Another Gundam is set to rise in Japan as the city of Yokohama plans to build a full-sized moving statue.
The project, called “Gundam Factory Yokohama,” was announced during the “Gundam” 40th anniversary event livestream. The project is a product of the “Gundam Global Challenge,” which outsourced ideas around the world on how to make a full-scale Gundam move.
This new Gundam statue will be the third built in Japan, and has been scheduled for a 2020 summer reveal at Yokohama’s Yamashita pier.
The first Gundam statue was a full-scale replica of the RX-78-2 from the Universal Century franchise. It was constructed to celebrate the “Gundam” series’ 30th anniversary and completed on June 9, 2009. It stood 18 meters tall and towered over Tokyo Park. After a one-year stay, it was moved to Shizuoka City and stood there from July 2010 to March 2011. It was again moved in August to its final destination at Odaiba, in front of the Diver City Tokyo Plaza.
A second Gundam was later announced on March 5, 2017, to replace the RX-78-2. March 14 saw the disassembly of the RX-78-2. In its place rose the RX 0 Unicorn, which was revealed in all its transforming glory in September 2017.
Both the RX-78-2 and Unicorn featured limited mobility as a prelude to the dreamed-of fully mobile Gundam statue. The RX-78-2 was able to rotate its head and pop open the cockpit to reveal a display inside.
Meanwhile, the Unicorn had multiple moving panels that allowed the statue to transform from unicorn to destroy mode. The entire statue also lights up to showcase the glass-like psycho frame inside the chassis. /ra
RELATED STORIES:
WATCH: ‘Unicorn Gundam’ illuminated, dazzles in official unveiling