Super Robot Profiles: Robot Taekwon V

Robot Taekwon V is totally awesome because I watched it when I was a little kid.



Of course, I had no idea at the time, and I only discovered that I had today. Previously, those childhood memories were a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in an obscure name-changing dub.

Let's see what Wikipedia has to say about Robot Taekwon V, with Wikipedia funniness and such bolded for your convenient amusement:

Robot Taekwon V (로보트 태권 V) is a South Korean animated film directed by Kim Cheong-gi and produced by Yu Hyun-mok, the prominent director of such films as Obaltan (오발탄) (Aimless Bullet) (1960). It was released on July 24, 1976 , immediately becoming a mega-smashed hit in the late 1970s, and consequently inspired a string of sequels in followng years. Robot Taekwon V was released in the United States in a dubbed format under the name Voltar the Invincible. Robot Taekwon V became the first Korean film to receive full digital restoration treatment in 2005. In Japan, it is known as a plagiarism of Mazinger Z.

It was a mega-smashed hit, indeed. (Though I could have sworn that it was called Voltak, not Voltar.) Also-dude, do you guys even know what plagiarism means? (It does not refer to imitation; it refers to using someone else's work as your own without crediting the other. Unless they stole actual animation or claimed that they had created Mazinger Z, they weren't plagiarizing.)

Even though that video wasn't the actual intro, it gives some impression of what it's like; for the place and time period, the animation is actually pretty sharp. The intro itself is made of pure crack.



And if you disbelieve me, here's some clips from the film (yes, it was a movie):



Compare to the Mazinger Z footage I embedded here. It certainly isn't bad by comparison... The martial arts aspect also adds a nice twist to the Taekwon V combat that Mazinger Z is sadly lacking, actually. (I particularly like the fact that, instead of rocket punching, Taekwon V rocket chops.)

But check this out:



Yes, at least according to the guy who posted this, they're making a live action movie with a CGI Robot Taekwon V.

Of course, there was a much more ignominious sequel to the movie, Super Taekwon V...



...which ripped off design elements from Xabungle, Daitarn 3, Gundam, and probably countless other things.

I love Korean animation.

-Signing off.