Something about Bobby Robertson, wanting to be a hero even without powers, to the point he makes himself one out of a metal suit. Egotistical enough to gain a god complex and inflict unknowing psychological harm on his son, yet selfless enough to push himself to the point of his own downfall for the sake of others.
Bobby being a figure head for greater Los Angeles where he’s invited to parades and there’s probably a statue and overall being a man larger than life, Mecha-Man being every bit of him.
To the point that Robbie, in a desperation for some shred of connection to his father, takes up the Mecha-Man mantle.
He loves the attention, the praise, the recognition for his hard work that he never got because his own father was too busy soaking it up. Robbie feels powerful like nothing can touch him because he is literally Mecha-Man, people love him.
But the suit is still a shield and at the center he’s still a man. And the older his son gets the less he wants to be Mecha-Man because he wants to be Robbie, neighborhood dad, holding cookouts and birthday parties and picking his kid up from school. He tries to give Robert what he didn’t have. And when “Mecha-Man” hurts Robert it puts a whole lot into perspective for him that he doesn’t know how to express other than in anger. Not at Robert but with himself. Except it still comes out towards Robert because that’s how his own dad was to him.
And Elliot wants to be in the Brave Brigade and bring all this extra messy tech into things but Robbie truly doesn’t care because he’s quietly trying to distance himself from super hero work. Eli worming his way into things only encourages the team to grow and be more, requiring more of Robbie’s time.
Except it’s his downfall because his negligence fosters anger that gets him killed. He wasn’t even on the clock. He was just Robbie, just trying to go home to his kid. He didn’t die in some great tragic final act of saving someone.
Then you have Robert. Robert whose whole universe was his dad and Mecha-Man and suddenly he no longer has that. Robert who as a grown man sleeps curled up in the arms of the Mech because it’s the closest thing he’ll ever have to his dad ever again. There’s a pain in his chest that he doesn’t know how to fix other than tracking down the one who did it.
And fuck Robert isn’t much better either, he’s the third in line of “breaking the cycle” but how can he when Mecha-Man is the only family he has left? Robert is no one without it and that is terrifying.
Robbie picked up the empire because it was all he ever had of his dad
Robert grew into it because he had nothing left without it
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