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My younger brother recently saw the film. He enjoyed it, but had a question, "What's up with those points? Sometimes they're in one position -- and then they seem to move. They also wobble -- and if they're supposed to be gelled hair spikes, they wouldn't move around the same day?"

We went through different scenes and sure enough, not only did they wobble (when he flew, as if they were made out of dense Jello), but they seemed to switch orientation - the top spike sometimes is off-center to the right, and other times to the left).

I remember this from the original animation, too (I recall sometimes seeing coming out each side of his head). Did Tezuka ever set some kind of "standard" for this -- or IS it a "Mickey Mouse" treatment (you always see his ears at the same right angle -- even though it doesn't make sense from a perspective standpoint)

I've noticed in some "cutaway" art that there are two thingies that look like unfolded paper clips inside each point. Hmmmm....!

= ?

Last night we played a drinking game where we take a shot every time Astro's points change places in the movie.

I'm so sick right now...

Tezuka actually points this out in volume 2 of the manga. He never actually says what they are - I always figured they hid his antennae. :/

"The Tawashi Bus Hat" wrote:Last night we played a drinking game where we take a shot every time Astro's points change places in the movie.

I'm so sick right now...

Tezuka actually points this out in volume 2 of the manga. He never actually says what they are - I always figured they hid his antennae. :/

OMG that is TOOO FUNNY!!! The fact that you feel like this shows how often they move about!

As to why? "only his hair dresser knows for sure!"

hair dresser ---->

Tenma: "Sit still, Tobio, I've got to adjust the angle on this one"

Tobio: "Awwww Dad, do I gotta?"

In the behind the scenes they said they wanted to have both spikes as visible as possible in each shot. They said in 2D it was easy to get away with doing that (they do jump in the manga and anime). I do feel they should have stayed in the same spot the entire movie, would have made more sense. Sorry for the slight ramble/rant.

"LLM" wrote:In the behind the scenes they said they wanted to have both spikes as visible as possible in each shot. They said in 2D it was easy to get away with doing that (they do jump in the manga and anime). I do feel they should have stayed in the same spot the entire movie, would have made more sense. Sorry for the slight ramble/rant.

Hehe, I thought of it as a kind of nod to Tezuka.

Like they were saying "I see wut you did thar".

"AprilSeven" wrote:My younger brother recently saw the film. He enjoyed it, but had a question, "What's up with those points? Sometimes they're in one position -- and then they seem to move. They also wobble -- and if they're supposed to be gelled hair spikes, they wouldn't move around the same day?"

We went through different scenes and sure enough, not only did they wobble (when he flew, as if they were made out of dense Jello), but they seemed to switch orientation - the top spike sometimes is off-center to the right, and other times to the left).

I remember this from the original animation, too (I recall sometimes seeing coming out each side of his head). Did Tezuka ever set some kind of "standard" for this -- or IS it a "Mickey Mouse" treatment (you always see his ears at the same right angle -- even though it doesn't make sense from a perspective standpoint)

I've noticed in some "cutaway" art that there are two thingies that look like unfolded paper clips inside each point. Hmmmm....!

= ?

Actually, in the Astro Boy story "The Third Magician", Mr. Tezuka himself appears and explains the conundrum about Astro's spikes - the fact that they switch sides and so on. He says it's an old animation trick that he used because he loved American animation films (a veiled allusion to Mickey Mouse). Incidentally, he also uses that excuse as the reason why sometimes Astro has 3 fingers in some stories and 4 in others.

It's a cute story. You should look it up.

As for the movie, I think the animators placed the spikes where they thought they looked best for particular scenes and poses. So yeah, they'd switch sides sometimes. It really can't be helped, I guess; those spikes are problematic. They look very cute most of the time, but sometimes they look pretty weird. Still, I think most audiences don't really notice the switching.

They're vertical stabs like in an F-14 Tomcat?

"dannavy85" wrote:They're vertical stabs like in an F-14 Tomcat?

I like that idea!

Astro: the ultimate Top Gun!

"Hey, Astro... weren't those points on the other side of your head?"
"... what points?"
XD

"Hey Astro...weren't those points on the other side of your head?"
"The better to hear you with!"

"Hey Astro...weren't those points on the other side of your head?"
[sigh]"They've got a mind of their own!"