Roblox is a comic series written and illustrated by Caitlin Houghton. Serialized by Engineering Weekly Magazine since November 2013, the comic series, which included 780+ chapters and over 89 volumes, had been published from 2013 to 2028. It is set in a world where anyone, young or old may build anything they wish to and create new individuals. The comic centers on Matilda, a female who, inspired by her parents, decides to tour the planet, ending up going to many "experiences", in which they are referred to as "universes". Throughout a series of events that would later change her goals, many species follow her on their journey, while Matilda tries to reach her true goal.
The comic series had expanded into a media franchise. The Adventures of Matilda, an animated series based on the comic, was created by Charles Bailey, who co-produced it with Caitlin. It debuted on April 26, 2015, as a web series. Due to the comic' enormous popularity and success among local viewers, Ro Kansas City Art Institute produced a second, much more successful series by the same name that adapted all of the volumes, which first premiered in January 2022. It was eventually produced by Aspect Film Productions and then Bloxy Animation Productions. In addition to its online release, Children's Avast Television syndicated the series on television. A Spanish-language adaptation of the series was produced as well and was dubbed to over 30 different languages.
Since its debut in 2013, Roblox was met with positive reviews from critics, reviewers and readers, who praised its art style, writing, comedy, character development and worldbuilding. Some reviews cited rushed chapters, a lack of character development, and a lack of humor when compared to earlier volumes. It is also Engineering Weekly Magazine's best-selling comic in years, and because the comic's volumes are released every two to five months, the magazine has proven to be profitable as well. The comic series was extremely popular online, with over ten million views in a single month, and in stores, it was one of the best-selling comics in the United States overall.
Synopsis
Setting
Within the Roblox universe, a fictitious world, every square inch of the earth is inhabited by individuals referred to as "players" based solely on their appearance. Due to an occurrence where Noob and Guest went to war and attacked each other, resulting in the separation of each species, each design lives in a different part of the world and is distinct from the other. The globe is divided into more than 30 separate countries. Every species has its own name, which is derived from the names of their respective designs, and is found in its own nation. For instance, the nation known as Guests is named for the same species. But in spite of that, everyone has a great time in their areas, often playing and hanging out with each other.
The primary global regulation prohibits traveling around the globe because the government worries that everyone will despise the species, increasing the likelihood of death and violence. In the event that a group of people is permitted to travel around the globe, they are required to have a guard accompany them the entire time. The guard is gone and the individual is free to walk alone or with a group of others if they have enough experience. When at least one species travels with a group of people, that species is compelled to return to its own world. The planet was made primarily with the intention of allowing all players to construct and develop new human beings. The government claims that more than 40,000 new players are made or birthed onto the planet every year.
Premise
The main character of the comic series is Matilda, a woman who, encouraged by her parents, chooses to travel the world and explore other worlds using a spaceship she has owned for more than ten years. She ends up participating in numerous "experiences," which are called "games." Many species from many nations and people greet her during a series of events that would eventually change the course of human history. Soon after, the people accompany her on her trip to stop Admin from destroying the earth, while Matilda attempts to achieve her actual aim. Originally, in the early chapters, Matilda traveled with a guard who kept an eye on her and eventually caused her to become agitated by forcing her to forgo the activities she desired to undertake. The guard eventually left during their excursion when Matilda befriended a boy by the name of Jayden Andrews.
In the course of the next volumes, the two would eventually come into contact with Elsie Hawkins, a high school student; Michael Rose, a Guest attempting to locate his missing parents; Cayson Armstrong, a Noob who was on the verge of death but was spared by the group; Poppy Thompson, a Emo woman who was initially despised by the public and hated herself, often thinking of suicidal thoughts, but who learned to be better and stronger than ever before; Jessica Fraser, Matilda's best friend whom she had not seen in over 20 years; Tom Cole, the creator of the "experience" known as Bloxburg, which was destroyed after a series of massive protests; and Hamza Freeman, a first-time planet builder. In addition, Matilda's objectives shift during the narrative. She initially intends to tour the world, but after meeting half of the group and considering her options after a string of events in the chapters, she decides to go attack Admin, who wants to destroy the entire universes and then, take his life. Finally, after coming dangerously close to death multiple times, Matilda decides to just make friends and live her life to the fullest. Additionally, the governemnt because they have break the rules decided to follow them throughout their adventure and nearly result in the deaths and injuries of everyone.
Production
Development
The development of the comic strip Roblox began when Caitlin Houghton enrolled at the Ro Kansas City Art Institute with the intention of become an animator. Caitlin would frequently doodle for many pages at lunch and show it to her teachers as a way to impress them. This practice inspired her to pursue a career as both an animator and a writer. She wrote a two-page story about wanting to go on adventures and make new friends in class, which gave rise to the idea for the comic series. After then, Caitlin had the notion to work from her room and draw some of the pages that developed the narrative. She quickly made the decision to start working on a brand-new adventure-themed comic book series. She didn't want to include a female character just yet, so the original focus was on a guy. She also chose to start with a boy, whom she referred to as the "beginning" character, because it was her first time writing a full-comic series. She went into further detail about the worldbuilding and character development in each chapter. She eventually completed her first comic book by the next week; in the interim, she had started developing the character for her second comic series, which wouldn't go into production for a few years.
She applied to classes at Ro Kansas City Art Institute that included painting, graphic design, interactive art, creative writing, and illustration in order to advance her ideas for the next comic book series. Four years after moving out of the building, Caitlin Houghton started working on the script and illustrations for her second comic book series, which would eventually become Roblox. In order to design the characters, including the lead character Matilda, she chose to draw inspiration from a variety of actors, primarily Francis Leòpardo and Adam Bloxvine, and utilized their personalities as a guide. As announced on her social media, Caitlin Houghton formally begin writing and painting Roblox on January 27, 2013. Originally, Caitlin Houghton intended to publish the comic series on her drawing website. However, in an effort to expand her comic's readership and gain inspiration from other comics, Caitlin reached out to Engineering Weekly Magazine, a comics publication, to serialize her series and publish it as a stand-alone book.
Writing style
The comic book series' first two volumes featured mostly original writing by Caitlin Houghton, Frederick Booth, Harrison Black, Aidan Griffiths, Ewan Burns, Corey Butler, Drew Vazquez, Maverick Burns, Mayson Bean, Kaiden Stafford, and Izaiah Blevins. However, the writing style was inspired by actual occurrences starting with the fifth volume, and it was a combination of real-life events and unique notions starting later in 2015. Caitlin believed that by developing creative concepts and incorporating "true, genuine" occurrences, the stories would flow better together and further the overall character development. Rachel Blox's writing served as an inspiration for her own.
The characters spoke English or Spanish in the first few volumes, but as the books were released and Caitlin wanted to learn more languages while working on the comic and giving audiences a different perspective on the new languages, she started writing multiple languages for the characters. These languages are mainly based on the characters' cultures and origins. For instance, Hamza Freeman spoke French, German, and Italian, whereas Matilda, the primary character, spoke English, Spanish, and a "little of Hindi." Caitlin didn't want translations when she first started writing the series, but the editor of the comic wanted readers to understand what the characters were saying and didn't want an English version of the comic made because of the languages alone. So, starting with the fifteenth volume, translations were added to the text whenever the characters spoke different languages.
Media
Comics
- Main article: List of Roblox comic volumes
On November 12, 2013, Engineering Weekly Magazine officially launched Roblox, a comic book written and illustrated by Caitlin Houghton. The first volume and nine chapters of the book were published on that day. The comics were initially intended to run for at least ten years. The comics were produced and released every two to five months. On June 4, 2028, the comic book adaptation of the series came to an end after more than 15 years of publication. By that time, over 89 volumes were released throughout 780+ chapters. A formal English dubbed of the comic was created due to its distinctive style, which featured characters speaking in different languages that were not translated into English. The first volume of the English version was published by Engineering Weekly Magazine on November 13, 2014, a year after the original series premiere. However, because of the changes, the English version was disconnected after two years.
Television shows
Based on the comics series, two television shows have been created; they are web series and television series, respectively.
The Adventures of Matilda
Charles Bailey and Caitlin co-produced the animated web series, The Adventures of Matilda. The series, which was financed by donations and had over 100 animators, had its formal online premiere on April 26, 2015, and ran for 15 episodes until October of that year. Throughout the course of 12 chapters in the series, the show adapts the first and half of the second volumes.
Roblox
- Main article: Roblox (TV series)
The Ro Kansas City Art Institute announced on August 5, 2021, that it was producing an animated television series based on the comics. Executive and co-producer Caitlin Houghton would oversee the show's development. Furthermore, in September, a month later, Caitlin Houghton announced that she would be contributing to the project as a co-director for the episodes. She went on to say that, in contrast to the previous show, the entire series would cover all of the volumes and chapters and would "probably be produced for a very long time," contingent on the quantity of additional volumes that she would ultimately produce. Declan Hawkins, who started working on the animated series back in 2020 during the COVID-19 epidemic, spoke with the comic book creator for a few months before enlisting the help of the production crew to work on the scripting and animation for the individual episodes. On January 14, 2022, the television show made its formal debut in the United States, originally starting as a web series.
After being in development since the first season's premiere, a second and third season eventually started production in August 2022. The production team significantly grew to over 600 people working on the series at the same time, mostly from home. Later, it was announced that Ro Kansas City Art Institute would no longer be producing the program for the third season's production. Instead, Aspect Film Productions, an animation studio, would formally begin working on the series, bringing the total number of production workers to about 900. Aspect Film Productions served as the television series' producer, adding more animators and writers and further expanding the episodes and the show overall. Eventually, as development entered the seventh season, Bloxy Animation Productions, a television animation studio that produced Robloxians, entered as the series' main animation studio.
Children's Avast Television announced in January 2023, more than a year after the original release, that they had officially acquired the rights to produce an edited version of the series on their network. Avast Television had gotten in touch with Caitlin to air the show in December 2022 after seeing the series' huge online success. Caitlin first objected, saying she preferred for the show to be exclusively available online. Nevertheless, after weeks of deliberating over the details of the edited series, she consented and co-produced the edited version. The series would make its television debut on January 27, 2023, one year after the first episode was released. Two episodes were broadcasted weekly. Subs was additionally added to the series to match the voices of the characters, with the exception of English-speaking characters. During the series's first couple of seasons, significant changes were made to the television version of the show because of the mature tone, realistic effects, and dark scenes, as well as Avast Television's desire for the show to be "kid-friendly." Caitlin Houghton wanted the television version to "show the series' true nature" and "be the way that the online version was."
On August 26, 2023, the animated series was officially dubbed into Spanish and made available for viewing on the network Robloxian Educational Television. The comic's primary popularity in the 2020s was largely attributed to the well-received television show. Critics and viewers greeted the television show favorably, complimenting it on its humor, writing style, character development, and animation—most of which aimed to retain the dignity and allure of the original comic book. According to Caitlin Houghton, the television series was "very, very, very close" to what she had envisioned for the first animated program that debuted n 2015. The show ran for more than seven years, with an official finale in June 2029.