Astro Boy (character)

"I got machine guns... IN MY BUTT?!" - Astro Boy in the 2009 film

Astro Boy, is the main character of the Astro Boy series. He is a 13-year old in the TV series (14-year old in the film). He was created to replace the deceased son of Dr. Bill Tenma, Tobio Tenma, who was killed in a tragic car accident (Depending on which version). Dr. Tenma was filled with grief with the sudden death of his son, so he made a robot version of Tobio made exactly like him and implanted Tobio's memory in him. He was given the nickname Astro Boy, and soon became a hero of Metro city.

Creation and conception
Astro Boy was created by Doctor Tenma, and was meant to be a replacement for his deceased son named Tobio (Toby in various English translations). However, because Astro was not able to grow and age like a normal human child, Doctor Tenma abandoned him to a Robot Circus led by the cruel Ham Egg.

At the circus, Astro Boy was found by Professor Ochanomizu  who adopted him. Professor Ochanomizu gave Astro a family with a robotic mother, father, sister (Uran) and brother (Cobalt). As head of the Ministry of Science, Professor Ochanomizu often calls on Astro to help resolve situations involving humans, robots and (on occasion) extraterrestrials. The team called Astro, "Atom", because it can mean "Atomic robot".

Astro Boy has several capabilities to aid him in his adventures:
 * The ability to translate more than 60 languages
 * Strength equivalent to 100,000 horsepower (75 MW)
 * The ability to fly using jets in his legs and arms
 * Amplification of his hearing up to one thousand times
 * Guns deployed from his posterior
 * Invulnerability to conventional physical injury
 * An electro-heart that can discern people's criminal intentions
 * Bright eye-lamps to assist his vision
 * Laser guns in his finger tips
 * Laser cannons in his arms
 * An extremely accurate electronic brain
 * Hyper Adaptive. Body increases in power to match and then exceed the capabilities of stronger combatants
 * Despite his abilities and work for good, Astro is often ostracized by the human race for being a robot. Since he is not officially considered a citizen, he often has to deal with the prejudice of humans against robots. Ultimately, Astro has to find a way to bring peace between humans and robots.
 * Quality of voice change first seen in 2003 in series Ep: 35.

Appearances
Through out the years, Astro Boy's appearance has change quite a lot.