Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム Tetsuwan Atomu, "Mighty Atom," lit. "Iron Arm Atom") is a Japanese manga series first published in 1952 and television program first broadcast in Japan in 1963. The story follows the adventures of a robot named Astro Boy and a selection of other characters along the way. Astro Boy was adapted into the first popular animated Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as anime. It originated as a manga in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, revered in Japan as the "God of Manga." After enjoying success abroad, Astro Boy was remade in the 1980s as Shin Tetsuwan Atomu, known as Astroboy in other countries, and again in 2003.
Astro Boy is a science fiction series set in a futuristic world where robots co-exist with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular "Astro Boy" (sometimes called simply "Astro"): a powerful robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma (aka Dr. Astor Boyton II in the 1960 English dub) to replace his son Tobio ('Astor' in the 1960s English dub; 'Toby' in the 1980s English dub and the 2009 film), who died in a car accident (ran away in the 2003 anime; vaporized in the 2009 film). Dr. Tenma built Astro in Tobio's image and treated him as lovingly as if he were the real Tobio, but soon realized that the little robot could not fill the void of his lost son, especially given that Astro could not grow older or express human aesthetics (in one set of panels in the manga, Astro is shown preferring the mechanical shapes of cubes over the organic shapes of flowers). [source: wiki]
Astro Boy became Tezuka's most famous work. Frederik L. Schodt, author of the English-language version of Astro Boy, said it had "extraordinary longevity and appeal across cultures." Schodt said that many of the stories are "sometimes" of "uneven quality." Schodt said that as the time becomes closer to "a true age of robots," Astro Boy assumes more meaning. Jeff Yang of the San Francisco Chronicle said "while kids came for Astro's atomic action -- just about every installment included Astro harrowing a fellow robot who'd fallen from digital grace with his fission-powered fists -- they stayed for the textured, surprisingly complex stories."
Astro Boy has been released many times over the years, in various forms and sizes. This is the latest version of Astro Boy to be released by ZCWO (ZC World) and although touted as a vinyl collectable, he's wearing fabric white polo long sleeve shirt and black pants. When I first saw the pictures, I actually thought he had the Singapore flag on his chest ;p
Scroll down to see more pictures
Other Astro Boy figures posted earlier in my toy blog :)
APRIL 29, 2008 - Astro Boy by Hot Toys 2005
JULY 20, 2008 - Flying Astro Boy © NTV, 1981
JULY 20, 2008 - Mechablock DX Astro Boy by Takara
AUGUST 24, 2009 - Hot Toys MMS 109 1/6 Astro Boy Preview
AUGUST 25, 2009 - Hot Toys MMSV 04 - ASTRO BOY Vinyl Figure Preview
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