The Japanese are an amazing bunch of people, and I’m not saying that just because I love Japan.
Everyone is so nice that you’ll feel like trash by comparison, their trains are super efficient (and occasionally decked in Pokemon decor), they go all-out for anniversaries and celebrations, they LOVE giant robots (everyone does to be fair), and it is home to some of the brightest minds on this green(ish) earth.
Those last three points are particularly relevant for this story because the 40th anniversary of the Gundam franchise is coming up and some crazy geniuses have decided to celebrate by building a giant moving robot statue.
Yep, they’re building a life-sized version of this:
This giant Gundam statue was announced at a recent press conference and is scheduled to be completed by 2020 – just in time to coincide with the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.
Anime News Network reports that the city of Yokohama (where the statue will be erected) are bringing in extra technical supervisors and designers to help make this giant robot a reality.
Having extra hands on deck for the project is probably a good idea because not only will it stand at 18 metres tall, the statue will actually move around rather than just being an inanimate object with flashy lights.
Moving Gundam Statue Will Appear in Yokohama – https://t.co/Ul1JxmLsOL pic.twitter.com/7cjKj54drU
— Sankaku Complex (@sankakucomplex) November 21, 2018
Having said all that, don’t expect the statue to fly around or wield crazy large swords into battle. We may have gotten to the point where alcoholic Coca-Cola is a thing, but the technology to take down giant invading aliens with fully-moving giant robots doesn’t quite exist yet.
It’s a shame, I know.
But look, the bottom line is we’re getting a giant Gundam statue that moves and nothing else really matters beyond that.