The world’s first life-sized Gundam to be built outside of Japan has been completed. Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport in Shanghai Jinqiao recently completed its 1:1-scale Gundam statue last week, treating visitors to a beautiful real-life recreation of the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam.
This is the first Gundam to appear outside of Japan, which revealed its life-sized Gundam statue late last year. Unlike the Gundam in Yokohama, Shanghai’s Gundam is just a statue and can’t move, but it does have a few blue LEDs in its head to give it a bit of a glow.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Gundam is fully articulated with moving hands, arms, legs, and head. It’s not a real Gundam and still needs a gantry to keep it from toppling over, but it’s still generally more impressive than a completely immobile statue.
A live-action Gundam movie is still in development, according to Netflix, which just recently announced that Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts will take the reigns of the project. Still no word on a release, though, so maybe rewatch the original anime series on the streaming service in the meantime.