#pre-void rob

i made some quick edits to pre-void rob's design (but if he asks, tell him i love him just the way he is)

Sexuality Headcanon: i hc Rob as gay, but i think he wouldn't have discovered that until after coming back from the Void.  he didn't even rly have friends (hence why he was sent to the Void in the first place), so i can't imagine he developed any crushes to be able to figure out his sexuality or anything. so he was mostly just questioning

Gender Headcanon: trans guy (maybe a nonbinary trans guy?), which possibly could've enhanced his own personal feeling of "not belonging" or smth as time went on ... like maybe he didn't fully understand his gender yet

Ship I Have With Said Character: none rly, because he didn't interact with anyone. but a pre-Void Gumrob au could be cute?

OR... i don't ship them, but pre-Void Rob x Tobias. just because in 'The Party,' no one was allowed to go to the party without a date... and Rob was only seen hanging out with Tobias there. so maybe he and Tobias went together because no one else would go with either of them (Rachel probably made Tobias bring a date too, even though the party was at his house lol)

BROTP I Have With Said Character: maybe Rob and Molly? i think it'd be nice if they were sorta friends before they both went to the Void. i don't think they'd be close at all, and Molly would probably be too focused on telling her own stories to let Rob say anything about himself, but it'd help him feel just a little bit less ignored at school. if that were the case, imagine Rob being sent to the Void first, leaving Molly with no one to really listen to her stories, so that just speeds up the time it takes for her to be forgotten too.

NOTP I Have With Said Character: none ?

Random Headcanon (Disclaimer: throughout this next response, i'm referring to the fact that TAWOG somewhat has a show within itself—NOT the fact that it's an irl cartoon with a real crew. i hope this isn't confusing):

i can't really see him having parents (at least not ones that are heavily involved in his life)?

i sorta feel like ... the show didn't even bother giving him a backstory or a family or anything. nothing was written for him, so he wasn't given a false sense of home, or any place to go once he was done being just another one of Gumball's classmates. NOW OBVIOUSLY, he wasn't "self aware" at this point in time, so it's not upsetting for him and isn't some sort of tragic backstory (until he's out of the Void). he literally just has nothing, he's only ever seen at school/with the other students in season 1, so that's sort of just the only place he's written to exist.

so i also hc that's why he was in front of Gumball's old house in the Void. Rob was not written to have any sort of life of his own; his existence relies on Gumball and the show. there was nothing of his own to disappear into the Void with him. Molly, on the other hand, was at least given her treehouse (something that was written into the show!!!! in the episode 'The Pressure') while she was in the Void. that was the only other place she was seen outside of the school that belonged to her, so it was able to go in the Void with her.

so when Rob said "There is no place for me in this world. I don't have a mom. I don't have any siblings, either." when he came back, it's because he never had any of that stuff to begin with!!! this kid was living in some sort of out-of-bounds screen anytime we weren't seeing him in the school.

General Opinion Over Said Character: I LOVE ROB AS A CHARACTER IN GENERAL, but i honestly never think about pre-Void Rob. i acknowledge how he used to be and stuff, but i've never rly felt the need to add headcanons on top of it because ... idk, he doesn't even remember what his life used to be like. i honestly kind of like it that way, and i'm content with my headcanon that he was written to be forgotten, even in Gumball's world. but it does make me wonder if that's not the case, and if there is anything in canon about his pre-Void life that we haven't been told about (yet)?