Actors in robot suits and other surprising Rossum facts

Welcome to my site.

Here comes the post of actors in robot suits and other surprising Rossum facts!

1. There is only 1 Astro Boy and 1 Zoran.

2. Actors in robot suits - Actors in robot suits are among the weirdest stars in the Rossum meta trilogy.

3. There are two Atlases - One Atlas was in Metropolis and the other in its Astro Boy 2003 sequel.

4. There are two Pluto robots - Black Acheron and Green Pluto. 

5. There is only 1 Blue Knight.

6. In the final episode, Dr Tenma harmed himself to death in a prison, which is a very saddening thing.

The cast of Magma

The cast of Magma

Both of the previous adaptations have hilariously bad English-dub localisations by today's standards. The manga needs an effective English translation as well. This is the first Tezuka Productions and Mushi Production show not to have the old 'Tezuka Star System' as a standard. It is also the first to have links with the alternative fantasy scene.

Jovians and Saturnians are distinct-looking but closely related humanoids who live in Jupiter, Saturn and most their large moons. Both are incredibly adept transformers and can even out-morph the old school Transformers characters by a wide margin!

The cast of characters

(Modern) Magma: Magma has direct predecessors; the shrunken live action Magma behind the scenes, the golden Robot Stuntman from the 1980 Astro Boy series, and Emily's Battle Bot stage father (who bore some similarities to Disney's Tarzan and had green eyes!) from the 2003 series as well. Unlike the forerunners, he has three main transforming purposes: turning into a luge, snowballing into a beast, and the classic example of morphing into a rocket or a UFO. 

(Modern) Goa: Goa has two indirect predecessors (both males), the human-sized versions of manga and live action Goa. Unlike her three cumbersome forerunning counterparts (who are all males), she is a female who has plans to irritate the solar system. When she does irritate the solar system however, she finds out that planet Earth is the worst fit for invasion! 

(Modern) Gaum: Unlike Magma and Maura, Gaum's predecessors are all direct ones. His manga predecessor tended to have antennae hidden within its hair, whereas its live action counterpart had them paired close to the in-built helmet. The OVA version was older in age, even though it retained the helmet-antennae pairing seen in the live action/anime hybrid version. Unlike all previous versions, he ain't the son of Magma at all.

Emily: Although a prototype of her portrayal first appeared in the Astro Boy 2003 episode 'Battle Bot', Emily is a supporting character and a creation of Shinji Seiya. 

Slate: Scheming driver of the 'big purple outer space float', which is the main headquarters for the Solar System subsidiary of Dr C Corp. 

Maura: Magma's daughter.

Lava: Magma's grandfather. 

Asher: A hairy old wizard in Magma's village who is inspired by the Earth Wizard in the manga and two previous adaptations. His inventive yet rather hectic nature would make him a target of the Solar System Pirates. 

Tephra: Basalt's son.

Bae: Youngest of Lava's children and mother to Magma.

Clio: Basalt's wife.

Basalt: Magma's sidekick, who is pretty much bigger, older and slightly more unattractive than the beautiful yellow buddy. However, he and Magma share some certain things in common. He can beat his chest for different purposes.

Obsidian: Grandson to Obsidian the first, the junior is one of the more cunning antagonists turned antiheroes. He is also called the Black Garon. 

Fina: Number One of the Fina-Lina pair from the moon Hyperion.

Lina: Number Two of the Fina-Lina pair from the moon Hyperion.

Elise Murakami: Taurus's mother who got killed by factory robots in Russia. 

Taurus Murakami: A cousin of Reno Hardaway from the Astro Boy 2003 series, Taurus is a largely original character aged 16 years old. He was definitely named after the Roman calendar animal Taurus. 

Andrew Murakami: Taurus's father.

Tattle Tooth: One of the Solar System Pirates, he is indeed inspired by Classic Goa in both manga and live action forms. Unlike the predecessor, he tends to have two main weapons which are a modernised 'caveman' club and a ninja star. 

Ludic: Ludic is younger than Tattle Tooth in age, but has two horns in his head. He is inspired by Skull from old school Power Rangers. 

Deron: The chubby sidekick of Ludic, Deron is a good natured goofball inspired by the old school Power Rangers character Bulk. He is also friends with Emily and Taurus.

Scuttle Weed: Scuttle Weed is a character inspired by the OVA Goa in terms of looks. Being the main antagonist in the series (not by power, but by episode numbers), Scuttle Weed likes to plan an ultimately disappointing invasion of another world in the solar system. He owns the 'little black outer space float' with his fellow pirates. 

Sandstone: Although a prototype of his portrayal appeared in the Astro Boy episode 'Battle Bot' as proto-Emily's 'foster father', Sandstone is one of the most important new characters for the spinoff series. In the Japanese version of his first appearance, the tone of his voice was simply too deep and manly to attract kids. It got replaced in the English version with a witty Massachusetts accent instead. In both versions of 'Battle Bot', he originally had blond hair, albeit much shorter than Magma's.

Fiamme: One of Maura's friends.

Tuff: Magma's rival from Hyperion. Along with his little brother Tuffite, he is one of the Solar System Pirates.

Lapilli: Lapilli comes from the Jovian moon Calisto.

Tuffite: Tuffite is from Hyperion. He is the younger brother of Tuff and Marea.

Stilo: Inspired by the OVA Classic Maura, Stilo intends to retain the red clothing, blond hair and helmet. She is from the Jovian moon Amalthea.

Marea: Inspired by the live action version of Classic Maura, Marea intends to retain the inspiration's metallic clothing and helmet, with the Afro replacing the darker brown live action bouffant instead. She is sister to Tuff and Tuffite.

Sienna: First appearing in the same episode as Sandstone and Emily, Sienna intends to retain her inspiration's bouffant manga hairdo (which is now red instead of light brown!), albeit her own clothing would replace that of the latter.

Coal: A seductive but elderly antagonist inspired by the OVA Goa. He comes from Hyperion.

Limestone: Wimpy and claustrophobic critter friend of Magma.

Windy: Huge and grisly Windy comes from Saturn.

Outer Space Madness: is Disney ripping off the fairy tales?

Welcome to my Outer Space Madness

I like Ambassador Magma, the one manga that both The Space Giants and its OVA remake are based on. In the live action/animation version, Magma could shrink into a human size (when standing behind the scenes), but in the manga and almost alway in the Ova, he still remained a clunky, heavily armoured and almost robotlike giant anyway.

In both manga and live action/animation versions, he transformed into a rocket (via his hidden head, arms and legs), but in the OVA, he simply (and quickly) morphed into the same thing, probably as a blessing in disguise. Many hairstyles are part of the character too: a scruffy wig in the live action/animation version, a bundle of achingly long but lightly coloured bangs in the OVA, and the original manga hairstyle which grew into a big flame.

In his first manga appearance, Magma was probably (and inappropriately) slate-coloured with dull hair. As the chapters go into their first climax, he became gold coloured and blond haired. Later on, a then-unlikely pair of simplified 'four fingers-single thumb hands' got added to the body part roster, which is very thankfully cost effective because a pair of actual human hands is still so hard to draw. The reason why they got added was (and still is) the demanding handiness of the character's creator. At the same time, the hair also grew into a flabbergasting flame of locks and bangs!

In all versions, he could talk like a human! He can wrestle a shapeshifter in dinosaur form, can attack a Godzilla-sized crayfish-like monster, and can roar.

Am I thinking about the classic Magma in most of my crapped out blogging time? Oh yes, my mentor Tim Danko had watched what is now the really boring 'Kimba The White Lion/Leo The Lion' show as a kid. I agree with him that the late Osamu Tezuka's first major success is (relatively speaking) the dullest and most ordinary of his major works.

Even though the whole classic meta-show was loosely based on an equally boring manga called 'Jungle Emperor', its titular character Leo (who was nicknamed 'Kimba' in the first two seasons of most dubs) was a rebellious young antihero, who evolved into a sensibly intelligent if supposedly vegetarian beast!

This led to two medium-length films, as well as a blandly dark reboot show (which flopped miserably or had some success in most countries) and its considerably more nationally unpopular (but more internationally successful) 'film finale' of 1997. Nine years after the film finale's English-dubbed release, a somewhat satirical television special, acting as the franchise’s first and only official continuity reboot, got aired on Fuji Tv as the final (and only almost entirely non-canonical) instalment of the whole franchise's continued existence.

But there's something that any Disney fan will never know about until now. Both Magma and Kimba/Leo have partly inspired The Lion King to become a major hit in 1994, perhaps because 'the circle of life' (Tezuka was fond of this term too!) is also 'the beauty contest of life' according to the Canadian 'In Your Face' author Shari Graydon. Gee, I have read the same term from 'In Your Face: The Culture Of Beauty And You' by that Canadian (Shari Graydon)! 

What most likely inspired The Lion King to become a hit is that it was a notoriously costly 'technical ripoff' of Shakespeare's Hamlet, amongst many other tales about the poor fallen hero and his fellows. Fairy tales get ripped off very easily and are pretty much prone to significant and at times adaptation decaying variations, since they're very ancient and out of copyright.