Redux Robotix AU
AU in which George Beard is bumped up to the third grade when he transfers to Jerome Horwitz Elementary School at the funny age of FIVE, leaving Harold Hutchins to make friends with an unlikely ally.
@infini-tree already did an AU based on this concept (their Lab Comix Inc. AU), which you should totally check out! But I wanted to try my own take!
My version is less of a roleswap, and more so a self indulgent exploration of the space—I’m mostly following the canon of the books, but this AU might ebb and flow into the movie, who knows?
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Without George to save him from bullies in book 9, I think Harold remains a timid and quiet boy. He’d continue to be mild mannered and polite, just trying to stay out of the limelight as best he can in order to avoid trouble.
Harold and Melvin meet when Melvin successfully showcases his latest robot to the class. There's no funny business to intrude on his presentation, meaning when the robot inevitably malfunctions it is 100% his fault. Harold would essentially draw fanart of the robot destroying a city which sparks their interaction.
Melvin is outraged that Harold would think of his intentions as evil or destructive and Harold, without a confrontational bone in his body, would quietly apologize and dejectedly crumple up the drawing. Melvin, recognizing some of his own loneliness in Harold, apologizes for his own outburst and suggests Harold draw his robot saving the city instead. Then he’d give advice and pointers for robotic designs and the two would grow closer from there.
Melvin is still egotistical, but having a friend who doesn’t constantly make fun of him or his inventions helps him mature emotionally. Harold remains the quieter one of the two, but he’d become less shy and more silent by choice. He helps Melvin mellow out from being the disliked tattletale, allowing him be cool and relaxed. I imagine he provides Melvin a friendly outlet and introduces him into a world of creativity.
I believe George inspired a lot of the crude jokes that took place in the Treehouse Comix, so with them not being friends, Harold would have had a much milder sense of humor. At the very least, he wouldn’t admit to enjoying the potty jokes as much, but he might still have an involuntary chuckle now and again.
Because Melvin doesn’t have a sense of humor, I think his and Harold's M.O. would by less “entertain the school” based and more “revolutionize the school”. Melvin wants to make things easier for kids so his inventions would reflect that (imagine a Homework Doer 3000 or a Personal Water Fountain that walks with you, or inflatable dummies that let you sneak out of class—that sort of thing).
Melvin still craves adoration/recognition and Harold is fine to let him have all the attention. Publicly, they’d be seen as Melvin as the brains and Harold as his assistant (if anyone bothered to remember that Harold was there at all!), but behind closed doors they would be genuine best friends.
I don’t see Melvin replacing George as a writer, I think this unlikely friendship would result in a different tag team setup. Melvin supplies his ideas for robots, doodads, and inventions while Harold continues to supply the drawings/designs. Harold also probably tries to hype up Melvin's ideas, making them more grandiose and spectacular, though he'd deny any of the credit.
With his help, Melvin is seen less as a nerdy suck up and more a mad scientist whose always jotting down invention ideas into his notebook (it's not like he has to study in class lol). Harold is no longer part of a pranking duo, and is now a silent observer who is always doodling in class instead of paying attention (ADHD strikes again!)
Together they make blueprints and robots under the name Redux Robotix LLC!
Melvin and Harold aren't exactly rule followers, but Melvin is "rules lawyer" enough to semantics his way out of being in trouble, much to Krupp's annoyance and irritation. Generally, Harold doesn't like to make waves while Melvin will fight the system to prove that he was "in the right", even if only by a technicality.
Any trouble the Robotix Duo get into is purely unintentional and probably the result of a robot exploding and causing property damage. In this way they’re still infamous, but their relationship with the teachers is less contrarian.
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Which brings me to George.
In Book 9, five year old George was supposed to be bumped up to the Third Grade instead of remaining in Kindergarten, a move his parents rejected so that he could socialize with kids his age.
This is the decision that separates Redux Robotix from Canon. Here, George is three grades ahead of his peers.
As such, George does not meet Harold or Melvin until much, much later, although he has probably heard of Redux Robotix from word of mouth and seen some of the lingering aftermath scattered around the school.
In the books it is implied that George’s defiance and pranks were done out of boredom. I don’t think that would go away, even if he was placed in the “correct” grade.
George continues to struggle in class as a result of his ADHD and being surrounded by peers just as intelligent as him but lacking his sense of humor would definitely drag him down. He’d still be the class clown here, but his pranks would be a lone wolf vs. the world scenario. Think Rafe Khatchadorian from the first Middle School book, except since George is operating alone, he’d try to stay anonymous about his “work”.
George's pranking alias is 80-HD. 80-HD is like the Banksy of Jerome Horwitz Elementary, except his skill set is pranks, not graffiti (though graffiti isn't entirely off the table)!
I'm borrowing the name 80-HD from the Dog Man books as they were canonically created by the OG!George and Harold, meaning it would be something he'd still come up with here! :D
Krupp is onto George, and knows that he’s the culprit for the uptick in silliness and pranks at the school, but throughout George’s four to five years at Jerome Horwitz, he’s never been able to scrounge up any tangible proof that George is 80-HD!
That isn't to say that George is able to evade punishment for his other antics, however. George continues to write his imaginative stories, but without an artist to draw them, I think they remain in prose.
Since George is no artist and has no Harold to help him make comics, I think he would've created his own newspaper to pass around the school! It's called the Treehouse Tribune, and it is his passion project/creative outlet that he uses to make editorials, spoof articles, parodies, and the like. He sells these babies for 25¢ a pop on the school playground and has gotten detention a bunch of times for it.
George is very lonely, though, since everyone in his grade is three years older than him and thinks he's too immature. People his age are three grades below him and tend to find him either intimating or they're too nervous to approach him (grade politics man, you hate to see it!)
I imagine that George, Melvin, and Harold wouldn’t be adversaries as much as brief acquaintances as the three end up in the principal's office a lot in passing. Melvin and Harold manage to squeeze out of getting detention, leaving George alone to deal with Krupp’s anger.
Because George is alone and very young in a grade with older peers, I think Krupp would've grown a soft spot for him. My Krupp is more inspired by the movie than the books, so instead of being cartoonishly evil and mean, he's just mean and grumpy but well meaning when it comes to bringing out the best in his students. He wants George to grow up, mature, and excel in his classes because he knows George is smart enough to do it. So he's hard on George but does let him get away with a few things here and there (favoritism? what's that?)
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The three boys are neutral towards each other prior to the start of Redux's canon (which roughly follows the movie's plot until it doesn't).
Eventually, the trio meets and a reluctant friendship blossoms between the three of them. Both George and Melvin would be easy friends with Harold, since he's the mellowest of the group, but George and Melvin together? Ho boy!
The end game dynamic is that the three kids become friends, with George and Melvin still butting heads from time to time, but ultimately learning to care for one another, with Harold often playing mediator.
(I do have an idea for how/when the titular Captain comes into play, but it might not be in the way that everyone hoped! I kinda find Captain Underpants one of the less interesting characters out of the whole story, the movie included. Movie!Krupp is wayyyy more interesting to me as a person, so if you're disappointed in the lack of CU in this CU AU, then I apologize in advanced!)
That's all for now! Stay tuned for more by following the Redux Robotix AU Blog or tag! Thanks for reading! :D
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Commission for EliteFive.
In another time in another place, something strange started to happen to Oplaine. She had become one with her prison and the power within. When awaking, she found the world she knew had changed once again, and the place she was in was now known as Oasis.
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Opaline went down the wrong path, it seems.
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That background was fun to draw, but man it was time consuming.
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