Full-Size Gundam to Rise in Tokyo Park
We've always been more of Robotech fans ourselves, but to many, the Gundam is the iconic anime giant mecha. As April 7th, 2009 is the 30th anniversary of the first anime series about Mobile Suits, Mobile Suit Gundam, an 18-meter (59-foot) Gundam statue will be built in Tokyo's Odaiba's Shiokaze Park this July.
By the way, according to this site, it should actually be 18.5-meters tall to be life-size.
The statue will be part of the "Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project." It will stay up for only two months and be built from fiberglass-reinforced plastic over a steel frame. Viewing will be free.
Look we're in a global recession here. I say keep it up until it rusts and charge lots of cash. Heck, you guys created the series; there ought to be plenty of suckers, er, tourists who would pay to see it!
Besides a (cool) moveable head, fifty points on the Gundam will be lit, and mist will shoot out of 14 different points on the statue.
There have been other Gundam statues as well: a 33-foot-tall statue and a 23-foot-tall one, as well as another life-size one at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park at the foot of Mt. Fuji in 2007. However, it was built lying on the floor of a building.
There are apparently still plans to build a 49-foot-tall Gigantor statue in the city of Kobe, set for this summer also, showing that even in a recession Gundam fans aren't the only giant robot fans willing to put out real cash to put up huge statues.
Think of it as a stimulus for construction workers in Japan.
By the way, according to this site, it should actually be 18.5-meters tall to be life-size.
The statue will be part of the "Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project." It will stay up for only two months and be built from fiberglass-reinforced plastic over a steel frame. Viewing will be free.Look we're in a global recession here. I say keep it up until it rusts and charge lots of cash. Heck, you guys created the series; there ought to be plenty of suckers, er, tourists who would pay to see it!
Besides a (cool) moveable head, fifty points on the Gundam will be lit, and mist will shoot out of 14 different points on the statue.
There have been other Gundam statues as well: a 33-foot-tall statue and a 23-foot-tall one, as well as another life-size one at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park at the foot of Mt. Fuji in 2007. However, it was built lying on the floor of a building.
There are apparently still plans to build a 49-foot-tall Gigantor statue in the city of Kobe, set for this summer also, showing that even in a recession Gundam fans aren't the only giant robot fans willing to put out real cash to put up huge statues.
Think of it as a stimulus for construction workers in Japan.
