Gundam Unicorn is Tokyo's newest giant robot protector

It’s out with the old and in with the new as Tokyo’s DiverCity Mall as a new life-sized Gundam takes up residence.

The citizens of Tokyo have been enjoying a life-sized statue of the original Gundam that started everything, the RX-78-2 since 2008. This past weekend, however, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam made its debut, clocking in at an impressive 64.6 feet compared to the previous statues 54 feet.

Somehow the word ‘statue’ doesn’t seem quite right as the Unicorn Gundam can activate its Destroy Mode (pink lighting) as well as its Awakened Mode (green lighting).

The transformation will happen multiple times during the day, so if you don’t get to see the mode you want, just hang around for a while.

For those unfamiliar with the Unicorn Gundam, it is indeed part of the main Gundam timeline known as the Universal Century, or U.C. This timeline marks the time that has passed since humans have begun colonizing space in the Gundam universe. While the RX-78-2 – the original statue – was from the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime set in U.C. 0079, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam hails from the U.C. 0096 and fought in the Third Neo Zeon War.

Yes, folks, Gundam has a huge timeline.

The Unicorn Gundam actually made its debut in a manga series before moving on to a series of ‘light novels’ and finally to anime in 2010. While it is undoubtedly a cool looking Mobile Suit, I’m not sure it’s iconic enough to earn a statue quite yet. If they had opted to branch into other timelines they could have pulled from Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed which had some striking designs. And even within the U.C. timeline you could have gone with the RX-78GP02A from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.

I know… I’m not kidding anyone. I’m just jealous Tokyo has had not one, but two life-size Gundams now. Where is a Gundam for the U.S.? We’re losing the Gundam war, people!

RX-78GP02A