#yatter-wan

Yatter-Wan was an unfinished robot designed by toymaker Tokubei Takada, which Gan-chan and Ai-chan decided to work on and finish by themselves. Upon his initial activation, he states that his duty is to protect the world and the people that inhabit it. This prompts the two kids to become the Yatterman and set out to stop the Dorombo gang from causing trouble in their hunt for the Dokuro Stone fragments.

As with many other characters Yatter-Wan's name is based off a pun, with wan being the Japanese onomatopoeia for barking (and from wan-chan, an affectionate term for dogs in Japan), while also sounding like the English pronounciation of the number one. The Italian version instead turns it into a play on the word cane, Italian for dog.

Activated by the turn of a crank, Yatter-Wan blares his siren with one hand and pulls a lever to move himself forward with the other. On the side of his shoulders and his stomach are handles for the Yatterman to hold onto and for Omochama to sit on, and on top of his nose is a bell that’s rung when they’re ready to depart. 

When feeling proud and confident, flags are raised from his cheeks to display his feelings. When dealing with a situation directly, he can fire cannonballs through his nose, and has hoses at the ready in case a fire needs to be put out.

One of Yatter-Wan’s well-known.traits is to happily exclaim his name and stomp his foot during a victory pose, which always knocks Omochama over. Despite that, Yatter-Wan actually had little in terms of characterization, though one episode depicted him as being quite stubborn unless spoken to by Ai-chan

When the Dorombo gang's mecha overpowers him (which they always do), the Yatterman feed him a Mecha-Moto bone (Mecha tonic) that provides Yatter-Wan with a boost of energy, which is mostly converted into surprise mini-mechas that walk onwards from a ladder concealed in his mouth.

Yatter-Wan's often consists of gators, turtles, hippos, ants, mice and skunks. Their appearance usually spelled defeat for the Dorombo gang, though they eventually found ways to combat against them, usually with their own mini-mechas. These occurrences sometimes prompted the Yatterman or Yatter-Wan to take actions into their own hands, or in some cases end with the Dorombo gang defeating themselves due to an oversight or stupidity

However in episode 45, The Secret of the Snow Woman, Koron!, a last ditch missile attack from the Dorombo gang proves to be too much for Yatter-Wan and the Yatter-Mecha is left in critical condition. Luckily, the Yatterman are able to rebuild him as the larger Yatter-King by the next episode.

By the time the events of Royal Revival occur, Yatter-Wan has apparently been upgraded again to Yatter-Wan FZ, a bigger, stronger, more detailed version of the original. Yatter-Wan FZ now has several new features such as built in rockets, an entire orchestra to signal the surprise mini-mechas, and the inability to be seduced by other mechas like the Dorombo gang's Sailor Mun-Mun mecha.

The original Yatter-Wan appears as a boss in the shooters Bokan to Ippatsu! Dorombo! and Bokandesuyo, with Yatter-Wan FZ also being a boss in the latter. He is also an unlockable racer in Bokan GoGoGo, though he doesn't have part in the game's story.

Yatter-Wan also features prominently in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as the basis for Yatterman-1 / Gan-chan's Supers, running the opponent over, breathing fire on them, or deploying the mini crocodile mechas to attack. In Chun-Li's CGOH ending, he assists her in taking out a Shadaloo base by deploying little explosive Chun-Li mechas.