Nomura's Walking Astroman with Sparks (K #69) is a fairly serious looking astronaut. The box artwork suggests that Nomura were looking to present a realistic spaceman, one in keeping with developments in the Space Race. They decided, however, to base the design on the existing body of the wind up Tetsujin #28 (K #218). The litho has had a total overhall, there's a big plastic helmet with an astronaut's face, but the rest is the same, even down to the studded collar, cuffs and clenched rubber hands of T #28. The action is unmodified: a switch in the chest starts him walking while a spark mechanism operates. (The Tetsujin pressing obviously preceded the Astroman because it carries the distinctive T28 features.)

The result is a caricature of a spaceman: the body is abnormally inflated and the head is out of proportion. They've even given the poor man a constipated expression. It's not comic like the Yonezawa astronauts (X27 etc) and it's not exactly life-like but it still looks great and it is a very hard-to-find robot. Its bright red litho with its horizontal lining, together with the rounded lines give it immediate appeal. It doesn't appear for sale very often. There's no confusing this astronaut with the other Astroman; that one's by Dux and it's green plastic.