Giant Gundam Mobile Suit Statue Featured at Licensing Expo 2022

Collider’s own Steve Weintraub is currently at Licensing Expo 2022 in Las Vagas, the premier event that brings together some of the world’s most influential entertainment, character, art, and corporate brand owners and agents with consumer goods manufacturers, licensees, and retailers taking place between May 24 and May 26. While there, he was able to catch a few photos of many different posters and marketing materials. One of these displays included a giant statue of the iconic RX78-2 Gundam from 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam from the popular Gundam anime franchise.

This giant statue of the titular Gundam model has it aiming its gun to the sky, with a stylish star-laden backdrop behind it. The RX-78-2 was the Mobile Suit piloted by the protagonist in the original series, Amano Ray, and is the namesake of the entire franchise. The statue seems to be just advertising the series as a whole instead of any of the individual projects that are coming up such as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, which is set to release in Japan in October 2022 and will be the first series from the long-running franchise to release since Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans back in 2015.

This new statue could also be tied to the 3rd Gundam Conference that was held a few months ago, back in March, which saw a slate of all new projects from the beloved franchise announced. These include the “Gundam Metaverse Project,” which aims to build a platform for fans of Gundam from all across the world to converse and connect. From the press release: “This metaverse will steadily grow to build a solid foundation as the project moves forward into the future. The first step for the metaverse is to create virtual communities for each category, and to enable connections to the categories through the use of the Bandai Namco ID.” You can read more about what was announced at the event from the official press release. Also in the works is a live-action adaption of the anime series set to arrive on Netflix sometime in the future.

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Originally premiering in 1979 and created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise Studio (Cowboy Bebop), which is now known as Bandai Namco Filmworks, Mobile Suit Gundam is a cornerstone in the Mecha anime genre by taking its giant fighting robots and placing them in a grounded and militaristic setting with resonating anti-war themes.

Stay tuned to Collider for more news coming out of Licensing Expo 2022. You can see the images of the RX78-2 Gundam being shown at the event down below.

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