The recent wedding held at Shiokaze Park at the base of the 18-meter (59-foot) tall, life-like statue of the 1/1 Gundam RX78 Robot was a spectacular event honoring both the nuptials of the lucky couple and the “Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project.”

The theme of the overall Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project is “Always Beginning.”

Until now, the largest official Gundam replica in Japan was a 2/3-scale LM312V04 Victory Gundam built at 10 meters (33 feet) tall during the 1990s.

The only other official life-size replica of a full RX 78-2 Gundam robot was built in 2007 at the foot of Mt. Fuji. However, it was constructed specifically for interaction and lies on the floor of a building, not standing up like the Odaiba statue.

Five hundred couples competed via T & G wedding planners for the honor of being the lucky ones to exchange their wedding vows in the shadow of the famous robot.

Both the bride and the groom had been married before and were thrilled to exchange wedding vows in such close proximity to their beloved Gundam which both claim had a powerful influence on their lives.

The chosen pair has a six-month old daughter named Seira Sayla, whose name derives from the Gundam series.

The statue is a temporary construction and the fiberglass-reinforced plastic covers the steel frame so that it can eventually be disassembled. The head unit moves, the body emits light from 50 separate points and mist spurts from 14 locations on the body.

Shiokaze Park is four train stops from Tokyo Big Sight, the home of the Comic Market convention and the Gundam Big Expo convention that took place last August 21 to 23.

The fate of Gundam after disassembly still isn’t known, but time is running out and authorities will have to make a decision very soon if they haven’t already.

In the meantime, in between time, Gundam lives proud and very tall for all who love the anime series that dates back to 1979.

(Link)

By MDeeDubroff on 07-10-2009