Rare it may be, this is one accessory that even die-hard fans are willing to skip.
The birth of the Gundam franchise heralded an age of robot and mecha anime, gaining a large following not only in Japan, but also around the world. It was not long before Gundam plastic models came into existence, allowing fans to re-enact epic battles of towering metal giants clashing against each other.
Such toy models are often faithful replicas of the robots, and are known to be so detailed that they will satisfy even the staunchest of fans. However, Japanese Twitter user @yamadamaru noted in a post that one particular Gundam accessory in the anime has never made the transition into plastic.
▼ He did not want it to either.
“A Gundam microphone was featured in episode 18 of Mobile Suit Gundam. Although Bandai has released countless models and toys of Gundam, they have not made plastic models for some extremely rare equipment. I love Gundam from the bottom of my heart, but I would have to pass on this accessory.”
The equipment in question is a microphone affixed to the Gundam’s head, which was used in one scene by protagonist Amuro Ray to spy on assault carrier White Base. Due to its ungainly appearance resembling a crude green pipe bent at a funny angle, this scene was reportedly cut from the movie version, and few know of the existence of this mysterious accessory.
The Japanese netizens who remembered it chimed in with responses:
“Now I remember this scene. I had totally forgotten about it. I’ll have to check it out.”
“I thought it was a crank that would restart the Gundam it it ran out of battery.”
“It looked like they just drew it in in a hurry.”
“This is a legendary accessory!”
“I saw it, but I did not realize what it was back then.”
Perhaps there are indeed some completionist fans out there who wish to have the ultra-rare spy microphone included in plastic models, but one thing is for sure: it really is hard to take a towering white majestic robot seriously with a clunky green appendage sticking out of its head.
Source: Twitter/@yamadamaru, Chu2Izumu via My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/@yamadamaru