Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot

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. artists Martin Ontiveros and Dan Santat.

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. All the villains being jailed are Dr. Stinky McNasty, Mr. Mosquito, Victor von Vulture, Major Monkey, General Jackrabbit, Sergeant Stinkbug, Uncle Unicorn, Nimrod Nightcrawler and President Penguin.

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 (2015)
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Unpleasant Penguins from Pluto (2016)

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.

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These books contain examples of:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: Every book title besides the first one, after the "vs." part.
• Alliterative Name: Ricky Ricotta.
  • Also, the villains starting with Mr. Mosquito.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Ricky was bullied a lot prior to meeting the Mighty Robot.
• Annoying Younger Cousin: Lucy, who, as Ricky puts it, is "a little pest!".
• Barefoot Cartoon Animals
• Bathroom Break Out: Ricky does this when Mr. Mosquito is holding him hostage. He asks to use the bathroom, and Mr. Mosquito reluctantly complies. Ricky then escapes Mr. Mosquito's ship.
• 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.
• Berserker Tears: In Uranium Unicorns from Uranus, when Lucy and Ricky are trapped inside Uncle Unicorn's Generator, Ricky discovers that the Generator will break down when exposed to enough water, so he tells Lucy that everything delicious in the world will be gone if the world is destroyed. Lucy promptly begins bawling, which destroys the Generator.
• 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...
• Edible Theme Naming: Ricky's last name was based on cheese (get it?).
• Empathic Weapon: The Robot himself.
• Everytown, America: Squeakyville.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Every single character has four fingers. Well, they do have the excuse of being animals.
• Friendless Background: Ricky in the first book doesn't have any friends before he meets the Mighty Robot.
• 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. Unfortunately, bullies make this difficult. He does get his wish when he befriends the Mighty Robot.
  • Major Monkey in The Mecha-Monkeys from Mars is said to be very lonely due to being the only one on Mars, which is why he tries to take over the world.
• The Kid with the Remote Control
• Mad Scientist: Every single villain.
• Maniac Monkeys: Major Monkey and his robotic monkeys from The Mecha-Monkeys from Mars are all evil and destructive.
• Minion with an F In Evil: The Mighty Robot to Dr. Stinky in the first book. Dr. Stinky orders him to demolish Squeakyville, but the Robot refuses.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Dr. Stinky McNasty, the Starter Villain of the series.
• 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" and the name of actor Desi Arnaz's character, Ricky Ricardo, from the show I Love Lucy.
• Repetitive Name: Ricky Ricotta.
• Saved From 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...that is, until the series was rebooted and it was finally released.
• 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.
• Starter Villain: Dr. Stinky is the first villain of the first book who tries to destroy Squeakyville.
• 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?: Most of the villains in the series are ugly animals.
• World of Funny Animals
• You Dirty Rat: Dr. Stinky in the first book.