Originally posted by mattdm I think we can pretty much all agree that it is a silly looking camera. Even the Kore Ja Nai fans have to admit it. But I don't think that really reflects poorly on Pentax overall, and it doesn't really look the commentators think so either.
It's actually a very very clever joke, which unfortunately not many seems to get, including all those fanboys on Engadget, so I suppose the joke is on them.
"Kore ja nai Robo" is not a "proper" toy robot, it's a fake imitation robot that superficially resembles the ones from Gundam et al but wrong in every way.
It's the sort of toy robot a clueless mother would buy for a kid, and then the kid would say "No no no you bought the WRONG robot Mum! This is not the one"
That's what "Kore ja nai Robo" means - it doesn't translate to "This is not a robot", it actually translates as "the robot that you would say or describe as 'this is not the one'" :-)
For Pentax to use the design for a camera is actually a very cool concept, and one that would appeal to someone with a dry sense of humour.
Very self referential - essentially Pentax is suggesting that the K-r with the Kore ja nai design is a camera that's not a normal camera, ie. it's not a Canikon. In other words, it's the sort of camera that would evoke a response "But mum, that's not the camera I want!!!"
So essentially Raylon's opinion and the opinions of those Engadget commenters are spot on, but probably not in the way they think.