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This Villain was Headlined on June, 2024. |
“ | Everyone would tell you to let it go and move on, but don't. Instead, let it fester and boil inside you. Take these feelings and lock them away. Let them fuel your actions. Let hate be your ally, and you will be capable of wonderfully horrid things. Heed my words, Goob; Don't let it go. | „ |
~ Michael Yagoobian to his younger self, advising him to feed his hatred against Lewis (which then backfires on him horribly). |
“ | Lewis: Why are you doing this to me? I never did anything to you! Bowler Hat Guy: You still haven't figured it out! Lewis: Figured out what? Bowler Hat Guy: Let's see if this rings a bell - Father of the future, inventor extraordinaire, "Keep moving forward"? Lewis: That's not me, that's Wilbur's dad! (Bowler Hat Guy stares at him expectantly and Lewis' eyes go wide in realization) Are you saying that... I'm Wilbur's... Dad? Bowler Hat Guy: Oh, Give the boy a prize! You grew up to be the founder of this wrenched time... So I planned to destroy your destiny! Easy-peasy, rice and cheesy! |
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~ Bowler Hat Guy explaining to Lewis that he is Wilbur's father. |
Michael Charles "Goob" Yagoobian, better known as the Bowler Hat Guy, is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 47th full-length animated feature film Meet the Robinsons, which is based on William Joyce's 1990 children's picture book A Day with Wilbur Robinson.
He is an enigmatic guy from the future who, assisted by the hat-like robot DOR-15, tries to mess with present day young inventor Lewis Robinson's debut invention to prevent his future from happening, leading to his arch-nemesis Wilbur Robinson to go after him. As it turns out, the Bowler Hat Guy has a grudge with Lewis due to inadvertently sabotaging him in the past, making him join forces with DOR-15 just to ruin his life.
He was voiced by the film's director Stephen J. Anderson as an adult and Matthew Josten as a young boy.
Appearance[]
In his appearance as Bowler Hat Guy, Goob is a tall, slender man with brown, balding hair and a thin mustache and piece of hair across his forehead. His attire consisted of a bowler hat (which is actually his partner DOR-15) and black suit he presumably made himself with his old, tattered baseball uniform underneath.
As a child, Goob has black hair, and the spots under his eyes are dark due to the lack of sleep. He wore a green baseball uniform with white pants, a jacket, and a cap.
Personality[]
As a young boy, Michael is more interested in baseball than his roommate's inventing hobby, though he still tolerated and went along with Lewis' wacky and whimsical schemes. However, after he missed the winning catch, his fury became completely uncontrollable and overpowering, as he was constantly in a very bad mood. Once the orphanage shut down, as time progressed (and as he grew up), his resentment of Lewis grew.
As an adult, Michael never really matured, acting insane and foolish, suggesting that he never went onto higher education after school due to his limited knowledge and lack of common sense for many things in life. He has also displayed various types of childish behavior in public places and always has a habit of committing childish mischief. His old-fashioned and tatty clothing and stubborn willingness to remain bitter, spiteful and aggressive make him the opposite to Lewis in every way, since Lewis represented moving forward and progressing. Despite all of this, however, he still had some standards as he was shown to be genuinely horrified when Doris enslaved humanity.
Ultimately, Goob is shown to mainly be incompetent, immature, and more pathetic than truly villainous. And as mentioned, he never wanted to enslave all humanity, just ruin Lewis' future. After Lewis foils DOR-15's plot and proves to him that she was planning to betray him and enslave humanity, he is genuinely hurt, remorseful for aiding her and decides to give up on his vengeance against Lewis, but he also sinks into depression due to being at a complete loss with regards to what to do with his life. However, thankfully for him, after Lewis goes back in time and makes sure to wake him up in time to make the winning catch in his baseball game, he grows up to be far more happy and well-adjusted, and even gets adopted, meaning he will likely never become a villain in the first place, and the events leading up to his transformation into Bowler Hat Guy never took place.
Biography[]
Meet the Robinsons[]
Michael Yagoobian is Lewis' roommate at the orphanage. It is completely unknown why his parents left him in the orphanage or if they died when he was too young. He is kept up all night helping Lewis on his memory scanner. As a member of the local Little League team, the Dinos, Goob never really takes an interest in his roommate's inventing.
The last game of the season occurs on the same day as the Science Fair. During the 9th inning, he falls asleep and misses the winning catch. The other players on his team beat him up for it and he never lets it go after getting the advice from his older self. Subsequently, no parent(s) wanted to adopt him since he is so angry over the game. He also believes that everyone hates him despite at least a few other children acting friendly toward him and showing interest in spending time with him, which he is too angry to notice. Eventually, the orphanage is closed down and he is left behind.
He spends the next 30 years in the orphanage, never changing out of his baseball uniform and listening to the radio, tormenting himself listening to Lewis' successes and achievements as Cornelius Robinson. He finally jumps to the conclusion that his current situation is Lewis' fault, arguing that if he hadn't kept him up all night working on his project, Goob would've caught the ball and could've been adopted. He threw eggs and toilet-paper at Robinson Industries as a pathetic attempt at revenge. Then, he meets Doris, who tells her story about being a helping hat, a slave to humans. She says that she is capable of more things, but Cornelius did not see her as anything more than what he created her to do. Cornelius thought she was shut down, but she escaped the lab and swore revenge, plotting to steal the Robinsons' time machine. Realizing his simple plan was inferior to what Doris had in mind, Goob added in the sabotage of the Science Fair to the hat's scheme. The two joined forces, and Goob took on the identity of Bowler Hat Guy.
He steals the time machine from the Robinsons rather easily when Wilbur fails to listen to his mother and forgets to lock the garage door. He ruins the science fair where Lewis is presenting his memory scanner, then steals the device and takes it to Inventco. Since he doesn't know anything about the scanner, he is thrown out, and at Doris' suggestion, they start to track Lewis for help. Checking at the orphanage, Goob runs into his past self, who had just returned after being beaten up by his baseball team. After being reminded that Lewis likes to hang out on the roof, future Goob decides to go up there, but not before telling his past self to nurture his hatred and resentment for Lewis. Upon discovering that Wilbur had followed them to the past, and was now gone, they return to the future and land on the Robinsons' lawn with an invisibility cloak.
When Doris leaves to get Lewis out of the Robinson house, she gives him control of a mini-Doris so that he can accompany her without leaving the time machine. After spying on Lewis, Doris flies off on her own, while Goob ponders how to get him out of the house. After finding a bar of frogs, he has an idea of taking control of Frankie and using him to intercept Lewis and bring him to Goob. This fails as Frankie is too small to grab Lewis. After dismissing Frankie, a garden structure gives him the idea to go back in time and steal a T-Rex named "Tiny". He then sends him controlled by Mini-Doris after Lewis. With the help of the Robinsons, Lewis and Wilbur defeat Tiny and Mini-Doris is taken away by the frogs to her presumed destruction, while Doris chastises Goob for his plan.
However, they seize their chance when Lewis is walking away from the Robinson family after being seemingly betrayed, Goob promising to use the time machine to take him back to see his mother if he will repair the memory scanner. Wilbur's arrival makes Lewis angry enough to agree, and Goob flies them in the time machine to his old orphanage home. After Lewis fixes the memory scanner, Doris ties him up and takes him prisoner, and then Goob tells his story. Carl and Wilbur save Lewis, but before they can reach the house, Doris impales Carl and steals back the memory scanner, and Goob pauses just long enough to taunt them before going back to the past.
Goob successfully passes off the memory scanner as his own, and then presents the idea of helping hats to Inventco. Sometime shortly afterwards, the helping hats begin terrorizing and enslaving the people, and Goob is horrified about it, as he only wanted to ruin Lewis' future, not condemn humanity. But Doris, having no more use for Goob, uses several hats on him and presumably kills him. This future is ultimately edited, however, after Lewis uses the time machine to go back to before it was set in motion.
At the point in time immediately after Goob signs the contract and makes the invention his own, Lewis appears and tells him that Doris is using him and will kill him after getting what she wants. Goob sees Doris being destroyed after Lewis promises he will never invent her. Lewis then shows Goob the industrial, smog-filled future that Doris would have created, which fades after a few seconds thanks to Lewis' intervention in the past, restoring the original, peaceful future. As Wilbur is restored into existence, he attacks Goob on sight until Lewis pulls him off and tells his future son of his association with Goob. Then Goob leaves, wondering what to do next despite Lewis getting Wilbur to offer to have the Robinsons adopt him. He leaves his binder behind with his checklist and one unchecked box that has a question mark next to it, feeling extremely remorseful for his past actions against Lewis and unsure about what to do with his life.
Upon returning to the past, instead of going straight to the Science Fair, Lewis (remembering what he was told before) heads to the ball field where young Goob is sleeping. Lewis yells at him, waking him up and Goob catches the ball he missed before, winning the game and negating the events that led to his transformation into the Bowler Hat Guy. Goob is shown as a much happier person afterwards, no longer having a reason to be so furious. He is seen carrying around his trophy and getting adopted by the Hendersons, a couple that had previously interviewed Lewis, and having an amicable goodbye with Lewis when he leaves the orphanage.
Disney Parks[]
Upon the release of the film, the Bowler Hat Guy made meet-and-greet appearances throughout some of the Disney theme parks. He usually appeared alongside Lewis and Wilbur.
Despite his reformation at the end of Meet the Robinsons, Bowler Hat Guy also made an appearance with classic Disney Villains for the "Unleash the Villains" stage event at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2013.
Quotes[]
“ | Doris: (beeping) Bowler Hat Guy: Oh yes, Doris. It is a shame. All he wants to do is go back in time to meet the mother he never knew. But they won't let him! We'd let him though wouldn't we? Too bad we don't have a time machine. Oh wait, we do? (Bowler Hat Guy and Doris revealing themselves in the time machine to Lewis) Lewis: Bowler Hat Guy!? Bowler Hat Guy: Hello, Lewis. Lewis: What do you want? Bowler Hat Guy: To make your dream come true. (revealing the destroyed Memory Scanner) All you have to do is put "Humpty Dumpty" back together again... (putting on a sad expression)...and we'll take you back to find your mommy. Wilbur: Lewis! Let's just talk about this! (Lewis looks back to Wilbur's voice before looking back to Bowler Hat Guy who offers his hand. The camera shows the back of Bowler Hat's Guys other hand with his fingers crossing in a "double cross" gesture) Come on! I know you're around here somewhere! Lewis! (Wilbur arrives and looks in shock as Lewis accepts Bowler Hat Guy's "offer" and flies away with Bowler Hat Guy laughing maniacally) |
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~ Bowler Hat Guy and Doris falsely promising to take Lewis back to see his mother if he fixes the Memory Scanner. |
“ | Lewis: If I'm Wilbur's dad? Bowler Hat Guy: Keep going. Lewis: (still confused) If I'm Wilbur's dad? Bowler Hat Guy: (annoyed) Yes, thank you, we've established that. Lewis: Then what does that have to do with you? Bowler Hat Guy: Aha! Allow me to shed some light on the subject (turns on light revealing their old room) Lewis: (gasps) My old room. Bowler Hat Guy: I think you mean OUR old room. Lewis: (confused) What? Bowler Hat Guy: (removes his cloak revealing his tiny, filthy Little League Baseball uniform) Yes! Yes, it is I, Mike Yagoobian! Lewis: (gasps in disgust) Bowler Hat Guy: I know, I'm disgusting. But one learns to love it. Lewis: How did you end up like this? Bowler Hat Guy: Well it's a long pitiful story, about a young boy with a dream. a dream of winning a Little League championship...(flashback to a Little League baseball game, Yagoobian is asleep in the outfield; a sleepy Yagoobian fails to catch a ball headed his way) A dream that was ruined in the last inning. We lost by one run because of me.(Goob wakes up and finds himself surrounded by his teammates as they are about to beat him up) (Baseball kid: Get him!) (Goob angrily telling his day at the orphanage to many parents: If I hadn't fallen asleep, I would have caught the ball! And we would have won!! Do you understand?!) For some reason, no one wanted to adopt me.(Reporter over radio as Goob listens: Whiz kid Cornelius Robinson graduates from college at age 14. - This year's Nobel Prize goes to a young Cornelius Robinson.) (Goob walks through the hallway as students greet him but was too angry to notice) (Student 1: Hey Goob. what's up? Cool binder.) (Student 2: Hey Goob, wanna come over to my house today?) They all hated me. Eventually, they closed down the orphanage and everyone left... except me. (Years go by as Goob listens on the radio of Lewis' successes and comes to a realization.) It was then that I realized it wasn't my fault. It was yours! If you hadn't kept me up all night working on your stupid project, then I wouldn't have missed the catch, so I devised a brilliant plan to get my revenge. (Mike Yagoobian throwing eggs outside Robinson Industries) Robinson, you stink!! Then, just as I was on the brink of destroying Robinson Industries, I met 'her'. We retreated to our villainous lair, where Doris spun a tale of deception and woe. Apparently, you invented her to be a helping hat, a slave to humankind... But Doris knew she was capable of so much more!... (Doris' eye turns red and pulls herself over the lab assistant's eyes and controlling him) However, you didn't see her true potential...(Cornelius: Got it!) So you shut her down... or so you thought. (Doris reactivates herself, breaks free from the glass incasing and secretly escapes from Robinson Industries) We both had a score to settle with you, and while my plan for revenge was brilliant, Doris' was... well, we went with Doris' (showing him a holographic projection of the time machine), but I made a very, very important contribution. (Showing her the Science Fair flyer) Together we made the perfect team. (On a stormy night, Bowler Hat Guy and Doris arrive at Lewis' home with Doris putting her night vision goggles on Bowler Hat Guy, spying on Wilbur) (Franny: Wilbur, make sure you shut that door tight, or else the alarm won't engage.)(Wilbur: Yeah, Mom.) (Wilbur leaves without closing the door all the way) I went to your house, snuck in the garage, and stole the time machine. All thanks to that pointy-haired little kid who forgot to lock the garage door. (Bowler Hat Guy laughs maniacally as the flashback ends) |
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~ Bowler Hat Guy reveals himself as Lewis' old roommate, Mike "Goob" Yagoobian, and tells his origin story of how he came to be, how he met Doris and plan their revenge on Lewis. |
“ | Bowler Hat Guy: And now, all that's left is to return to Inventco, where I'll pass off your little gizmo as my own. Lewis: But you have no idea what that could do to this future! Bowler Hat Guy: I don't care! I just want to ruin your life! Lewis: Goob, I had no idea! Bowler Hat Guy: Shut up! And don't call me Goob! How many villains can you think of who can pull off a name like "Goob"? Bleh. Lewis: Look, I'm sorry your life turned out so bad! But don't blame me, you messed it up yourself! You just focused on the bad stuff when all you had to do was... let go of the past and... keep moving forward. Bowler Hat Guy: Hmm, let's see: take responsibility for my own life or blame you? (makes a bell sound and points his finger at Lewis) Blame you wins hands down! (laughs evilly) |
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~ Bowler Hat Guy revealing his plan to ruin Lewis' future by claiming his invention as his own while Lewis tries to persuade him not to go through with it and calls him out for not moving on with his life. |
“ | Take a look around, boys! Your future's about to change. | „ |
~ Bowler Hat Guy to Lewis and Wilbur before flying off to the past to complete his goal. |
“ | Doris, what's happening? I don't understand! I just wanted to ruin his future, not this. | „ |
~ Bowler Hat Guy is horrified to see that Doris has enslaved all of humanity, which, ironically, is his bigger mistake than his failed baseball game. |
“ | Lewis: Goob, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing! Bowler Hat Guy: Yes I do. I’m ruining your future! Lewis: She’s using you Goob, and when she gets what she wants, she’ll get rid of you. Bowler Hat Guy: What? What? |
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~ Lewis revealing to the Bowler Hat Guy Doris’ true intentions. |
“ | Doris... I thought she was my friend. | „ |
~ Bowler Hat Guy, realizing the error of his ways after finding out that DOR-15 would eventually betray him. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Appearance-wise, Goob's Bowler Hat Guy appearance is presumably inspired or influenced by various melodrama villains such as Snidely Whiplash, more so with his cape and bowler hat (which actually his partner DOR-15) further reinforce the such image.
- Stephen J. Anderson, the director of the film as well as providing the voice of Bowler Hat Guy, also did the voices of Bud and Tallulah Robinson. As a result, Bowler Hat Guy interrupts the commentary for the Meet the Robinsons DVD three times trying to explain how he got in on the project.
- He was originally supposed to be voiced by Jim Carrey, who declined it because he was going to star in the 2007 film The Number 23 as Walter Sparrow.
- He serves as a dark side to Lewis; both were obsessed with some events from the past (Lewis with his failed inventions, including the Memory Scanner; Bowler Hat Guy from his blundered baseball game while as a child). However, Lewis knew when to mature himself from any failure of his, while the Bowler Hat Guy wasn't able to let go of how his past screwup affected him (at least, initially). Had Lewis not learned to leave the past behind and keep moving forward, he could have ended up becoming just like the Bowler Hat Guy.
- Despite having met his past self, his future self's past isn't revealed until the climax of the film. Nonetheless, their conversation about the failed baseball game during the movie foreshadowed the fact that they're the same being.
- Having had possession of one of the two time machines, Goob could have gone back in time and prevented his younger self from falling asleep during the baseball game as long as Doris was not watching him (since this would cause Goob and Doris' alliance to lose purpose and Doris needed Goob to accomplish her plans). It could be that Goob did not have enough common sense to do it or he found more satisfaction in following Doris.
- This was explored in an alternate ending of the film when after Lewis emerged into the meeting room with the time machine, he brought the Bowler Hat Guy back in time to the day of the game. As the winning catch was thrown, Bowler Hat Guy yelled to his younger self to awaken, resulting in him making the winning catch. Bowler Hat Guy celebrates this and realizes that all along, he didn't have to destroy Lewis' future, but only had to wake himself up. He shudders as he realizes how very little he thought everything through, but then sincerely thanks Lewis, who replies that it was his pleasure. Bowler Hat Guy then fades from existence, and Doris follows a moment later as Lewis says that he's never going to invent her. Why this alternate ending was deleted and replaced after John Lasseter entered into the project remains unknown.
- Ironically, while still as the Bowler Hat Guy, probably his most mature act during the movie was turning down the Robinson family's offer to adopt him as their new member, especially when considering the fact that his criminal acts against them would affect humanity as a whole (including himself), largely due to DOR-15's involvement.
External Links[]
- Bowler Hat Guy on the Disney Wiki
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Main Playable Characters Disney Animated Television Pixar Disney Live-Action Films Disney Shorts |