This bit of news is a Christmas present for ALL gundam fans. Remember the 1/1 scale Gundam built in Odaiba a few months back to commemorate the Gundam 30 year anniversary (and try to get Japan in for the Olympics)?
Well, it's coming back!
Yep, ANN is reporting that the Gundam will be rebuilt at Bandai's plastic factory in Shizuoka and will stand between July of 2010 and May 2011 (hey..why do they have to take it down? -_-)
The statue brought over a million visitors in it's brief time up so, as long as we treat the thing like the Japanese Statue of Liberty, expect it to be a staple on the landscape.
Ok, that's not exactly how the tree looks (image pending), but in the spirit of the holidays, yes there will actually be a Gundam Christmas Tree.
The news comes from Anime News Network today and here's a quick summery if you don't wish to view the post directly.
There is a 5 meter (~16 foot) tall tree full of Gundam figures that will be lit up on December 3rd in the heart of the anime world; yep you guessed it, in the otaku shopping district of Akihabara.
It's actually to commemorate the release of the new Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus PSP game and the actual flipping of the switch will be done by none other than Amuro Ray's voice actor, Tohru Furuya.
Being that I'm on Long Island, I have the privilege to go check out the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree in NYC but...this year, I'd gladly like to switch spots with someone in Japan of course.
(As for the image above...it's what you think it is, me doing a cheap and quick photoshop image ^^;;)
Ok, I've been blogging a decent amount about the 1/1 Gundam in Odaiba but there is much more to add about this thing. As of a few days back, Anime News Network announced that wedding ceremonies will now be done in front of the statue! This isn't just something a bunch of otaku decided to scheme up, it's actually being done by a professional wedding groups (known as Take and Give Needs (T&G)) and even by the famed wedding planner, Akemi Ariga. Thing is, applications to have our wedding done will be closing by the 26th in order to get the ceremonies all done before the statue closes on Aug. 30th.
So with that said...who'd want to be married in front of the 59 foot RX-78? Actually, the big question is, who has a significant other who'd agree to this?
Some of you might know that I'm engaged to marry my long time girl friend and AMV master, Danielle. I'm lucky that she' my part asian fiancee who's also a rabid otaku, thus she'd most likely not mind having the wedding there in front of the Gundam. We won't have the chance to sign up for this but our wedding plans for next year might still have Odaiba in the picture. Thing is, Danielle's grandmother used to work for the heads of such companies like Panasonic and her connections might allow us to stay at one of the 5 star hotels on Odaiba (somewhere near Rainbow Bridge). So, for our honeymoon, we might have the luxury to look out the window and see the Gundam..just wish the yen vs. the dollar ratio would change -_- It's getting very expensive to get items from our favorite land.
(PS: Sorry for the lack of blog posts ^^;; I did update the blog's template a bit and added a thumbnailed past posts widget below as well as the "read more" link to help the main page load faster and allow me (and anyone else who'd like to blog here) the chance to write a nice long post. the thumbnail posts widget only works for the main page though and it was a pain to do since blogger utterly fails to be customizable when you use your own site -_-)
More good news for Gundam fans, it seems that the creator of the Gundam series, Yoshiyuki Tomino will be attending the 2009 New York Anime Fest to further commermorate the 30th anniversary of Gundam. I'll be attending NYAF 2009 as well and it'll be great to meet up with the man responsible for all Gunpla. chances are he'll be showing off video and other tidbits about the 1/1 RX-78 that we all so badly want to see. (Would love for one to be built here in NYC -_-) New York Anime Fest will be September 25-27 in the city (at the Javits center).
(ps: yes, I will eventually sell gunpla in my store...that day will come and I will let you all know)
This thing gets more amazing the more we see it. Out of just sheer excitement, I had to post this bit of info. The 1/1 Scale RX-78 Gundam in Odaiba, Tokyo is all set up with the lights, sounds and movement. This is a site to behold and a proud day to be an anime fan ;_; I love it. Of course, all the photo and news credit goes to Danny Choo and the originators of this news. Over hear in NY, we tend to get things a bit late due to the 13 hour time difference...or just me not being quick enough with the blog posts. Check out the Gundam in action in the video below. The video is now a part of the video section of the site.
For some of you that have been tracking the progress of the 1:1 scale Gundam being made, well....its basically complete! Big thanks to Danny Choo for keeping us in tabs with the progress of it and for punynari for the great photos and news of its completion.
In case you didn't know, this is a full scale replica of the RX78 Gundam from the original Moblie Suit Gundam series. It obviously won't be a fully functional machine but an amazing monument with lights and sounds. If I'm not mistaken, it's decoration for a potentioal future olympics as well. Once I do make my trip to Japan, this will be one of the sites I'll stop at.
...and I of course wouldn't pass up the opportunity to pilot a Gundam...those days are not yet here but with the Obaiba Gundam...we can still dream.
Here's another Gundam figure that came out last week. This is one for the sexy anime girl fans and gundam fans alike. This figure of Lunamaria Hawke from Gundam Seed is part of Bandai's Excellent Model series and as the name states, its an excellent figure. It's a 1/8th scale figure so it stands roughly 5-6 inches tall. I might add this one to my collection as well. Didn't think Bandai did the whole cute anime girl thing but they do and like the Gundam figures, they do it well.
Just released last week in the US is this Exia Gundam by Bandai. This work of art is a 1/144th scale figure of the famous Gundam from Japan's top series as of this posting date. Like others in this Bandai line figures, you also get different weapon and hand configurations to pose the gundam in lots of cool ways. Not bad for a $40 Gundam.
