Gundam turns 30, celebrates with the most awesome statue ever

Statue of Liberty? Striking, but a bit demure. Trenchcoat-clad Stalin statue in Gori, Georgia? Iconic, but disheartening. Giant RX-78-2 Gundam statue at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo, Japan? Unquestionably badass. The massive biped is currently under construction, part of a celebration for the 30 year anniversary of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. When completed it will be full-scale, standing 59-feet tall, weighing 35 tons, and even shooting "light or mist" from 50 different points along its structure. All systems should be fully operational by July 11 -- hopefully soon enough to stop the forthcoming Zeon armada.

[Via technabob]

[MuSeW @ May 22nd 2009 10:34AM]

sweet

[tom @ May 22nd 2009 10:51AM]

Gundam is AMAZING. I have collected many Gundam Models. RX-78-2 is a classic! Great choice. What grade of the model is this? Super super master grade? LOL

Too bad, this isn't made of Gundanium =(

[Phil @ May 22nd 2009 11:50AM]

Don't you mean lunar titanium alloy?

[ZaxCG2 @ May 22nd 2009 11:18AM]

@MuSeW:
An understatement. Its more like "WOW. INCREDIBLE."

[tom @ May 22nd 2009 11:56AM]

@Phil

Do your research =P

http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Gundanium_Alloy

[Shinigami @ May 22nd 2009 12:13PM]

Does it move like a Gundam? If not, what kind of mobile suit is this?!

[Xenoterranos @ May 22nd 2009 1:09PM]

An immobile suit?

[BigD145 @ May 22nd 2009 4:10PM]

But it won't be ready in time for the 4th of July. It'd make for a sweet fireworks platform.

[bungsana @ May 22nd 2009 4:18PM]

@bigd145

course, in japan, the fourth of july is only the fourth of july and not the us holiday, independence day.

[datharo @ May 22nd 2009 5:57PM]

@tom
Phil is correct... the original RX-78-2 was made from lunar titanium, not gundanium like later mobile suits such as the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam

[BananaBoat @ May 22nd 2009 6:45PM]

According to that wiki page, Gundanium was only used in Gundam Wing. Gundarium is what was used in the years after the one year war (in the Universal Century timeline, not After Colony).


In other words, the wiki has owned all ye merry gentlemen.

[Deathalo @ May 22nd 2009 7:23PM]

@tom

Do your research, Gundanium Alloy is only ever mentioned in Gundam Wing. As far as other Gundam series (like in the UC universe, which this RX-78-2 is from) makes no mention of Gundanium Alloy. It does make mention, however, of Lunar Titanium, which was used in the construction of the RX-78 as Phil pointed out. Lunar Titanium was eventually named Gundarium alloy in the UC universe, but Gundanium is from Gundam Wing only.

[Johnny south @ Jun 12th 2009 10:47PM]

forgot about perfect grade?

[tfurdal @ May 22nd 2009 10:39AM]

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords

[Matt @ May 22nd 2009 10:41AM]

Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right!?

[spam_free @ May 22nd 2009 12:07PM]

IIRC, Gundams are mobile SUITS, not robots. Someone has to be inside to pilot these things. They are more like vehicles. They are not autonomous.

[kal326 @ May 22nd 2009 1:10PM]

@spam_free
No true, different series but still no pilot in the mobile suit.
http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Mobile_Doll

[Chris Lincoln @ May 22nd 2009 1:53PM]

@kal362:
I believe Mobile Dolls were controlled by a human using a variation of the Zero System; so they're not really robots.

[Poo_and_Wee @ May 22nd 2009 6:25PM]

Mobile dolls weren't even Gundams!

[Zero @ May 23rd 2009 1:34PM]

@Chris Lincoln

It's true that nearing the end of the war Zech's allowed Dorothy to control the mobile dolls via the ZERO system for a strategic advantage, however, earlier and conventional dolls, namely the Taurus and Virgo suits, used a computer system in the cockpit for execution of orders. Ofcourse, orders were dished out by commanders, but the dolls themselves made the decisions.

[kaiswil2 @ May 22nd 2009 10:39AM]

Checking for plane tickets as we speak.

[sweet greggo @ May 22nd 2009 10:39AM]

Pretty cool, but man those Japanese are some crazy folk.

[strider_mt2k @ May 22nd 2009 10:39AM]

That's big.

I mean like, Gabby Hayes big.

Big.

[Oli D @ May 22nd 2009 2:56PM]

bi, bii, small?

No wait, big

[Cheng @ May 22nd 2009 10:40AM]

When I first saw that picture my first thought was Japanese world domination! (seriously, is there any other countries in the world where the people are crazy in love with everything robot and crazy enough to build giant robots??)

Still, even if this is not the beginning of the end of the world, building a giant, full scale replica of a Gundam mobile suit is unbelievable badass, and once again, this could only happen in Japan.

[Agent .25i @ May 22nd 2009 1:00PM]

Dude, forget the Japanese. We have crazy terrorists, hording nuclear waste, building giant weapons of mass destruction.
Death by Robot would be a welcomed way to go.

[NuShrike @ Jun 13th 2009 1:19AM]

Seems only Americans and maybe the religious-right have a serious death-wish seeing the devil in everything.

Meantime, Japan and the culture sees positives and good things with technology.

[mp3 @ May 22nd 2009 10:47AM]

This could be the real deal, that there make it to take on north korea missile launch!!

[Mattvega @ May 22nd 2009 10:46AM]

These Japanese really want the end of the world really badly...

[FNG @ May 22nd 2009 10:51AM]

if you were Japanese, wouldn't ...

oh nevermind.

[M @ May 22nd 2009 1:25PM]

It's a Gundam not an Eva.

[adam @ May 22nd 2009 10:50AM]

so am I the only one that thought those were the legs from that chinese sex themepark without the skin on them before reading the tagline?

[webon @ May 22nd 2009 10:53AM]

sex deprivation is baaaaaaaaad!

[cheryl mikela - freeenterprisechic @ May 22nd 2009 5:48PM]

Was wondering the same thing, just didn't know how they escaped the Chinese wrecking ball.

[Okki @ May 22nd 2009 10:53AM]

Wicked Cool.. I'll take two please!

[webon @ May 22nd 2009 10:54AM]

So this is how it all starts, and how it all ends.

[7egend @ May 22nd 2009 10:55AM]

It's not a robot, it's a mobile suit/mecha, which is two very different things. One relies on computer generated AI, the other requires a human pilot.

No robot overlords here, move along.

[mvp @ May 22nd 2009 10:59AM]

It's a robot if you turn autopilot on.

[John @ May 23rd 2009 8:57PM]

I, for one, welcome our mobile suit/mecha overlords.

[TRS @ May 22nd 2009 10:55AM]

awesome! until it comes to life and goes Godzilla on their japanese asses

[ash @ May 22nd 2009 11:01AM]

Whoa...

[Major4Play @ May 22nd 2009 11:02AM]

It's first stop is kicking Hasbro's butt for the Transformers

[Philip @ May 22nd 2009 11:12AM]

i liked mble suit gundam 8th MS team the best wing seciond and origanial 3rd

[LongshotX @ May 22nd 2009 5:37PM]

Did you like English class?

[ZaxCG2 @ May 22nd 2009 11:13AM]

*Geek swoon*

[Gipionocheiyort @ May 22nd 2009 11:41AM]

I really hope Engadget follows up with this as construction continues....I'll forget to check it but I really wanna see this thing completed.

[Oli D @ May 22nd 2009 2:57PM]

Im imaging the KIRF story in years to come...

[jeremy480 @ May 22nd 2009 11:45AM]

The world is in an economic crisis and the Japanese are building giant toys... 驚くばかり!

[Magallanes @ May 22nd 2009 12:22PM]

A giant toys that can attract thousand of TOURI$T from all the globe.

[jeremy480 @ May 22nd 2009 12:24PM]

Or just the internet