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This article is about the character Wilbur from Meet the Robinsons. For other characters, see Wilbur.

Wilbur Robinson is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2007 animated feature film Meet the Robinsons. He is the 13-year-old son of Franny and Lewis "Cornelius" Robinson.

Background[]

Personality[]

Though Wilbur often finds himself in trouble, he always has a backup plan to get himself out of it. Impatient, Wilbur often moves quickly and during his time travels, uses stealth and generally acts in the manner of his fake persona as a "Time Continuum Task Force" officer until Lewis sees through his façade. Wilbur generally acts very confident, but he is rather careful about trying to keep Lewis' cover until realizing he can't keep the act up, so he exposes him.

Physical appearance[]

Wilbur is a teenage boy with a thin build. He has light skin, brown eyes, and black hair slicked back into a cowlick on top. He wears a dark blue short-sleeved shirt with a yellow bolt in the center, jeans, and black sneakers. Wilbur mostly resembles his mother, Franny.

Appearances[]

Meet the Robinsons[]

After leaving the garage door open while taking out the trash, which allows the Bowler Hat Guy to steal the second time machine, Wilbur follows him through time in the first machine and pulls his future father, Lewis, under a table to warn him about the Bowler Hat Guy, but Lewis thinks he's crazy and leaves.

While looking for the Bowler Hat Guy, Wilbur runs into his future mother, Franny and knocks her frogs out of her hands, then jumps on another kid, believing him to be the Bowler Hat Guy. He watches proudly as Lewis displays his Memory Scanner and is horrified when it goes wrong, spotting Bowler Hat Guy and Doris. He then throws Lewis' designs back at him and pretends to be a pigeon to get his attention. When Lewis doesn't believe him about being a Time Agent, discovering that his "badge" is just a tanning salon coupon, and tears up his Memory Scanner plans, Wilbur makes him a deal: if he can prove to Lewis that he's from the future, then Lewis will fix his Memory Scanner. After getting Lewis' sarcastic agreement, he shoves him off the roof into the time machine and takes him to see the future. Lewis, however, decides to use the machine to stop his mother from abandoning him and the two boys fight over the controls, causing the machine to crash.

Wilbur makes Lewis another deal: fix the time machine and he'll take him back to see his mother, though he has no plans to actually do so. He hides Lewis in the garage, makes him wear a fruit hat and warns him not leave. Wilbur gets the plans to the time machine from a panicking Carl, who reveals that if he fails, there's a good chance he won't even exist.

When Wilbur returns to the garage, he finds Lewis has disappeared and frantically searches the house for him, before the two literally run into each other after Lewis meets Wilbur's family, which horrifies him. Wilbur quizzes Lewis on what he knows about his family, telling him that his father looks like Tom Selleck. Wilbur watches as Lewis tries to fix the time machine and explains the history of it, his father's inventions and the motto "Keep Moving Forward," also giving him a cap with a lightning bolt on it as he can't take Lewis seriously in the fruit hat. Lewis' efforts to fix the time machine fail and Wilbur tries to comfort him, but this fails and Lewis believes he's no good. As Wilbur tries to put his hand on Lewis' shoulder in comfort, Franny calls them to dinner and Wilbur has no choice but to take Lewis as Franny threatens to come and get them, which would result in her seeing the broken time machine.

At dinner, Wilbur introduces Lewis as an orphan and tries to get him to fix Cornelius' peanut butter and jelly maker to boost his confidence. When the family demands Lewis take off his hat, Wilbur causes a food fight to prevent it. Doris later tries to drop a chandelier on him, but is interrupted by Bowler Hat Guy sending in a Mini-Doris controlled dinosaur named Tiny. Wilbur and his family battle to protect Lewis, with Wilbur pulling him out of the way of Tiny, but when he notices Mini-Doris, Tiny tries to eat him on Bowler Hat Guy's orders, but Lewis saves him. Finally, Wilbur defeats Tiny by shooting Mini-Doris off his head with Gaston's Meatball Cannon, rendering Tiny harmless.

Afterwards, he and Lewis share a moment of triumph where the two realize how great a team they make before Lewis accidentally calls Franny "Mom" and she offers to adopt him. Knowing this can't happen and seeing no other choice, Wilbur knocks off Lewis' hat, exposing his identity to the shocked Robinsons, forcing Franny to retract her offer. When Lewis tries to defend himself and asks if he can still go see his mom like Wilbur promised, Wilbur blurts out he never meant it while trying to escape trouble, leaving Lewis infuriated and feeling betrayed as he'd come to see Wilbur as his friend. Lewis runs off and Wilbur calls after him to come back and that they are friends. For his actions, Franny promises Wilbur that he's grounded until he dies.

Wilbur tries to catch up to Lewis and finds him being enticed by Bowler Hat Guy who he leaves with. Wilbur catches up with the help of Carl and gains Lewis' attention by pretending to be a pigeon again. Carl and Wilbur rescue Lewis, who punches Wilbur in the arm for forgetting to close the garage door and lying to him, revealing that he now knows the truth about everything, including being Wilbur's father. Wilbur considers it a great story for Lewis to tell him one day, but before they can reach the Robinson house, Doris attacks, destroying Carl and taking the Memory Scanner. Wilbur is erased from existence, but before that, begs Lewis to fix the time machine and set everything right, expressing faith in him and calling him "Dad." Lewis succeeds in fixing the time machine and destroys Doris, fixing the future, causing Wilbur to return to existence. Wilbur congratulates Lewis before noticing the now-reformed Bowler Hat Guy and attacks him, telling Lewis to run for help. Lewis instead convinces him to offer for the Robinsons to adopt him, but Bowler Hat Guy leaves as they talk, leaving behind his notebook.

Wilbur reunites with his relieved family before his dad arrives home, demanding to know about the disappeared time machines and his past self being in the future. Wilbur quickly tries to run, but is ratted out by Franny, which he finds harsh. After Lewis is shown his future inventions by Cornelius, Wilbur prepares to take him home, waiting impatiently while he says goodbye and reminding him that he will see the Robinsons again as they are his family. Despite his earlier plans to the contrary, Wilbur takes Lewis back to see his mom like he promised and looks on as Lewis prepares to stop her, then changes his mind. Wilbur then takes back Lewis to his own time where Lewis explains that he realized he didn't need his mom, he already has a family, the Robinsons. Wilbur and Lewis hug and Wilbur expresses his surprise that his father ended up becoming his best friend. Wilbur gives Lewis his taped back together Memory Scanner plans and reminds him of his motto before promising to return if anything else gets screwed up. As he leaves, Wilbur sky-writes "See ya later, Dad" with the time machine before returning to the future.

Once Upon a Studio[]

Wilbur and Lewis appear to join other characters for a group photo to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney. They stand together in front of the Queen of Hearts, watching Belle and Beast singing "When You Wish Upon a Star". They join in on the song as the group photo is successfully taken.

Video games[]

Meet the Robinsons[]

Following Wilbur's adventures, the game begins with a Time-Travel trip to Ancient Egypt, with Wilbur deciding to explore a pyramid. Upon his escape back to the future, Carl chastises him for making a minor alteration in the process: A worker saw him in the time machine, dubbing it a chariot of the gods. Wilbur then has to do a few errands around the house before another time trip, which includes taking out the trash to the garage. Losing the time machine to the Bowler Hat Guy, Wilbur sneaks into a Robinsons Industries sub-basement to retrieve the Time Machine prototype.

Fighting past the robot security, Wilbur makes it and goes back to the Science Fair after Bowler Hat Guy, but upon arrival into the gymnasium, he bursts through the doors and slams into Stanley, whose volcano is thrown into Lizzy's Fire Ant Farm. Called back to the future quickly by Carl, Wilbur finds the timestream has been altered that now Stanley and Lizzy are warring supervillains and Stanley is now in charge of the world (or at least the city) with Magma Industries. Wilbur tracks his time machine down to Lizzy's underground lair, The Hive, but after defeating the ant queen now has to enter Stanley's headquarters as well. After fighting Stanley's ultimate robot, Prometheus, the volcano starts becoming unstable and threatens to erupt.

Quickly traveling back, Wilbur sets things right between Lizzy and Stanley and makes a quick stop back to see what has become of them (a pet shop owner and a pizza restaurateur respectively) and exiting through the front door, is thrown into the Doris' victory timeline and fights the Mega-Doris. After defeating the giant robot hat, Wilbur proceeds back in time to help Lewis.

Disney Parks[]

Wilbur DLP

Wilbur poses for a photo at Disneyland Paris.

Wilbur was a walkaround character when the film was first released, though has become rare since. Occasionally, it is possible to locate him at Disney's Hollywood Studios under the hat, or in the random assortment of characters that appear at The Magic of Disney Animation daily.

Gallery[]

Wiki
The Disney Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Wilbur Robinson.

Trivia[]

  • According to the commentary, when Wilbur tells Lewis his father looks like Tom Selleck, who ironically voices the adult Cornelius, it's meant to be the person most different from his dad in his eyes.
    • This also serves as a hint regarding who Wilbur's father is. If one pays attention, Wilbur was thinking before he states that his father looks like Tom Selleck, as if he's trying not to give away who Cornelius looks like.
  • Wilbur might've learned karate from his mother since he made a defensive stance and kicked and grabbed Goob a few seconds after seeing him with Lewis.


v - e - d
Meet the Robinsons logo
Media
Meet the Robinsons (video/soundtrack) • video game
Disney Parks
Parades: Villains Cursed Caravan

Fireworks: The Magic of Disney AnimationWondrous Journeys
Halloween: Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade

Characters
Lewis RobinsonWilbur RobinsonBowler Hat GuyDOR-15Mini-DorisMega-DorisCarlBud RobinsonLucille KrunklehornBillie RobinsonJoe RobinsonFritz RobinsonPetunia RobinsonLaszlo RobinsonTallulah RobinsonFranny RobinsonUncle ArtGaston FramagucciSpike and DimitriMildred DuffyMr. WillersteinLizzyStanleyCoachLewis' mother

Creatures: LeftyBusterTinyFrankie

Songs
Another BelieverTo the Future!Where Is Your Heart At?Give Me the Simple LifeLittle WondersThe Future Has ArrivedThe Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)Kids of the FutureThere's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow
Locations
Sixth Street OrphanageJoyce Williams Elementary SchoolInventcoAnderson ObservatoryRobinson IndustriesJacoby's JunkPlaytime PlanetTodayland
Objects
Time MachineMemory ScannerLewis' JournalMega-Doris
Deleted Concepts
Pet Project
See also
The Robinsons
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