On October 23, NAMCO BANDAI Holdings held a topping-off ceremony in Yumeshima for a life-size Gundam statue to be displayed at Expo ’70 Kansai in Osaka, Japan.
The 17-meter tall life-size Gundam statue, the first of its kind in the Kansai area, will be installed in front of the company’s private pavilion “Gundam Next Future Pavilion,” and will be on display for a total of 184 days from April 13 to October 13, 2025, the period of the Expo. The exhibition will be on display for a total of 184 days during the Expo period, from April 13 to October 13, 2025.
The pose, with one knee up and arm raised wide, is based on the image of a figure reaching out to the universe and the future. The new RX-78F00/E Gundam was designed as a non-operating, static figure, reusing materials from the “moving full-scale Gundam” exhibited at the “GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA” in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture from December 2020 to March 2024. Specifications include a total height (to the fingertips) of 16.72 m, a head height of 12.31 m, and a total weight of 49.1 tons. It was unveiled for the first time at Yumeshima, the Expo site where construction work is underway.
In a ceremony that was modeled after the “ridgepole raising ceremony” held to celebrate the completion of the framework, the head of the full-scale Gundam was lifted up by crane and docked with the body of the statue.
Hiroshi Sakakibara, President of BANDAI SPIRITS and Team Gundam Officer (CGO), who was appointed this April to oversee the Gundam business of the BANDAI NAMCO Group, also took the stage and revealed the concept and story behind the pavilion.
The exterior design of the “GUNDAM NEXT FUTURE PAVILION,” which will be exhibited at the Osaka Kansai Expo, is based on the image of a space airport of the future. Until now, it has been announced that the pavilion is planned to feature exhibits that give visitors a sense of the world of Gundam, but “life in space” and “science and technology yet to be realized,” which have been depicted in the Gundam series, will be presented in the pavilion as new future possibilities, and a complete new sense of presence will be created. The pavilion will be presented in a completely new and realistic image and in a pavilion space from phase 0 to phase 7,” he explained.
Although the interior of the pavilion was not open to the public during the top-heading ceremony, visitors can experience a “future in which living in space has become commonplace,” where people can easily travel to the space station via an orbital elevator and humans coexist with mobile suits, humanoid weapons that have assumed a new role. More details about the pavilion experience and the armoring of the life-size Gundam statue will be announced at a later date.
In addition, “GUNDAM NEXT FUTURE PAVILION” related products from Namco Bandai Group companies will be commercialized in various categories such as plastic models and figures. Details on sales methods and lineups will be announced at a later date.
© Source travel watch
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