Go! Mighty Orbots!

So I was sitting there, innocently minding my own business at my table at the New York Comic-Con when someone comes up and says "Can you draw The Mighty Orbots?"

When I was a kid I loved The Mighty Orbots. It was the first Japanese animated cartoon that I can remember on Saturday mornings. And it was the first (again, that I recall) written for America. Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers were in syndication, but they were translated from the original country. Orbots featured writers like Michael Reaves, who worked with the studio on the show, and Marc Scott Zicree, both of whom would later work on Batman: The Animated Series. The resulting blend was a cartoon that mixed Japanese animation style with American writing sensibilites. It gave it a very different and very cool energy.

Having said that, I couldn't draw the Orbots cold. The series has never been released on DVD, and man, that's a crime. Of course some people have released bootlegs of the series. I wouldn't know anything about that. But, I was able to draw the requested characters (Bo and Boo, the sister robots) once I got home. Make of that what you will.

One of the things I love about doing con sketches is the great selection of characters other people come up with. As much as I loved Orbots, I never would have thought to draw them. I'm glad my purchaser suggested it, though.