Always only one heart mark. The photo shows Robocon in his famous confused pose, saying "Ooh la lah".
■Synopsis
Seven robots, including Robocon, are created to contribute to human society. Mr. Gantsu is ranked grade A — the grade given only to the most sophisticated robots. He sets up a robot school to raise the seven robots to be ranked grade A.
The robots merge into human society as part of their studies. Robocon moves in with the Oyama family, who live on the edge of Tokyo. Robocon is one of the worst robots among countless robots and makes mistakes all the time. Robocon does what he thinks is best, but he always ends up making a mess of things, creating trouble all round. Mr. Gantsu assesses the robots’ conduct. Each time he awards the full 100 points to a robot, the robot gets a heart mark. Robots which achieve ten heart marks are promoted to grade A robots. Robocon, who constantly makes mistakes, has only one heart mark on his belly. When can he be a grade A robot? Despite constant failures, Robocon continues to do his best, with his indomitable robot spirit, aiming to be a grade A robot.
■Comment on the drama
The theme of Robocon, a drama produced in the 70s when the Japanese post-war economic miracle was achieved, is that you can overcome any difficulty with an indomitable spirit, which strongly reflected popular belief at the time. Robocon bounces back up each time he is betrayed, defeated, or has a terrible crash. In the final episode, Robocon is promoted to a grade A robot and assigned to be the headman of the robot village. Robocon, who is tough, straightforwardly expresses his feelings and shows human nature more than humans do, won the hears of viewers. The fact that 118 episodes were produced — an extraordinary long series for a children’s drama — shows just how popular the drama was. During the broadcasting period of two and a half years, the number of robot students at the robot school increased to 25 (comprising the students of cohorts 1 - 3, and Mr. Gantsu). Incidentally, there were 7 robots in the first cohort year. [Only Robin-chan was produced on Ballerina Planet and transferred from a school on the planet.]
In episode 73, Gebarikyun!! Please kick me out, Robocon’s host family is changed from Oyama to Ogawa. Did Mr. Gantsu arrange this out of sympathy for the Oyama family because Robocon causes so much trouble? (Surely Robocon will continue making trouble.) Robocon calls himself oira. Robocon runs on gasoline (in all likelihood, regular gasoline). It is impressive that Robocon opens his chest apron and fills his fuel tank with gasoline while showing his mechanical parts. Robocon is an omnipotent robot: he can walk using two legs, move at high speed using wheels, and even fly with propellers stored on his back. Although his capacity is perfect, Robocon hates cockroaches so much so that the mere sight of a roach panics his thought circuits, causing him to destroy everything until he can wipe out the cockroach. Robocon fails at everything, but this character, with a personality impossible to dislike, completely captured children’s hearts, and the super-alloy Robocon toy produced by Poppy sold very well. Only recently, Robocon became very popular as a mascot among high school girls, after which a new series,Robocon, was produced. Robocon, loved regardless of the times, shows the true value of Ishinomori’s characters.