Gundam's Massive Moving Mecha Is About to Shut Down

Mobile Suit Gundam has earned its place as the biggest mech franchise of all time, with its latest movie, Mobile Suit Gundam: Seed Freedom, scoring big at the Japanese box office. Unfortunately, a major pillar to the anime franchise that first began in 1970s is about to close its doors. If you wanted to see the Walking Gundam with your own eyes, you might want to book a ticket to Japan as soon as possible, but luckily, we have the details for how you can attend the last days of the mech.

The Walking Gundam began taking its first steps in 2020, and has continued moving at the behest of anime fans at the Gundam Factory Yokohama. In creating a statue for the franchise, it should come as no surprise that Bandai Namco Filmworks, the owners of the franchise, decided to take spectators back to the past. The "Rx 78-2" Gundam was the first mech that Amuro piloted in the initial anime series, using its powers to fight against Char and the Principality of Zeon. While the franchise has introduced countless mechs, a good number of them would harken back to the initial design that kicked off the ever-expanding mech universe.

When Will The Moving Gundam Stop Moving?

The Walking Gundam at the Gundam Factory Yokohama will be closing its doors on March 31st next month. If you want to make the trip to see the mech take its final steps, you can visit the official website by clicking here. Tickets for the final showings of the Moving Gundam will be sold beginning on March 1st, and at present, the locale has yet to confirm if we'll ever see the life-sized statue take steps in the future.

The facility will close on Mar. 31, 2024.https://t.co/6tWeZxfz5O#GFY #MovingGundam

— GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA(GFY) 公式 (@gfy_official_) February 15, 2024

Luckily, while the statue might be ending its three-year run, the Gundam franchise has marched forward. Seed Freedom has been a major hit in Japan, though the latest Gundam movie has yet to receive confirmation of a North American release. Here's how Bandai Namco Filmworks describes the sequel movie, 

"C.E. (Cosmic Era). An era in which there are human beings called Coordinators, born with superior physical and mental abilities thanks to genetic modification, and humans called Naturals who are born naturally. With their respective existence at stake, the ideological clash between Coordinators and Naturals escalated into war using armed force. Along the way, the Destiny Plan was proposed, which would forcibly assign a role to each individual and create a world free of competition. But amid the fighting, this Destiny Plan was rejected in order to protect humanity's aspirations and future freedom."