Gigantor and his ilk

I managed to miss the giant Japanese robot thing that began with Gigantor (who is now real, in a manner of speaking, having been built, albeit not robotically, in his country of origin). Apparently, these stories usually require a resourceful young "boy wonder" at the controls, which I guess is a little comforting, in that they're not running around on their own recognizance. If you need to update your knowledge of the genre, you should read 6 Influential (and Awesome) Giant Japanese Robots. You'll find out about Raideen, for instance: "After beating up his enemy with missiles, a shield and sword hidden in his forearm, a boomerang, a bow with giant arrows, and other awesome weapons, Raideen’s special finishing move was to turn into the God Bird, a jet plane with even more special attacks." Makes you sort of wish you were a boy wonder with a remote control...

If you're unaware of him, there's also The Iron Giant, based on the book Iron Man by Ted Hughes. It's sort of great, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles):





Gigantor image via: Kaiju Art and Japan Probe)