Robot model kit: Chubu 01

Kazushi Kobayashi's Chubu 01 is a robot from an alternate 1957 where robots are the primary mode of transportation. Build-it-yourself model kits are for sale in Harajuku's TOKYO CULTUART gallery at 28.000 Yen a pop ($350 or so).

ハチの巣みたいだトーキョーハチの巣みたいだトーキョーに関する記事です (Thanks, Francesco!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: design • maker

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catbeller

Mr. Garrison has been dabbling in Atompunk design again. Does one have to be rogered to ride this VespaProng ’57?
jerkzilla

This is pretty sweet, but if it they really wanted to make it seem as if this robot came from 1957, they would have added more chrome. And some fins. You could fit at least 6-10 fins on that thing.
jimh

I’d like to drive a robot like this but I’m afraid I would look like a dick.
Freddie Freelance

In this Alternate Reality’s Cuba they still ride around in ’57 Viagranators
Takuan

bah! in my day we knew how to deal with uppity robots, never mind ride them!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus,_Robot_Fighter
gr00veNU

Does it come in viagra blue?
Doran

It looks like the dental chair from hell.
Clemoh

You could beat the crap out of a lot of other robots with that robot.
Xopher

“Get away from her you BITCH!!!”
Xopher

I just showed this to someone who pointed out that “it looks like you ride its penis.”
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Isn’t that what robots are for?
Takuan

saddlebacking?
noen

Dan Savage is having a competition for what “saddlebacking” will mean. Don’t think it’s been decided just yet.

That robot looks like a mutated Opel a friend once had. The gearbox was so worn he didn’t even use his clutch. He just slammed it into the next gear. Made for an interesting ride.
Takuan

so long as it’s irretrievably attached to Warren. “The new santorum”.
jjasper

Nice robot. Think the owner is compensating for something?
Tenn

Well, it looks like a decent ride.
doplgangr

needs a wash and wax.
Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwbUljGs3g&feature=related
EH

Looks pretty awesome! Well, except for the penis-chair thing.
Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSP46lWvxJ4&feature=related
Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF0MM4FRVhA&feature=related
a_user

oh-oh someone already started making robot/kogaru hentai mashups

http://blog-imgs-26.fc2.com/m/o/d/moderhythm/sakura_ban.jpg
Antinous / Moderator

With the way he’s craning his neck, it looks like he might be fixing to take care of his own cyberneeds.
FoetusNail

Why? Because he can.
Daemon

It’s like a really, really early prototype of Dolores in Zone of the Enders: Dolores, i

Though I bet it doesn’t act like a typical cute anime schoolgirl.
dconners

Gives a whole new meaning to the word cockpit.
Avram / Moderator

Brilliant design aesthetic, but I’ve got the same nitpick everyone else has about the codpiece cockpit.
tikal2k

It’s for cock riders.
padster123

Wasn’t that design thread (robots that like like US cars from the ’50′s) kind of used up in the film “Robots”?
jtegnell

“Gives a whole new meaning to the word cockpit.”

Badum pshhhh!
Reverend T

“Kazushi Kobayashi’s Chubu 01 is a robot from an alternate 1957 where robots are the primary mode of transportation.”

Does that make this InternalCombustionPunk?
Anonymous

Paint it red and it would be a robot Ruby Weapon.
Modusoperandi

It’s cool, but it’s not three hundred and fifty dollars cool. For that price, you could get an actual shitbox car and pretend it’s a robot. In either event, incidentally, it won’t help you get laid.
David Carroll

Somebody please cast this robot in the next XXX rated Godzilla (ã‚´ã‚¸ãƒ©, Gojira) flick!

Now I would pay 28.000 Yen to watch that!
ackpht

We already have vehicles for people who drive with their weenies- they’re called BMWs.
TheChickenAndTheRice

nsfw
davevontexas

Notice the cool handles / foothold things so you can climb up into the, uh, “cockpit”. Very nice. That is one sexy gundam.
Marshall

The “jockpit” is awesome. Now someone transport me to that awesome 1957 instead of the crappy Prius world were living in now.
Clayton Hove

My last apartment had this guy, only in refrigerator mode. Shame I never found the transform activation button.
blipmusic

I might like this “steampunk” (e.g. internal combustion punk as noted above) even more than a real steampunk version.

No…don’t look at me…those aren’t tears of bittersweet thoughts of a world that never was. It’s raining. Indoors. Really.

Now run, do not walk, and make a Katsuhiro Otomo movie/series/manga/concept artbook out of it. Run. Ruun!

A follow-up to Steam Boy centered around this kind of technology could work, no?
ed_g

yum, jetpunk. Love the rear view mirrors!
voivoed

But does the robot hold an umbrella over your head on rainy days? Or is there a sedan version?
drbsgold

It IS called the CHUB-u….
eustace

This must be an alternate world where power is very cheap indeed – moving a car takes a lot less power than a giant robot takes! This alternate universe must be moving toward global climate change at a very impressive rate.
MarkHB

Does the horn go “Wort wort wort!”

‘Cause it really looks like a Covenant Elite to me.
octopussoup

Looks more like a mech than a robot.
Takuan

http://blog-imgs-26.fc2.com/m/o/d/moderhythm/sakura_ban.jpg
Mim

CHUBu…
Reminds me of a timeless Tim & Eric song, “I’ve got chubs for you. Itty bitty chubs for you!”
sbarnes2

it has a penis…lolz!