Gigantor
If you are younger than me than you might not remember the giant robot Gigantor or in Japanese called “Tetsujin” which translates literally into “iron man”. Tetsujin started as a comic book written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama back in 1956. A little less than 20 years later a television series by the name of “Tetsujin Tiger Seven came out.
Tetsujin also made an appearance in the Tekken video game. Tetsujin is a character that is well known in Japan. The character made an appearance in the U.S. in 1966 as a cartoon and like Speed Racer the characters had altered original names to fit better with the American market. Also the violence was toned down a bit for the American audience. The program was originally in black and white but made a color debut in the nineties.
The series was set in the year 2000. And the program featured the life of Jimmy Sparks, a pre-teen boy who controls Gigantor, a huge flying robot, with a remote control. The robot is made from steel, and has a rocket-powered backpack for flying through the skies, a pointy nose, and eyes that never move, incredible strength, but no intelligence. Hmm incredible strength with no intelligence….. I can think of a few pro wrestlers that fit that category.
So you all are probably thinking so Charles why and the heck are you talking about Gigantor? And I will tell you… Recently in Kobe Japan which is the 6th largest city in Japan and located in the Kansai region of Japan. A life sized statue of Gigantor was erected in a park named Wakamatsu. The statue is 60 feet tall and weighs in at a whopping 50 tons.
I personally didn’t have any pictures of Testujin (Gigantor) so ninja ganked some off of Flickr, although full credits are given to the photographers. Enjoy!
Gigantor photos courtesy of a Creative Commons license from the following photographers.
