Life-size Eva Unit 01 Being Built In Japan

JoshuaInNippon writes "Japan has gone life-size anime model crazy. Last year there was the robotic 1:1 Gundam model that guarded Tokyo for a few months in the summer to mark the series' 30th anniversary, and then there was the giant Gigantor moment that opened in Kobe in the fall in honor of the city's rejuvenation from the devastating 1995 earthquake. Now, an amusement park near Mt. Fuji named Fuji-Q Highland is building an Eva Unit 01 from the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion series, or at least a bust of it, in conjunction with the series' recent movies. The bust will sit in a replica hanger, and reportedly stand around 9 meters tall. Visitors will have the chance, for a little extra money, to have their photo taken in the unit's cockpit, where the series' protagonist-of-sorts Shinji Ikari normally sits. The attraction is set to a cost of over US$1.6 million to build, and open on July 23 of this year. It will also undoubtedly be swamped by crazed fans looking the opportunity to bring their anime dreams to life."

Giant Gigantor

[Em Emalb]

It's more bigger.

Gigantor would imply of large size, no?

Ah, I must run, my lunch time when I eat lunch is happening now.

Stupid localization crap...

[Tetsujin]

The robot's name isn't "Gigantor", it's "Tetsujin 28".

I understand people grow up with and grow attached to the localized names - but "gigantor" is a stupid name. It ranks up there with "Rick Hunter" or "Tranzor Z".

BP has sent letter requesting help

[Orga]

BP engineers have sent a letter requesting the help of EVA-01 to help shut off the gulf oil leak. "We have incurred the wrath of our god and are requesting the help of an evangelion unit as Godzilla cannot currently be located."

Re:

[blair1q]

Have they asked Aquaman to text him?

Re:

[ooshna]

I guess you didn't read the news Aquaman washed up on shore with a few dolphins a few days ago.

Re:

[spazdor]

That's not news. Aquaman was washed up from the very founding of the Justice League.

Re:

[g0bshiTe]

"I guess you didn't read the news Aquaman washed up on shore with a few dolphins a few days ago."
When questioned about the incident Aquaman responded by saying, "No matter how innocent it may seem, never accept an opened drink from a Bottlenose!". He then went on to comment how his anus hurt.

Re:BP has sent letter requesting help

[elrous0]

Even when it involves the ocean, no one thinks of Aquaman first. They'll only call him if every other superhero is dead. He's just behind the Apache Chief and Gleek on the call list.

Re:

[elrous0]

I wonder if the Bizarro-world Aquaman is powerful and well-respected.

Re:

[dziban303]

What the hell is an evangelion? Related? [waynesthisandthat.com]

Re:

[hesaigo999ca]

>Godzilla cannot currently be located
Thats cus he died from oil poisoning, he is lying at the bottom of the ocean right now as we speak....

Slightly smaller than full

[identity0]

1:1 Japan size, of course, means it's about 1:1.2 for an American Eva unit.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You Americans have humongous penises.

But our penis, it's so small... so very small.

Re:

[EdZ]

For all of a few seconds, before the US-built Unit 04 inevitable explodes. Again

"Life size" - not "1:1 scale" for a reason... :)

[Tetsujin]

Fun fact - the question of the scale of the Evangelion model kits comes up from time to time - and while there is an official height for the Eva units, the scale of them in the anime changes so drastically from one scene to another that it's very hard to say one measurement is correct and another isn't. This inconsistency of scale goes beyond the usual animation errors - it was actually an intentional creative choice, fitting the size of the Eva to the effect they wanted in a given episode...

I'll wait for Unit 02 ...

[0racle]

... and for the Asuka cosplayers.

Re:

[tmosley]

Unfortunately, they'll all be guys.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Or very imposing women. Seriously, much like most of the drawings from the Far East, cosplaying as well looks *much* better in a cartoon than in reality.

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[Knara]

Yeah there's some horrendous cosplaying, but the cosplaying that is good, is really good.

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[K. S. Kyosuke]

Here [blogspot.com] you [crunchyroll.com] are [crunchyroll.com]...

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[AigariusDebian]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aigarius/sets/72157623984654192/ [flickr.com]

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[Rakshasa Taisab]

Unfortunately? I do believe you haven't seen cute Japanese boys cross-dress cosplay. I'd hit them any day.

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[darthdavid]

Unit 00 and Rei...

Fantasy?

[phantomfive]

Some people have this as a fantasy? Have they actually seen the show? I mean, yeah, at the beginning EVA was kind of a cool robot suit and everything, but by the end, those things were creepy. I wouldn't want to really be near one. You will never see a show with a creepier way to show blood and relationships. And I did like the show, but if you haven't seen it (WARNING! SPOILER ALERT!) at the end, everyone on the planet explodes into a pool of blood. And that was one of the less creepy things by the end. Good show, but I sure don't fantasize about it.

Re:

[tmosley]

Yeah, some of us want to feel wet and puddlely outside!

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You are so right... I even question whether or not I recommend such a series to my friends, however amusing it may be early on, due to the maniacal ending(s).

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[Rude Turnip]

Why would you be afraid of an Eva unit? Are you afraid of your mother, too? Now, that is creepy and maybe something personal you shouldn't be discussing on Slashdot.

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[DiLLeMaN]

For some people, the EVA unit *is* their mother, you insensitive clod!

Re:

[darkstar949]

Point of clarification but at the end of "The End of Evangelion" everyone exploded into pools of LCL fluid, caused by the collapse of all of the individual AT Fields. The ending also implies that because everyone suffered an AT Field collapse as opposed to exploding that it might be possible for them to come back the same way that Asuka and Shinji did.

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[Valdrax]

LCL is the blood of Lilith. QED.

Re:

[Zot Quixote]

In case people are wondering, AT Field = Absolute Terror Field. Or at least that's what they called 'the barrier between people'.

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[asukasoryu]

everyone on the planet explodes into a pool of blood

You say that like it's a bad thing. You obviously missed the point of the human instrumentality project. It was meant to bring us together. When we all lose our AT fields, you have to stay in the kiddie pool.

Re:

[sznupi]

Total number of humans who have died to this point is around 100 billion. All of over 6 billion humans alive today will be dead very, very quickly (all things considered); and forgotten, most likely not a trace behind them. Nothing.
Who knows how many untold billions will be born into the same fate.

Taking the above into consideration...how can you sleep at night? (if some fiction which actually presents quite attractive scenario creeps you out...)

Re:

[phantomfive]

You call it attractive to see people explode into a pool of blood?

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[sznupi]

"Scebario" encompasses a bit more than one decisive event leading to it.

PS.

[sznupi]

And probably almost half of all humans who have ever lived (remember, that's bit over 100 billion, almost all dead and demonstrably forgotten) didn't survive their first year.

So, so...sad :(

This sounds dangerous

[AdmiralXyz]

Didn't those things have a tendency to go berserk and destroy everything in sight?

Re:This sounds dangerous

[8282now]

.... Hence only the bust! NOT the whole thing!!!!.....
It is pretty cool!

Re:

[EkriirkE]

Only when you connect to it deeply and awaken it.

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[Crudely_Indecent]

You say it like it's a bad thing. Besides, it didn't destroy everything in site....just an angel....and whatever got in its way.

And that only happened once....

It's Relative

[blair1q]

This, kinda lame.

The Gundam mecha model (jpeg [examiner.com]), however, looks fucking awesome.

Re:

[Bugamn]

Personally, I'd rather be inside a Mad Cat. Is there any place with a full sized one?

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[elrous0]

I'm not even an anime fan, and I think that's pretty fucking sweet.

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[brunokummel]

This, kinda lame.

The Gundam mecha model (jpeg [examiner.com]), however, looks fucking awesome.

I'm looking forward to the Doraemon model! =D

Re:

[Tetsujin]

And then a Megadeus.

They actually had one in the works - it was about 80% complete, but then a massive stage-light fell on it and most of it was wrecked.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Good timing

[gmuslera]

Now that we sent an apple tree [space.com] to space, the only thing missing there was Eva^He.

Man, that movie just had the best. . .

[JSBiff]

. . . dialog.

Man, that movie just had the best. . .

[Tetsujin]

. . . story.

How much for a Creepy Ending?

[Remus Shepherd]

Visitors will have the chance, for a little extra money, to have their photo taken in the unit's cockpit, where the series' protagonist-of-sorts Shinji Ikari normally sits.

How much will visitors have to pay to jack off to their mother's clone, like Shinji did? I mean, if you're paying money you want the full experience.

I understand the urge to revere important works of fiction, but in my opinion this one might be a bit of a stretch.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Shinji jacked off to Asuka, not Rei...

I believe the words you are looking for...

[KarlHammar]

.. is "monument" and "hangar".

I mustn't run away

[Zot Quixote]

I mustn't run away
I mustn't run away
I mustn't run away

Laugh all you want...

[kaizendojo]

..but thiunk about this, maybe they're just telling the roundeyes that they're "life sized models"

Actual size?

[izomiac]

I find it a little hard to believe that it's actual size, since in the series the mechs varied in size episode-to-episode. In some, they're much larger than buildings [wikipedia.org], whereas in other scenes they climb them (e.g. to evade the Sea of Dirac). At the lower ends, being actual size is kinda big, but not too bad. At the upper ends, it'd be difficult to fit any part of an Eva in a city without taking up a whole block.

Ministry of Giant Robots?

[Guppy]

Just one question...

Has the Japanese government finally settled on which ministry is in charge of Gundam [slashdot.org] yet?

Re:

[Tetsujin]

Just one question...

Has the Japanese government finally settled on which ministry is in charge of Gundam [slashdot.org] yet?

Yes, they're leaving it to Sunrise and Bandai.

As much as I enjoy making fun of Shinji...

[John Pfeiffer]

They did actually manage to...de-Shinji...Shinji in the new movies. He still has plenty of whiny bitch moments, but he manages to man-up when it comes down to it. And he has a pretty spectacular crowning moment of awesome at the end of Evangelion 2.0 (Or Wevangeliwon, if you want to make fun of Anno's newfound love of obsolete katakana characters.) I can't wait for the bluray to come out on the 26th. (Something in the back of my mind has been screaming inarticulately in horror ever since it was faced wit

Re:

[Tetsujin]

It's been years since I watched NG, but I think I recall the Eva's being a lot taller than 9m...

They didn't build the whole thing. It's a bust.

On a Day X...

[hom3chuk]

..this mighty defender of Earth will save us! Or not.