Chiba Days #27 - Unicorn Gundam at Night

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for another chapter of Chiba Days and out final installment of the Unicorn Gundam in Odaiba series. In case you missed it, make sure to check out our coverage of Unicorn Gundam during the daytime and the newly renovated Gundam Base, both located in Diver City, Odaiba. 

As the sun begins to set on Tokyo and light gradually begins to fade, Unicorn Gundam transforms one last time to reveal its Destroy form in the glory of nightfall. According to the seasons, the times would vary according to the sunset.

Long before the transformation sequence even begins, crowds of visitors would already begin to gather around Unicorn. As such, do make sure to go a little earlier in the event that you would like to reserve a good spot for viewing the transformation. 

Do not be late either as the trademark punctuality of the Japanese are present here to with the transformation process beginning exactly at as the new hour starts. 

The entire transformation process itself is not too long either, taking roughly 2-3 minutes to completion accompanied by additional lights and sounds. Following this, Unicorn will remain in Destroy form for the remainder of the night with special shows every hour until 10 pm.

The bright red illumination of Unicorn's pysho-frame was already very apparent during the daytime. Nightfall though brings an entirely new feel to the towering mobile suit with its radiating red aura. Like the blackness of space that usually surrounds it, Unicorn in Destroy mode feels right at home accompanied by the pitch black night sky.

Unicorn's red psycho-frame is not the only aspect illuminated though as the thrusters on the back have a bright blue illumination and the entire Gundam itself is bathed in gentle white light from the spotlights below.

Most visitors tend to focus on the front of Unicorn when it comes to taking photos but, be careful not to miss out on the back too as there are many lovely details present there too. Especially Unicorn's backpack which glows blue through the thruster funnels creating a great halo effect surrounding the rim of the thrusters. 

The spotlights on the ground ensure that Unicorn is well illuminated and helps to reduce the contrast between the bright red psycho-frame and Unicorn's mostly white armor. As such, Unicorns pyscho-frame would not appear blindingly bright or his armor too dark when photos are taken. Leave it to the folks at Bandai to have considered all of these when first planning the new Unicorn statue.

Almost like a blessing in disguise, the white armor of Unicorn also helps reflect the light from the base creating a very even coat of illumination all throughout it's 20 meter structure. When viewed at night, Unicorn Gundam really stands out even when viewed from a far. Certainly a presence that the original RX-78 lacked by the time nightfall had arrived. 

For any Gundam fan, visitng Diver City in Odaiba is considered one of the most important pilgrimages ever since the 1/1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam statue was erected there together with the formation of the Gundam Base. Now, with the new Unicorn statue and revitalized Gundam Base, that status quo has once again been reaffirmed giving Gundam fans all around the world more reasons to once again return to Tokyo.

With that, we have to come to and end of this three part Unicorn series. I hope you have enjoyed it and if you have any question, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!