William Davis
Wooahh!!! this is so lit! a 60-foot replica of the Iconic Gundam mecha suit? can’t wait for the world to go back to its normal situation and fly to Yokohama, Japan.
If you grew up a fan of giant robots like Transformers, Voltron, and the Megazord, you’ll probably have seen ‘Gundam’ too. The hugely-successful anime series is arguably one of the most popular media franchises in the 90’s history, as it is credited to be one of the pioneers of the multi-billion dollar anime industry. The Gundam fandom has spread across the entire world, introducing millions of people to anime.
In January, the Gundam Factory Yokohoma began construction on a 60-foot replica of the iconic mecha suit. It would be an amazing undertaking if they were simply building a massive statue, but this gigantic recreation will actually move.
The entire Gundam RX-78-2 Gundam mecha suit is built with a mechanical skeleton and weighs almost 25 metric tons (55,000 lbs) and stands 60-feet tall. Its home will be at the Gundam Factory Yokohama, an upcoming amusement center theme park after the Gundam franchise, located at Yamashita Pier in Yokohama, Japan. It will feature 24-degrees of freedom, which will allow it to walk around as part of a new attraction.
In a tweet on Sept 21, the enormous anime robot Gundam can move its arms, legs, and torso with ease. Gundam elegantly manifested with abilities single hand, from fingertip to wrist, will stretch 6.5 feet. It will also feature hands with fully correlated fingers and thumbs.
The ambitious project was in the planning and development stages since 2014. The external construction of the mecha was finished on July 29 and was blessed by the Shinto priests in a ceremony called jotoshiki, or “head installing ceremony.” In the ceremony, Gundam’s head was blessed by Shinto priests before being hoisted into the sky with a crane and secured to the unit’s shoulders.
Gundam goes on air in 1979, Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Gundam series has left an indelible mark on Japanese culture and the world of animation. Its giant, samurai-influenced, sword-fighting mecha robots have launched nearly 50 official TV series and movies and inspired countless others. Transformers, Pacific Rim, Real Steel, Voltron, MegaBots, anything with a big robot in it owes some debt to Gundam, indeed.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has halted progress on various construction projects, worldwide, the Gundam perseveres. You can check out the progress for yourself in this YouTube video. In addition, according to the website, the construction of the ‘Gundam’ statue is almost finished, and it’s scheduled to be unveiled to the public in October 2020.
Comments
Loading…