Gundam buffs are in for a real treat this month - Gundam, Zaku and other legendary combat robots in the Japanese robot animation series are coming to Hong Kong.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Gundam robot animation series, its creator Sunrise will hold a two-day Gundam and Sunrise Festival at the Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre (HITEC). The exhibition will feature large models of Gundam and Zaku robots, as well as 8,888 original hand drawings from the series.
When Gundam debuted on Japanese television 25 years ago, it also became a cultural phenomenon that instantly took root in Hong Kong's youth subculture.
The series spawned a wide range of merchandise including stationery, computers, mobile phones, comics, video games and even plaster bandages. The action figures and model kits of Gundam robots are very popular among both young and old, as designs with new gimmicks are launched every few years.
'The idea of Gundam as a hobby and Gundam as an animation series cannot be separated,' said Keyman Luk, 38, a festival consultant and collector. 'When there is a new Gundam TV series, it spurs the hobby. The hobby continues after the series ends and will be fuelled by another series.'
Apart from the trendy designs of fighting machines, the story of the Gundam series is groundbreaking and astonishingly modern. The plot is complex and the characters are so multi-layered that their beliefs and behaviour often straddle the thin line between good and evil. Luk said Gundam was about conflict.
'In Gundam Seed, the TV series in 2002, the producers developed a very trendy human drama in the story: one cannot be an enemy or lover of someone forever as things can change. This is the most popular Gundam series since Gundam Wing in 1995,' Luk said.