Robot gets a marketing deal for 30th birthday

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Robot gets a marketing deal for 30th birthday

Taekwon V, a robot hero of a hit animation film of the 1970s, celebrated its 30th birthday yesterday with a business deal.
Shincine Communication Co., the company with the copyright to the character, registered “Robot Taekwon V” as a proper name and created a company under that name that will manage the cartoon character’s future media appearances, including TV, music video, computer games, ads and films.
“Robot Taekwon V will work jointly with the celebrity management firm Namu Actors to develop and manage a brand image and visualize cultural and financial possibilities for Robot Taekwon V,” said a Shincine spokesman.
A fighter robot with a powerful taekwondo kick, Robot Taekwon V was the hero and title of an animated film created by Kim Cheong-gi in 1976. It was the second most popular movie that year, drawing crowds of 180,000 in Seoul, and spawned six sequels.
The robot, often compared with the Japanese fighter robot Mazinger Z, has high sentimental value, especially to those who grew up watching the animated series.
Earlier this year, the original film was digitally restored and screened at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival.
The original negative of Robot Taekwon V was sold to the United States, along with its copyright, in 1978. But the Korean Film Council found a copied negative in its warehouse.
About 72 artists worked for 26 months to digitally restore the film.
The robot’s birthday was celebrated yesterday at Seoul Arts Center. In attendance were government and entertainment personalities.
The Commerce Ministry designated the robot as Korea’s first “registered” robot.
“Although Robot Taekwon V is fictional and exists only on screen, the children who watched the animation films are now leaders of Korea’s robot industry and contributing to the development of robots and making robots a part of popular culture,” a ministry official said.
Is it possible to reproduce Robot Taekwon V with modern-day technology?
Robot maker Oh Jun-ho, a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said no.
“It’s impossible to make a 184-foot tall robot with current technology. The robot will be affected by its own weight. When it starts moving its speed will accelerate,” he said. Kim Young-seog, a professor at Seoul National University of Technology, said if the robot’s height is reduced, Robot Taekwon V can be recreated.


by Wohn Dong-hee
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