A Very Large Unicorn Adventure

My last day in Tokyo found me with a troublesome right leg and overcast weather. There were many places I wanted to see (as always). One was not far from where I wanted to go but it involved walking, buses and preferring to see it in better weather. So I thought hard as to what to do, given my limitations. There was another place I had thought about revisiting. When I realized there was something I had wanted to see for the first time. Near the place I wanted to revisit. And there was an easy way to get there. I needed to go to Ikebukuro Station to get my N'EX seat and lucky for me, the train I wanted to take was right by the ticket office. So I got on the Saikyo Line for the first time.

The Saikyo Line follows part of the Yamanote Line but doesn't stop at all the stations. Mental note for future, definitely need to use this line, as long as it's not rush hour. It still took some time to go from Ikebukuro to the Tokyo Teleport Station, but much easier than having to change trains. So up I went this rather futuristic escalator.

To find the back of the Fuji TV Building in Odaiba. 

Not far from there was Diver City Shopping Mall and The Gundam Base Tokyo. 

Of course there is a theme cafe. The Gundam Cafe, which looks a lot like the Gundam Cafe in Akihabara. 

But what Akihabara doesn't have is this. 

A lit up 19.7 meters tall 1:1 scale replica of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam.

That's  64.6 feet. Just a little taller than this man.

 Previously there was a Gundam statue here, based on one of the original designs. But it was removed and on September 26th, 2017, the new Unicorn Gundam was unveiled.

The design was based on the MobileSuit Gundam Unicorn anime.

 It definitely is impressive.

 Both the exhaust ports in the back and various panels light up. Pink means it's in attack mode.

There are a number of parts that move, including the two horns at the top. They move together to create one unicorn horn. There is a video here that shows how this happens, about 45 seconds in,  https://twitter.com/Normal_wa/status/911930241924214784 

While I was there, a man jumped the chain barrier. Two non-uniformed guys escorted him away. So they do have people watching just in case someone does something crazy. Most people, like these, were just getting selfies.

While there wasn't much beyond the colossal model, it was interesting to see and not too difficult for me to get to. Which was good because there was that place I wanted to revisit. 

Off in the distance was more of the Odaiba skyline, including this walkway. 

Which has some resemblance to the Gundam Unicorn. It's by the Tokyo Teleport Train Station. But I am getting a little ahead again. 

Because there was that place I wanted to revisit. 

Which was near the colorful Palette Town Daikanransha, a 100 meter Ferris wheel, which I first saw in December, 2010. And that place is what my next post will be about.