Boilerplate is a fictional

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

which would have existed in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

and early 20th century. It was created in 2000 by

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

USA artist Paul Guinan. Originally intended for comics, the character became known via a faux-historical website created by Guinan, and has since appeared in other media.

Development

Boilerplate was originally featured on a website created by Paul Guinan in 2000. The Boilerplate site details the history of a remarkable robot built in the late 19th century, and features photoshopped "archival images" in which Boilerplate (actually a 12-inch articulated model) is seen interacting with historical figures, such as

Teddy Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (,"Villa"
''Collins English Dictionary''. ; ;

. Becoming aware that some visitors to the site were taken in by its contents, making it an unintentional hoax, Guinan resolved to see how authentic he could make the character seem, working to ensure the descriptions of non-fictional events were accurate. He explained his motivation in a 2002 interview

"Certainly I felt happy about having achieved my goal," he said. "I put this thing across as trying to be real, and people bought into it. So, that's a success! But, as an amateur historian, I feel a responsibility to get the story right. So I felt bad about some of these people being hoaxed. It was a mixed bag."

Paul Guinan & Anina Bennett at WonderCon 2010 1

"But," he revealed, "I thought, if I was getting this reaction and I wasn't really trying, then what would happen if I really tried?"

Guinan estimated that roughly a third of the site's visitors treated its faux history as real. Comedian

Chris Elliott Christopher Nash Elliott (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He appeared in comedic sketches on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1988), created and starred in the comedy series '' Get a Life'' (1990–1992) ...

, while realising that Boilerplate was fictional, thought that the spoof dated back to the 19th century and included the character in one of his books (see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor *Bottom (disambiguation) Bottom may refer to: Anatomy and sex * Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...

). Guinan later expanded his website into ''The History of Robots in the Victorian Era'', which features other "turn-of-the-century robots, both real and imagined".

Fictional character history

Boilerplate is built by Professor Archibald Campion in the 1880s and unveiled at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago. The robot's notable adventures include an expedition to the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

, during which it saves the lives of the team members by singlehandedly moving ice floes, clearing a path for the ship to sail out. Designed for the self-proclaimed purpose of "preventing the deaths of men in the conflicts of nations," Boilerplate charges into combat during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

and the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

. Campion and his robot also circle the planet with the U.S. Navy, make silent movies, and hobnob with the likes of

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

and

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but disappears during the relief of Major Whittlesey's Lost Battalion, possibly having been captured by the Germans for study. Supporters of this theory point out that German military technology advances tremendously in the twenty years between the two world wars, encompassing guided rockets, experimental jets, and sophisticated tanks. Post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Boilerplate is sighted on a number of occasions, often in Chicago.

In other media

* Paul Guinan and his wife

Anina Bennett Anina Bennett is an American writer and comic book editor and producer. Some of the famous works she has been part of are the Boilerplate robot hoax/comic or various Dark Horse Comics she has produced. Anina Bennett is part of the husband-and-wi ...

(who also maintains the Boilerplate website) have coauthored ''Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel'', an illustrated history of the character's adventures. This

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire convers ...

covers Boilerplate's 25-year existence as well as its subsequent impact on popular culture. It was published by Abrams Image in October 2009. Guinan and Bennett have previously collaborated on the comic book '' Heartbreakers'', published by

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

; "Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate", a 2005

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

of this series, also featured Boilerplate and was nominated for an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

. * Boilerplate is a character in

's 2005 novel '' The Shroud of the Thwacker'', a spoof historical thriller. Elliott mistakenly thought that the Boilerplate site concerned a hoax which dated back to the 19th century and included material from the website in his book, not realising it wasn't in the public domain. After being alerted to the copyright infringement, Elliott and Guinan negotiated a settlement which allowed the character to be used in exchange for a percentage of Elliott's earnings from the book and credit in future editions. * Boilerplate is featured on the cover of Canadian indie pop band

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

's 2008 EP '' Sad Robots'', as well as on merchandise for their 2008–9 tour. *

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

have optioned the film rights, to be produced by

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...

and his

Bad Robot Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999 and led by J. J. Abrams and Katie McGrath as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series ''Alias' ...

production company.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/
A Robot From an Alternate History Visits Our World

Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History N ...

, October 19, 2009 Fictional robots 2000 robots Comics characters introduced in 2000 Steampunk Fiction set in the 1890s Fiction set in the 1900s Fiction set in the 1910s Caribbean in fiction Cultural depictions of Mark Twain Fictional characters from Chicago Internet hoaxes Klondike Gold Rush in fiction Spanish–American War fiction Cultural depictions of Theodore Roosevelt Victorian era Comics set during World War I World's Columbian Exposition