In short: Another Korean ripoff of another mecha show, that
grew the beard and
made something of itself.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
Mazinger Z ripoff, but the creator Kim Cheong-gi freely admits that it directly inspired him and mentions that Mazinger Z is popular in South Korea.
A
Mad Scientist named Dr. Kaff builds giant robots to kidnap world-famous athletes and use their powers to
Take Over the World. Dr. Kim makes a super robot to fight Dr. Kaff's robots. His eldest son Kim Hoon, a young taekwondo champion, must use his martial arts skills to pilot it. He is joined by his
Action Girlfriend Yoon Yeong in the fight against evil.
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.
The Taekwon V franchise consist of the following movies:
- Robot Taekwon V - July 24, 1976
- Robot Taekwon V: Space Mission - December 13, 1976
- Robot Taekwon V: Underwater Rangers - July 20, 1977
- Robot Taekwon V vs. Golden Wings Showdown - July 26, 1978
- Fly! Space Battleship Turtle Ship - July 26, 1979
- Super Taekwon V - July 30, 1982
- 84 Taekwon V - August 3, 1984
- Robot Taekwon V 90 - July 28, 1990
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.
The franchise also has a live-action movie and an MMORPG game, although it's most likely that these plans have been permanently stalled for the time being. There is also manhwa published based on Robot Taekwon V.
Click
here
for a clip of the OP.
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