Cobalt

''This article is for the character "Cobalt". For other uses, see Cobalt (disambiguation)''

Cobalt (コバルト Kobaruto; "Jetto") is Astro Boy’s cybernetic brother. He appears in the manga and the 1963 Astro Boy TV show but does not appear in any other iteration of Astro Boy.

Personality & Abilities
Cobalt has abilities comparable to that of his brother. Not a perfect copy of Astro, Cobalt runs out of energy quickly when using his powers and being shown to be clumsy. Despite these problems, he is shown to be extremely kind-hearted and loyal. In addition to the abilities that were copied from Astro, in the manga, Cobalt is also shown to have an "Omega Radar" in his chest which emits the same waves as Astro’s radar. With this, he can sense where his brother is and hone in on his location. After the conclusion of the original anime and manga series, Cobalt fell into obscurity, largely due to the fact that Atlas was recast as Astro's "brother" in the 1980s anime, making Cobalt's role somewhat redundant. Cobalt originally died a heroic death at the conclusion of The Midoro Swamp story arc in the Shonen Magazine serial version of the manga, but Tezuka later changed his mind & rewrote the ending for the paperback version so that he survived.

History
Cobalt has two separate stories that are very different depending on what version of Astro Boy you are reading or watching.

1963 series
The Anime, in episode 84 (93 in the Japanese version), shows that Cobalt was made before Astro by Doctor Tenma as a prototype, but that he was "imperfect" and was placed into storage. Professor Ochanomizu accidentally overlooked a cleaning schedule at the Ministry of Science and Cobalt was dumped into a scrap heap. Cobalt awakes and right away stumbles into all sorts of mischief. He's shown to be a bit dim-witted when an elderly lady gives him instructions to the Institute of Science and he can't remember them. He's also slow to catch on when people are bad and using him. Unlike the manga, Cobalt isn't shown to have flying capabilities like his brother Astro. On the rare occasion he does, however, he's seen using some sort of strap-on jets.

Manga
Cobalt was first introduced the eponymously titled serial, ”Cobalt". In the chapter, after Astro disappears, Professor Ochanomizu made a rough copy of him to defuse a bomb. However, Cobalt's electronic brain isn't as advanced as Astro's and he can't focus on detailed work, like defusing bombs. Professor Ochanomizu notes that "he doesn't have all of Astro's powers" but doesn't explain which of these Cobalt does and does not have. Because he and Astro are made from the same design, Cobalt is sent to track Astro and finds him in the ocean searching for the bomb. Cobalt is shown to have the ability to fly like Astro does.

Appearances
Cobalt never appeared in the 1980 or 2003 series. Though he is referenced in the 2003 series in the fact that The Blue Knight's real name was "Cobalt."
 * 1963 TV series