Count Walpur Guiss

Count Walpur Guiss was a misanthropist robot scientist. He considered Dr. Tenma his rival, and created Atlas from Tenma's blueprints. He is the sole master of a gothic 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.

Count Guiss, along with the rest of Atlas's origin, was dubbed into English. However, Atlas's origin was cut from the final release by the production company. The whereabouts of this dub audio is unknown.

Story
Count Walpur Guiss was the master of a large castle in the countryside. He had retreated from mainstream society, with most of his human interaction being with Skunk Kusai, whom he often collaborated with. Together, they created the Omega Factor and attempted to pitch it to Dr. Tenma. Upon rejection, Guiss decided to steal photographs of Tenma's blueprints and create his own child robot.

Guiss soon built 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 was made to call Skunk and Guiss his "fathers", Guiss was mostly neglectful of him; Skunk was left to teach Atlas how to commit crimes, while Livian would handle Atlas's cleaning and upkeep. One morning, Livian was cleaning an enormous gargoyle, when it tipped off the ledge of a balcony and shattered on the pavement below. Enraged, Guiss decided to punish her by deactivating her and turning her into a decorative monster. Atlas returned to the castle and found Livian's remains, which horrified him, and prompted him to jump on Guiss and attack him. After hitting Atlas with an electrified whip, Guiss drove away from the castle, and fired missiles at Atlas when he began to follow behind. Despite being gravely wounded, Atlas ran Guiss's car off the road, where Guiss drove off a cliff.

Reunion with Atlas
Count Guiss was presumed dead, until the adult Atlas returned to Guiss's castle in "The Anti Proton Gun". Atlas enters Guiss's laboratory in search of a 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. At swordpoint, Guiss is threatened into giving over what he claims is a communication ring. The ring turns out to be a a remote controller, which Guiss uses to take Livian hostage.

Count Guiss has Atlas 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. During this time, Guiss confesses to Livian that Astro and Atlas are brothers, created from the same design. Livian soon takes an opportunity to steal the anti-proton gun's trigger and run from the castle. While she is beamed up to Atlas's Crystal, Guiss and his castle are incinerated once and for all.

Creations
Count Guiss was also a prolific inventor, with his most well known gadget being the Omega Factor. This was a device capable of putting extreme power and servitude into a robot. His castle was filled with various gadgets and mechanisms he created himself. Such includes: The only humanoid robots Guiss ever built were Livian and Atlas. As Livian was built without the Omega Factor, Guiss was convinced that she was incapable of emotion or complex thought, and only used her for cleaning and bringing him liquor.
 * A pair of robotic ogres to open his castle doors
 * A dragon head with motion detecting eyes
 * A quadruped mobile hat stand
 * Fire-breathing decorative serpents
 * Shifting levels within his castle
 * A car capable of shooting missiles

Manga
Count Guiss appears in "Astro Vs. Atlas," a slapstick comedy chapter by Osamu Tezuka, which appeared in the November 1980 issue of Shogaku Ninensei. It was translated into English and appears in volume 23 of the Dark Horse release. The chapter is a much more lighthearted version of Atlas's creation. Guiss and Skunk build Atlas, and 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 mannequin 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.