Prototypes and Final Astro CGI Model Comparisons.

[Alittleacorn]

I came across these, and decided to put them together showing how Astro's designed changed over the years while IMAGI were making the movie.





1. Astro in early development. Can see here he is keeping true to the original anime/manga style with spiky metal hair, and indents around joints such as the neck, shoulders elbows, wrists (knees most likely too) with the door hatch on his chest visible. Very robotic, very girly. *shivers*

2. Astro with slight alterations to his appearences. Eyelashes are not as prominent as are the indents on joints, hair hair is not as sharp (though difficult to tell for sure in this shot) One noticeable change is he looks less girly. Thank god...

3. Tricky to tell if this is just Astro from number 2. From this angle it is easier to see the hairstyle has changed, the spikes more smoother than pointing outright. At this stage Astro is shaping more into his maturer form than his junior age in 1 and possible 2.

4. Final version of Astro featured in the film. Astro is made to look more human than robot, the indents on joints and chestplate removed and his metal spiky scalp replaced with actually hair. His classic speedos are now wittle trunks and boots too have changed (noticeable between 4 and 3) along with looking older.

When I look at the few screenshots on the old design on Astro (mainly the one on him waving with the robot that never appeared in the movie) it makes me wonder what the original plot was going to be before it got a new director/writer.

Guessing by how robotic Astro looked before, the film storyline might've followed that from the manga/original anime, with him joining the circus even! It could be possible Astro started off already knowing he was a robot. This might explain why he was made more human later on when the script changed because it wouldn't of taken Astro long to figure out he a robot and not Toby by the way he looked.

A pity, I liked the 2 and 3 designs...but, just glad they didn't stick with number 1 GAH! (pepper sprays him)

[Laughing Dragon]

I agree about the "girly" design...*shudder*...thank god they dumped that! Especially the eyelashes.

I get amused/annoyed at those who grumble about the final design of the Astro used in the movie, saying it's not faithful to the original, blah blah blah...In my opinion, Imagi actually improved on the original by making Astro more like a Boy...making him less doll-like and more like a child. Freddie Highmore's voice completed the transformation. By making Astro more human and more masculine, the moviemakers made him easier to identify with, more plausible, more "real". I like the movie version of Astro better than all the others. I think that Imagi's attempt to modernize Astro was a complete success, and it deserves a lot of praise for it.

[Hikari Tail]

\ Astro has those kind of eyelashes in his manga , i think the number 2 looked best,

[Big Astro Fan]

I like 3 and 4. But I wonder why they decided on the shorts they had in the movie instead of the original design?

[Big Astro Fan]

I was just noticing that Astro had the Eddie Munster hair going between his eyes. lol

[dannavy85]

3 looked cool

[Dragonrider1227]

\ Astro has those kind of eyelashes in his manga , i think the number 2 looked best,

yeah, he does but I don't really think it translated well into CGI. I'll have to look back, but I also don't think they were quite as long and thick in the manga and to be honest, I thought they made him look pretty girly there too ^^;