Count Walpur Guiss

Count Walpur Guiss was a misanthropist robot scientist. He considered Dr. Tenma his greatest rival, and created Atlas from Tenma's blueprints. He is the sole master of a Bavarian castle, and also the creator of Livian and the Omega Factor.

His name is adapted from the German holiday, Walpurgisnacht, a centuries-old spring festival believed to be the night when sorcerers and witches meet before spring. The holiday's Gothic background inspired the style of Guiss's castle.

Appearance
Count Guiss was designed to be a combination of Kin Sankaku and Count Burg. Guiss is a short, paunchy white human aged somewhere in his 50s-60s. He has black, slicked-back hair, with thick sideburns and a mustache. He also wears a monocle, in spite of the technological and medical advancements around him. Guiss usually wears either a thick red housecoat and ascot, or a white linen suit with a red bolo tie.

Guiss also bears a strong resemblance to Tintin villain Roberto Rastapopoulos, particularly his appearance in the animated film Tintin et le Lac aux Requins (1972). The film was not officially released in Japan until 1995, but it played in European theatres at the same time as Osamu Tezuka's Cleopatra (1970) , making it quite possible that Tezuka could have seen Tintin et le Lac aux Requins himself.

Creations
Count Guiss was a prolific inventor, with his most well-known gadget being the Omega Factor. This was a device capable of giving a robot extreme power and servitude. His castle was filled with various gadgets and mechanisms he created himself. Such includes:


 * Pair of robotic ogres to open his castle doors
 * Motion-detecting dragon head
 * Anthropomorphic, four-legged hat stand
 * Fire-breathing decorative serpents
 * Shifting levels within his castle
 * Car capable of shooting missiles

The only humanoid robots Guiss ever built were Livian and Atlas. Because Livian was built without the Omega Factor, Guiss was convinced that she was incapable of emotion or complex thought. Her primary role around the castle was doing chores, cleaning, and bringing Guiss liquor.

Atlas's origin
In the 1980 Astro Boy anime series, Count Walpur Guiss is the master of a large castle in the Bavarian countryside. He had retreated from mainstream society, and the only other person he communicates with was his assistant, Skunk Kusai. Together, they created the Omega Factor and attempted to pitch it to Dr. Tenma. Upon rejection, Guiss resorts to stealing photographs of Tenma's blueprints to create his own child robot.Guiss builds Atlas with the Omega Factor, vowing that Atlas would one day rule over humans. Guiss's primary intent with Atlas was to use him as a powerful, malevolent force, even calling Atlas the "Son of Evil." Even though Atlas is made to call Skunk and Guiss his "fathers", Guiss is mostly neglectful of him. Skunk is left to teach Atlas how to commit crimes while Livian handles Atlas's cleaning and upkeep. One morning, Livian is cleaning an enormous gargoyle, when it falls off the ledge of a balcony and shatters on the pavement below. Enraged, Guiss decides to punish her by deactivating her and rebuilding her as a decorative monster. Atlas returns to the castle and finds Livian's remains, which horrifies him, and prompts him to jump on Guiss and attack him.

After hitting Atlas with an electrified whip, Guiss drives away from the castle. He immediately turns on Atlas and begins trying to destroy him with his car's rear-mounted missiles. These gravely wound Atlas, but the boy robot still manages to run Guiss's car off the road and off a cliff. Both Atlas and Skunk flee the area, assuming Guiss is dead.

Reunion with Atlas
Months later, the adult Atlas returns to Guiss's castle in "The Anti Proton Gun". Atlas enters Guiss's laboratory in search of an old radio transmission ring. Atlas is initially horrified to find Guiss alive, but quickly becomes sick of Guiss's attempts to intimidate him and objectify Livian. Atlas threatens Guiss with his sword into giving over what Guiss claims is the communication ring. This ring turns out to be a a remote controller, which Guiss uses to take Livian hostage.

Count Guiss forces Atlas to bring him the anti-proton gun in exchange for Livian's safe return. In the meantime, Guiss has forced Livian to be his maid once more, much to Atlas's disgust. Guiss soon drunkenly tells Livian that Astro and Atlas are brothers, created from the same blueprints drawn by Dr. Tenma. Livian is stunned, but takes the opportunity to steal the anti-proton gun's trigger and run from the castle. She is beamed up to safety in Atlas's Crystal.

Once Livian is on board, Atlas fires a wide red tractor beam from the Crystal. This incinerates Guiss and his entire castle, removing him from the robots' lives once and for all.

Manga
Count Guiss appears in "Astro vs. Atlas," a short slapstick comedy by Osamu Tezuka, which appeared in the November 1980 issue of Shogaku Ninensei. It was published in volume 23 of Dark Horse's English release. The story is a much more lighthearted telling of Atlas's creation, with added toilet humour and physical comedy. The chapter begins right after Guiss and Skunk build and activate Atlas. Despite Atlas being extremely rambunctious, Guiss is determined to have Atlas beat Astro. Since Atlas has all seven of Astro's powers, Guiss strains to think of an eighth one. He sees a manneken pis statue on his castle grounds, and gets the idea to give Atlas the power of peeing bombs.

Astro comes across the castle and Atlas starts to fight him. When Atlas threatens to use his pee power, Astro gently persuades him to use a toilet instead. Atlas flies into the castle and urinates bombs into a toilet, causing the building to explode, much to Astro's surprise. The chapter ends with Atlas and Astro working together to fly Skunk and Guiss to the authorities.