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This just occurred to me . . . in the very first episode of the 1980's anime we see Dr. Tenma pulling a stretchy "skin" over Astro's body which made him appear "human" (including his speedo, skin and "hair").

And yet . . . throughout the 80's anime, the artists draw in "joint marks" at his wrists, elbows, shoulders and sometimes at his neck (but not at his knees or ankles - even if he isn't wearing boots).

What adds to this oddity is that other robots - Livian for instance - do not display the tell-tale "joint marks."

In the original manga, Astro was indeed "jointed" - so maybe this is a nod to his original design, but it seems a little incongruous!

Anybody else notice this?

I kk

i agree! this is very strange. I also didnt notice that in the series he doesnt have finger nail until "astros first love"..... thats something that a human would have, so why did tenma not give him any???

I liked the joints on the 1980's Astro Boy. Although now that you mention it, it is weird that they appear. Maybe his "skin" eventually got a permanent crease of some kind from his actual joints?

Perhaps other people didn't have the money for a fitted body suit and had there bodies painted? I mean come on Tenma was loaded

Yes, I had noticed this too. It didn't seem odd that Astro's joints would show throughout the "skin" (for the reason mentioned by Satus), but I did notice that not all robots were displaying them. I would think this would serve as a reminder that Astro is still a robot and must deal with his "difference" when among humans. However, conveniently for the scenarios, some humans at times still do not seem to notice he's a robot right away (such as the hijacker in "The Hijacked Airship").

I suppose the joints would make a robot such as Livian perhaps less "feminine" in the anime creator's view, while on other robots, they accentuate how powerful the robot is.

Can you imagine an Astro Fan getting "joint marks" tattooed on their arms/wrists/shoulders? Maybe I should post that under "You know you're an Astro Boy Fan"...

Robots have exoskeletons, humans do not. Thus, the visible joints. Though I admit, sometimes it seems inconsistent as to when they are visible. When in the factory, mama & papa's joints were visible because their artificial skins had not yet been applied. Likewise, when at the robot disposal camp in BLUE KNIGHT, had the humans taken away their skins?

"AprilSeven" wrote:Can you imagine an Astro Fan getting "joint marks" tattooed on their arms/wrists/shoulders? Maybe I should post that under "You know you're an Astro Boy Fan"...

YOU SHOULD

They were probably trying to throw more detail into how the characters looked.