Jones
Spensa comes across as overconfident and bombastic at times, while her AI sidekick, M-Bot, is both comic and tragic. What else can you tell us about developing characters?
Brandon Sanderson
They really play off one another. With M-Bot, I needed both a friend and a foil for Spensa, since there's a lot of conversation between them. I also needed an outside perspective. Spensa's culture has problems. Humankind crashed on this planet decades ago, and has been subject to these alien invasions and air raids for so long, that their entire society is built around the machine of war to protect themselves. The technology and temperament revolve around getting pilots into the air at all costs, and it’s skewed everything as a result. I needed an outside voice to ask questions and raise concerns, even if it's through humor.
Because Spensa is such an extreme character, one of the challenges was to depict that a person who's spent most of her life alone, hunting rats, while imagining herself to be a great warrior, is going to have a warped perspective on what it means to be a fighter pilot, weirder than the rest of the society might.
In a way, she's a stand-in for someone like me, who enjoys larger-than-life action movies but has never experienced real violence. She’s like the person in the seat with the popcorn, who’s confronted by the reality and discovers it’s not what she imagined.
Rebel No. 2
How many years was M-bot in the cave?
Brandon Sanderson
Around 170 years I think.
Questioner
Does the "M" in M-Bot stand for mushroom?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. To me it does. I'm not sure how I will canonize it in the books, but that's what I intend it to be.
Questioner
Skyward, is M-Bot actually sentient or just really well programmed?
Brandon Sanderson
I would call him sentient.
Questioner
You think so? You do imply a little bit but--
Brandon Sanderson
I do... But I have built into the world an explanation for why that might be.
