Check Out ‘Pacific Rim’s Special ‘Gundam’ Easter Egg

If you haven’t been paying attention, theaters rolled out the latest Pacific Rim movie last weekend. The big-budget sequel saw John Boyega discover whether he was drift compatible as the star suited up to pilot a Jaeger. The film has received mixed notes so far, but mecha lovers say they are pretty pleased with the project.

It also helped that Mobile Suit Gundam had a small role in the movie. So, if you just happened to miss the easter egg, then don’t worry. You can check it out if’d you like.

As expected, fans managed to sneak images of the easter egg online to sites like Reddit. Pacific Rim Uprising hones in on the anime nod when its climatic battle gets underway. When Boyega’s character is forced to ditch his Jaeger with his pilot, they land outside of a museum with an anime connection. The pilots crawl outside and see a massive Gundam suit before them, and the white mecha is hard to overlook.

You know, considering it is Gundam Unicorn and all.

The easter egg doesn’t confirm whether Gundam suits can actually be used in the Pacific Rim universe, but the franchise definitely exists. Even if the suit was just a statue, the kaiju-centric series knows what Gundam is, and the Jaeger program might have been inspired by the classic anime.

Of course, fans of Gundam will probably recognize the statue used for Pacific Rim Uprising. The piece looks very similar to the statue erected outside of Gundam Base, a massive story in Japan dedicated to all things mecha. Gundam Unicorn was built outside of the base last fall long after the sequel wrapped production. The easter egg might have been added in digitally, or Pacific Rim Uprising’s team might have based its nod off the statue’s design.

Not familiar with Gundam? You may want to give its latest anime a spin. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, the series is set more than 300 years after the Calamity War first seen in the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime. With the Earth Sphere falling into anarchy, the world has given way to bandits and rebels. Iron-Blooded Orphans focuses on a young boy named Mikazuki Augus as he works for a security company, and his is used as cannon fodder during an ambush. Augus, along with his friend Orga Itsuka, take the chance to revolt against their demeaning employers – and the determined boy changes his fate when he begins piloting an abandoned mobile suit known as Gundam Barbatos.

Do you think Hollywood will ever green-light a live-action Gundam feature? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!