Fortunately, a shred of hope for humanity was preserved when it was revealed that Sal9000 orchestrated the event as a piece of performance art—although it is unclear how serious he is actually taking the relationship. Apparently, he has sexed up his fair share of virtual girlfriends, so it is probably only a matter of time before technology progresses and he finds himself another woman with bigger and better...rendering. [Boing Boing]

Taekwon V will be the center-piece of Robot Land, a nearly $600 million dollar development of entertainment areas, exhibition halls, research centers and businesses that we've mentioned in the past. Though it broke ground long before the Japanese projects, many believe Korea's Taekwon V cartoons copied Japan's Mazinger Z in the first place. Reow.

The park is set to open to the public in 2012, with full access starting in 2013. And yes, that's a monorail whizzing past Taekwon V's ankles. Awesome. [Robot Land (translated) via Plastic Pals]

First created by Osamu Tezuka (the father of Manga) in 1952, Astro Boy played a big part in the rise of the anime aesthetic. Various Astro Boy comics and series have run over the years—influencing pop culture mainstays like teenage hairstyles, video games (Mega Man), and movies (Steven Spielberg's A.I.) along the way. Personally, it was the classic 80's series that got me hooked.

We'll learn more about the availability of Hot Toys' figurine closer to the movie's October 23 release. Voices from Samuel L. Jackson, Charlize Theron and Donald Sutherland look solid; but let's hope Nicolas Cage doesn't inject his super-intense brand of fail. [Current and io9]

We've seen teasers before, but this full-length trailer debuted yesterday:

It's both a sad and a disturbing trend, this "2-D love" thing. It seems like a natural step from the hikikomori phenomenon, where thousands of boys afraid of the outside world shut themselves in their bedrooms for years on end.

What's driving Japanese men to these extremes of isolation and anti-social behavior? Lisa quotes stats that say that a full quarter of people in the country between the ages of 30 and 34 are virgins, while half of them have no friends of the opposite sex.

It's clearly not the only place with lonely people with social disorders, but there's something in the way their society operates that is pushing these awkward, introverted boys and men to unhealthy places. [NYT Magazine]

Now that the Gundam is complete, Kobe's Wakamatsu Park is next on the list to build their very own life-sized Tetsujin (also known as Gigantor, I believe). 60 feet tall and weighing in at 50 tons, Tetsujin will be on permanent display starting in October (an installation that may turn to semi-permanent should Tetsujin grow tired of photo ops).

And as you can see in the clip and gallery below, building a fake giant robot can't look much different from building a real giant robot. Sparks. Hardhats. Subtitles. Imminent human death. Yeah, this is about as real as fiction gets. [Kobe Tetsujin Project via toysrevil via The Awesomer via botropolis]The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Using the controller you can make the robot "roller dash" and fire its assault rifle. If you have two, you and a buddy can wage war by firing infrared shots from the guns. The controller will respond with sounds and vibration when your mech is hit. However, building up an army of these mechs isn't going to come cheap. Each one will set you back $248. [Japan Trend Shop via 7Gadgets via DVICE]

What's so wonderful about Engine Oh G12 is that it's literally ballooned the genre beyond parody. The show has upped the ante of the giant vehicle-assembled robot television so immensely that it's beyond the scope of humorous exaggeration, its components refined to such a point where every individual element is, in itself, too pure to be tainted by sophomoric prop humor.

To fully appreciate this the clip, look beyond the obvious and examine the subtleties of presentation. For instance, two vehicles are there only to serve as covers for the robot's shoes.

Needless you say? Not at all. For the robot's foot alone ascends to Godzillic proportions, constructing a logic in which there is nothing that mechanized god cannot kick over (other than, quite possibly, its own left foot).

I like to think that if Michelangelo had a few hundred more years to work on David, he might resemble the robot in Engine Oh G12. But maybe I'm giving Michelangelo far too much credit. [via Tokyo Mango]

Vocaloids 1 and 2, featuring much higher-pitched robotic singers became the #1 selling software on Amazon Japan. I think the fact that they had pretty, doe-eyed, teenage anime android girls (complete with "personalities" and "back stories") as mascots probably helped their appeal.

That's Luka-chan trying out her synthesized vocal chords in English—singing Amazing Grace. Previously, Western vocaloid fans had to enter all the text in katakana... like this admittedly adorable version of Miku (Vocaloid 2) singing The Proclaimer's 500 Miles.

[ Gizmodo Japan]

In VOTOMS, the Scopedog is a military all-purpose unit— a mass-produced combat vehicle that can fit a single pilot. In an interview with PingMag, Kogoro said that he built the entire structure out of iron mainly to prove that it was possible. The project ended up taking a year, because he broke a bone while working on it. [Robot Watch Japan via TechEBlog

Taking a look at the materials list, I have a hard time believing that this would actually work if it were built. And, in all likelihood, the parts would cost significantly more than the estimates. So, it appears that Gundam fans will have to wait a little while longer to get their own 60 foot robot killing machine.

[Science Portal via Pink Tentacle]

Three of the pairs (red, yellow, black) pull from Reebok's Pump line, which was an awesome, yet superfluous, piece of tech back in the day. The other two pairs (blue, green) are classic runners that are equally as flashy as their counterparts. And if that's not enough for you, each pair comes with the corresponding robot lion that will form Voltron if you're geeky rich committed enough to kick down for all five pairs. Available now for $80-$135 depending on the pair. [Pick Your Shoes via Uncrate]

[Gamersweb]