Walter the Robot
I have been looking for Walter the Robit for quite a long time. I recently picked him up with a Job lot of Warlord Dredd figures on eBay, paying almost as much in postage and import duties as the figures but still a bargain I thought.
Walter is the Mega City One's most famous servo droid, Walter the Wobot. This figure was produced by Warlord Games. Walter was once Judge Dredd's house robot. He is usually used in stories to provide comic relief, and he has a speech impediment which causes him to pronounce his R's as W's. (This was a defect caused by fear and stress.) He was originally a robo-servant at the Grand Hall of Justice, and was drafted by Judge Dredd during the First Robot War to help him infiltrate the robot stronghold. Unlike the majority of the robots, Walter believed robots should be diligent slaves for humans. It was Walter who landed the final blow on rebel leader Call-Me-Kenneth, being used to override the city's Weather Control computers and unleash a lightning storm, and he was made a free robot (the first ever) with the rights of a human citizen in 2099 for his loyal services. However he was so devoted to Dredd that he chose to remain in Dredd's employ and even got rid of his freedom papers in exchange for a Deed of Ownership giving him to Dredd. He eventually left Dredd's service after he sustained serious damage at the hands of Mean Machine Angel. This was an effort by the writers to kill him off when Judge Dredd stories were becoming grittier and more mature; in the same story, Dredd's landlady Maria was also written out.
He met Dredd again in 2115, helping him escape the forces of Judge Grice and wielding a vast amount of deadly weaponry, killing many ex-convict Judges in the process, but was ignored after he got Dredd to the safety of the other judges. The next year, Walter snapped over these two encounters and formed a cult around Call-Me-Kenneth, proclaiming he'd been wrong to betray him. He attempted to start a Second Robot War and actually shot Dredd to punish him for Dredd's harsh treatment of him over the years. He was arrested by Rookie Judge Giant and sentenced to thirty years.
However he was freed from jail during the actual Second Robot War in 2121. Reformed, he sought out Dredd and surrendered to him, asking to be reprogrammed so he could not commit crimes again. Instead, Dredd put him on probation and ordered him to work as a helper for the elderly Mrs Gunderson. Walter lives with Gunderson, helps run her Judge Death-based tourist attraction (and dealing with the Death actors who go insane playing the role), and attempts to keep her out of trouble (with great difficulty); he has made several reappearances alongside her.
Cheers
Matt
