You might remember the bittersweet end to the 18 meter tall landmark Gundam statue in Tokyo's Odaiba last march. The nostalgic life-size statue of the RX-78-2 Gundam was dismantled in dramatic fashion, but Mobile Suit enthusiasts were pleased to hear that a bigger and better fullscale replacement was being built, modeled after the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam and standing at 19.7 meters.

While not yet completed, some sneak peek footage has revealed that much like in the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn television show, this new life-size Gundam will have a functional head unit with moving antenna! When the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam Mobile Suit shifts into its "Destroy Mode", the Mobile Suit's unicorn-like antenna shoots out and splits, and the Suit's armor also shows off glowing parts as well. It remains unclear if the armor will actually light up as it does in the show, but for now it appears as if the antenna unit will actually move around.

The statue is scheduled to be fully completed sometime in Autumn, and while as of now the only added feature seems to be increased size and a mobile head/antenna unit, this shows promise for added functions to Japan's life-size Gundam statues.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.