…they love ’em
The Doclopedia #2,479
Pulp Villain Snapshots: The Robot Master
Real Name: Orville Alderton
Location: London, England and Dallas, Texas
Modus Operandi: He built various sorts of robots to commit crimes.
Career Synopsis: The Robot Master was one of those geniuses that didn’t seem to realize that his inventions were worth a lot more legitimately than they were for crime. But then, he was insane, so it made no difference.
Orville Alderton was born in 1900 to a wealthy cattle & oil baron in Dallas. A spoiled and indulged child, Orville grew up thinking he was above the law and the moral restrictions of ordinary people. It didn’t help that he actually was smarter than 99% of the populace.
Around 1915, the young teenager showed both an aptitude and a love for building mechanical devices. Indeed, when he was not in school, he was out in the workshop his father had built for him. After he graduated from high school at age 16, he moved all his belongings to the workshop and would not be seen for days at a time.
In July of 1918, Orville told his father he needed $50,000.00 to finish a project he was working on. His father flatly refused. Two weeks later, while the family was at dinner with relatives, something Orville usually declined to do, their home was broken into and over $100,000.00 worth of cash, artwork, jewelry, and other valuables were stolen. The thieves were never found, although a few months later the bodies of three known criminals were found in a shallow grave, all dead from electrocution.
In September of 1918, while his parents were at a week long get together of the Cattlemen’s Association, Orville emptied out his workshop and move everything to his new base of operations, London.
Little is known of the next 10 years of Orville’s life, aside from the fact that he bought a small house on a few acres of land about 2 hours north of London. There, he had a very large and modern machine shop built. He also hired 2 young engineering students as his assistants. His neighbors all called him a nice fellow who kept to himself.
In February of 1929, a 7 foot tall mechanical man and a cow sized mechanical spider broke into a bank in downtown London and made off with 300,000 pounds sterling. In the process, they set the bank on fire, killed 7 people, including 3 police officers, before getting away at high speed.
A week later, while the spider was attacking Buckinghan Palace, the mecanical man cleaned out three jewelry stores several kilometers away. The Mecha-Man, as the press would refer to him, got away, but the spider, surrounded by police and the military, blew itself up. All told, 28 people died.
Things went quiet for two months, then messages appeared in the offices of newspapers, police stations, and posted on street lights and walls. They read…
“You have had but a small taste of my power! Expect more, both here and on the Continent! Soon, all will bow before THE ROBOT MASTER!”
Over the next 6 months, there were robot attacks all over the UK, France, Spain, Germany, and The Netherlands. There were well over 200 deaths and enormous property damage in countries already ravaged by the recent war.
In September of 1929, the team of crime fighting adventurers known as the Six Mates managed to destroy a dozen robots heading toward York. They announced that they would be able to give the robots over to scientists to examine them. This was not to be, as the Robot Master sent out a radio signal to activate self destruct bombs.
Having suffered a big defeat, Orville and his assistants left for America, where they wrecked havoc, but were barely able to stay one step ahead of the likes of Doc Tempest, Special Agent Z, Steel Brady, and other crimefighters. This went on for 5 years until, in 1934, the Robot Master met his end when a robot that had been reprogrammed by Doc Tempest, attacking him and fatally wounding the mad genius. Even so, Orville had the last life as he pulled a switch that destroyed his last robot factory and everything in it.
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