Line #44 Animation/RobotTaekwonV


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rtv_poster_1509.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:The 2007 anniversary poster for Robot Taekwon V.]]
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4	In short: A [[UsefulNotes/{{SouthKorea}} Korean]] ripoff of another mecha show, that [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] and [[TropeMakers became a success in its own right.]] [[note]]It should be mentioned that Koreans today, especially the younger generation who are aware of the fact that it started out as a ripoff, don't like to talk about that fact. [[/note]]
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6	''Robot Taekwon V'' (released in America as ''Voltar The Invincible'') was a 1976 South Korean animated film that inspired many sequels and comic books. In Japan it's known as a Anime/MazingerZ ripoff, but the creator Kim Cheong-gi freely admits that it directly inspired him and mentions that Mazinger Z is popular in South Korea.[[note]]It's also important to note that South Korean laws enacted in the Cold War forbade any South Korean from legitimately purchasing/obtaining Japanese-made media, including video games. The laws were removed in 1990 after Seoul and Tokyo began to establish and improve foreign relations between each other, with the exception of not allowing Japanese shows and music to be aired anywhere in South Korea. UsefulNotes/{{Seoul}}, however, has made suggestions that a gradual lifting of the ban will be done eventually. As of 2010s, there are no signs of a ban of Japanese media product left, minus some episodes of kid's shows being censored or localized when they contain too much Japanese traditions.[[/note]]
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8	The series is one of the first few franchises in South Korea to start the Super Robot trend in Korean fiction.
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10	A MadScientist named Dr. Kaff builds giant robots to kidnap world-famous athletes and use their powers to TakeOverTheWorld. Dr. Kim makes a super robot to fight Dr. Kaff's robots sent from the Red Empire. His eldest son Kim Hoon, a young UsefulNotes/{{Taekwondo}} champion, must use his martial arts skills to pilot it. He is joined by his ActionGirlfriend Yoon Yeong in the fight against evil.
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12	The show has been digitally restored after a duplicate print was discovered in a Korean Film Commission warehouse. It was released in cinemas in the early 2000s with [=DVDs=] released recently. Some of its sequels also had digital restoration and were also released on [=DVD=].
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14	The Taekwon V franchise consist of the following movies:
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16	* Robot Taekwon V - July 24, 1976
17	* Robot Taekwon V: Space Mission - December 13, 1976
18	* Robot Taekwon V: Underwater Rangers - July 20, 1977
19	* Robot Taekwon V vs. Golden Wings Showdown - July 26, 1978 [[note]] Crossover with another animated superhero movie, ''Goldwing 1 2 3'', which saw release in the US as ''Goldwing'' [[/note]]
20	* Fly! Space Battleship Turtle Ship - July 26, 1979
21	* Super Taekwon V - July 30, 1982
22	* 84 Taekwon V - August 3, 1984
23	* Robot Taekwon V 90 - July 28, 1990
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25	Only the original Robot Taekwon V, 84 Taekwon V and Robot Taekwon V 90 are released again in Korea with official English subtitles to gain a wider audience beyond Korean shores. The others are either unavailable in DVD or they are released without any English subtitles.
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27	The franchise also had plans for a live-action movie and an [=MMORPG=] game in the late 2000's, although it's most likely that these plans have permanently stalled. There is also multiple manhwas published based on Robot Taekwon V.
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29	Click [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrIyeIy8lw here]] for a clip of the OP.
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31	----
32	!!Tropes used by Robot Taekwon V:
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34	* AllAsiansKnowMartialArts: Partially part of the plot. While Hoon, Yoon and Mori are East Asians and they know to fight via Taekwondo, Richard fights in Taekwondo as a representative of the United States. [[spoiler:The latter two are kidnapped by Red Empire agents in order to brainwash them and let them pilot their robots.]]
35	* AuthorAppeal: ''Robot Taekwon V'' was designed to give South Korean children a Korean hero with its Tae Kwon Do themed robot. Taekwon V’s helmet is based on the headgear of Admiral Yi Sun Shin, the iconic 16th century leader who defended Korean shores from Japanese invasion with iron clad warships.
36	* DirtyCommunists[=/=]RedScare: Possibly played with the Red Empire. They sport the red star, which is a known symbol for Communism. [[spoiler:Averted since it's used only to cover Dr. Kaff's terrorist activities.]] [[GeniusBonus Since this was made in the 1970s with North Korea being a major threat to South Korea after the Korean War and even after the end of the Cold War...]]
37	* EarnYourHappyEnding: The Taekwon V team was able to defeat the Red Empire and save the world from terrorists.
38	* FarEastAsianTerrorists: The Red Empire. [[spoiler:It was created by Dr. Kaff who was disgraced by his peers in the scientist community that he decided to use his intellect for evil after he disappeared from South Korea.]]
39	* GondorCallsForAid: Various military forces are called in to help the Taekwon V team to defeat the Red Empire in their Egyptian hideout.
40	* MockBuster: Averted. Despite some Mazinger fans' misplaced nationalism, this is one of the few Korean {{animesque}} animated movies that isn't completely one of these-- it's a Korean original.
41	* MonsterOfTheWeek: Played with by the Red Empire.
42	* TheMoralSubstitute: A rare example of this phenomenon [[TropesAreTools being a "good" thing]], so to speak. It was created as a response to the popularity of ''Mazinger Z'' in South Korea, and the director's resulting desire to create a "homegrown" mecha series for Korean children to enjoy. At the time, Japanese imports, including anime, were technically illegal in South Korea due to laws put in place after World War II, but this did not stop many Koreans (especially those born after the war) from finding ways to consume them anyway.
43	* MotionCaptureMecha
44	** May or may not in fact be the TropeMaker. The show came out two years before ''{{Anime/Daimos}}'', the anime which is usually credited with inventing the concept. It seems some things really were [[Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers invented in Korea...]]
45	** OlderThanTheyThink: In Japan, the Creator/TsuburayaProductions {{Toku}} series ''Series/JumborgAce'' featured the title robot having to be powered by human body movement. Granted, unlike many things South Korean's plagiarized, this series was-and still is-virtually unknown in South Korea but it is still worth noting.
46	* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: Two teenagers and a kid are sent into battle against the Red Empire after they infiltrated Dr. Kim's research lab.
47	* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: Played with with Hoon and Yeong as the pilots of Taekwon V after Dr. Yoon recruits them since Dr. Kim was killed in a Red Empire raid on his lab.
48	* [[SuperRobotGenre Super Robot]]: One of the few ones to emerge out of South Korea in the 1970s.
49	* ThePromise: [[spoiler: One was made to Mary that she can be human. At the end, Hoon found Mary's robotic heart with Dr. Yoon mentioning that they can do it.]]
50	* TheSeventies: The movie has that look, not to mention that it was one of the few South Korean-made animated movies made in the 1970s.
51	* TakeOverTheWorld: The main plan of the Red Empire [[spoiler:which was the idea of Dr. Kaff after he goes underground.]]

Context Animation / RobotTaekwonV