Giant Torayan heated up Tokyo earlier this year.
(Credit: Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)A giant, fire-breathing robot has taken over part of Osaka's city hall.
Its baby face makes it the perfect instrument for striking terror into the hearts of the 2.6 million residents of this Japanese metropolis.
The metal monster is called Giant Torayan and it stands over three stories tall. It can spew 20-foot-long jets of flame from its infant lips. See the video below.
Constructed of steel, aluminum and brass, the robot is the brainchild of Japanese artist Kenji Yanobe, who describes it thus: "This Giant Torayan doll is the ultimate child's weapon, as it sings, dances, breathes fire, and follows only those orders given by children."
Torayan's remote control unit also looks like a baby's head. It contains a computer that only recognizes voice commands issued by kids, according to Yanobe. It can flail its arms about, turn its head, and utter a high-pitched wail.
The robot has been exhibited at different venues in Japan in recent years, including Tokyo's popular Roppongi Hills complex in March, as seen above.
Torayan is a stock character in Yanobe's works and was originally inspired by a puppet that belonged to his father, a ventriloquist.
It's slated to stick around city hall until October 12 as part of the Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009 festival, a celebration of the city's canals and rivers.
This seems to be the year for giant robot construction projects in Japan, with a 60-foot Gundam robot built in Tokyo, and a monument to Gigantor going up in Kobe.
Whatever are the Japanese planning?
(Credit:
Lifedoor Blog)
For every macho, giant-size tribute to Gundam out there, there's going to be a more froufrou version coming along. Ying for the yang. So while the guys will probably be gagging over this girly, bejeweled Gundam (in pink, no less), it actually looks quite fetching with its bedazzled flowery legs and armor. With love from China, of course, since no Japanese worth his anime salt would discredit this cult war robot on its 30th anniversary.
(Credit:
Lifedoor Blog)
(Source: Crave Asia via Lifedoor Blog)
What's even cooler-looking than a full-size Gundam towering over Tokyo? A full-size Gundam towering over Tokyo at sunset, its light- and mist-emitting 59-foot frame shadowed by a stunning sky.
We first mentioned this mecha monument last week. Bandai built it in Tokyo's Odaiba Shiokaze park to mark the 30th anniversary of the highly successful Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, which kicked off as a Japanese television series and went on to spawn numerous spinoffs, including movies, novels, comics, and video game adventures.
The giant RX-78 Gundam replica with the moveable head will officially be unveiled on July 11 and will continue to stare Tokyo down through the end of the summer.
For those who won't manage to make it out for an in-person sighting, our friends at Pink Tentacle posted some pretty amazing night shots that make the bot look like it walked straight out of a cartoon and is ready to kick some serious something or other.
"Faint. I've died and gone to heaven, and god is a Gundam," one Pink Tentacle reader wrote in response to the photos at left. Wrote another, "I just cried manly tears."
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