Dr. Fooler is a reoccurring antagonist in the Astro Boy universe. He is an egotistical mad scientist, but his villainous schemes are usually comical and lighthearted. He has appeared in numerous other Tezuka series via the Osamu Tezuka Star System.
Appearance[]
Dr. Fooler is a short, stout man aged somewhere in his 50s to 60s. Due to his stature and baby-like face, Fooler looks much younger than he actually is. He is notably short, being only about as tall as Uran. He is balding, with one notably long, curly hair on the top of his head. Sometimes, if he is meant to be an especially mad scientist, the hair along the sides of his head will be scruffy and unkempt.
In spite of Fooler's juvenile appearance, he is always dressed professionally. He usually dresses in formal attire, such as three-piece suits and cravats, and in bright white lab coats. He will often use large canes and walking sticks that are taller than him.
Personality[]
Dr. Fooler is Tezuka's least threatening villain by design[1]. As bombastic as he is, Fooler seems completely unaware of his stature and appearance. He is very confident, very self-assured, and his own worst enemy because of it.
Fooler is a talented scientist when he puts his mind to it. Otherwise, his creations are poorly-conceived and prone to causing disaster. He does have a limit to the chaos he likes to cause, and will reluctantly ask for help in fixing his schemes.
Astro Boy series[]
Dr. Fooler being stingy
Manga[]
Dr. Fooler appears regularly throughout the Astro Boy manga. He is an especially prominent character in the Shogaku Ninensei manga series, a slapstick gag manga serialized from 1980 to 1981. In these stories, he is a stingy and envious scientist with a one-sided rivalry with Professor Ochanomizu. At one point, he builds a robot duck with the sole purpose of making loud noises and following Ochanomizu around.
1963 series[]
Dr. Fooler is the main villain in the 1963 series episode "The Wacky Machine". He is the creator of the titular Wacky Machine, a device with the sole purpose of making all other nearby machines go out of control. Astro must help stop the machine, but his robotic system and any aiding equipment is vulnerable to the machine, too.
1980 series[]
Dr. Fooler appears in the 1980 series episode "The Baby Elephant Pook". He is a misguided for-profit scientist who created a robot safari in Central Africa. This safari was initially designed as a simple robot zoo, but he has expanded the park to include a hunting range in an attempt to make more money. His robots are mostly benevolent, except for his giant killer elephant Zora as his customers/hunters wanted a challenge with something that actually fights back.
Professor Ochanomizu is invited to the park so Fooler can ask for help refining his animal programming. While Fooler mainly deals with animal robots, he has created numerous human robots to perform as a stereotypical cannibal tribe in the park.
2003 series[]
Minimini's mugshot
In the 2003 anime series, Dr. Fooler appears as Dr. Minimini, an underground researcher specializing in micro machines. He visits the Ministry of Science while pretending to be merely eccentric, but he and his assistant are actually black market weapons dealers being pursued by the police. Minimini becomes interested in copying Astro's operating system, which he hopes to reformat and repackage as an emotionless humanoid super weapon.
Minimini's assistant implants Uran with a robot virus in order to promote his Virtual Exploration System as a solution. He has his machinery clone Astro as a tiny functioning model that his CPU temporarily operates through. However, Minimini tries to make a run for it with the full-size Astro in his machine, which would leave Astro as a tiny toy still fighting Uran's virus. The miniature Astro still manages to destroy Minimini's machine and get his body back. Inspector Tawashi arrests Dr. Minimini shortly after.
Other appearances[]
Dr. Fooler is also known for his major role as Professor Hellsing in the Don Dracula series. He plays Hellsing as a ridiculous, dramatic vampire hunter who has been failing to kill Dracula for decades. The anime version of Don Dracula gives him an absurd running gag where he has chronic hemorrhoids, which gets in the way during his paranormal investigations.
Professor Fooler and his "muses"
Fooler also has a major role in the Rainbow Parakeet chapter 13, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". He plays a theatre critic who watches Yosuke Hogata - Rainbow Parakeet's civilian persona - perform as the lead character of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He walks out of the play early and later gives the play a loud, negative review on TV. Much of Fooler's review revolves around complaining that Hogata is Japanese and thereby "unfit" to play an American character[2]. Outraged, Rainbow Parakeet disguises himself as "Professor Young Frankenstein" from "Melbrook University" and visits Fooler at his home. After being invited in, Rainbow terrorizes Fooler with a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf inspired scheme.
NOW! Comics series[]
In the NOW! Comics series, Dr. Fooler appears as I.Q. Plenty once again, now a genetic engineer. He is accompanied by a dog named Spud, who talks with the help of a radio collar. I.Q. Plenty is very egotistical, constantly vying for the position of head of the Institute of Science. He has feelings for the Institute employee Rebecca, one of his former students. When another employee, Lance Lumiere, begins to advance on Rebecca, Plenty creates an odious slime monster named Sludge and sends it after Lance.
I.Q. Plenty and Spud were introduced as comedy relief during the comic's very dark early arc. They were two of the favourite characters of the creative staff, and they had major roles in later issues until a new writer could take over the series.
References[]
- ↑ Dr. Fooler | Character | Tezuka Osamu Official - https://tezukaosamu.net/en/character/629.html
- ↑ Tezuka, Osamu. Nanairo Inko: L'Ara aux 7 Couleurs vol. 2, pg. 87. Asuka Editions, 2004.