PG 1/60 Strike Gundam - Customized Build

PG 1/60 Strike Gundam - Customized Build

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Life-size Gundam Statue Will Be Closing On March 5th 2017 [Info via AnimeNewsNetwork]

Life-size Gundam Statue Will Be Closing On March 5th 2017

(Info via AnimeNewsNetwork)

The Gundam.info portal site announced on Thursday that Bandai will dismantle and take down the life-size Gundam statue on March 5. The statue has stood outside the DiverCity Tokyo mall in Odaiba, Tokyo since 2012. The "Tokyo Gundam Project," which aims to revitalize Tokyo's waterfront area through initiatives with the Tokyo government, will also temporarily end.

The "Gundam Front Tokyo" attraction located in the seventh floor of the DiverCity Tokyo mall will also close on April 5. The announcement noted that Bandai is planning new projects and will announce them at a later time.

The statue, which portrays the iconic RX-78-2 mobile suit piloted by protagonist Amuro Ray in the first Mobile Suit Gundam series, was unveiled at Odaiba's Shiokaze Park in 2009, where it stood for 52 days. 4.15 million people visited the statue. The statue was then relocated to Shizuoka City in 2010, where it stood from July 2010 to March 2011, this time holding a beam saber in its right hand. In 2012, the statue was dismantled and rebuilt at its current location, where it has stood since.

The "Gundam Global Challenge" press conference had announced plans in July 2014 to make the Gundam statue move by the year 2019. Bandai's official announcement on Thursday regarding the dismantling of the life-size statue didn't state if this was the reason for dismantling the statue. The current statue could already move its head and automatically "open" its cockpit to reveal a screen inside.