Considering the first Pacific Rim movie ended with all of its awesome giant robots, the Jaegers, blown up or ripped to shreds (or ripped to shreds and then blown up), the sequel’s going to be needing some new ones to take their place. We finally have some solid details on the main robot of the film, and it sounds awesome.
Image: Gipsy Danger in the first Pacific Rim movie, courtesy of Legendary Pictures.
Weirdly enough, the details come out of a reveal for merchandise from the first movie: Over the weekend, Bandai’s Tamashii Nations New York event revealed a shiny new version of Gipsy Danger would be coming to its “Soul of Chogokin” toyline — the same fancy mecha line that recently gave us a rather gorgeous Power Rangers megazord.
Soul of Chogokin Gypsy Danger. High-end Pacific Rim figures. At last. #tamashii_nyc #PacificRimUprising pic.twitter.com/MknmphdwAl
— Bubblegum Crasis (@crasis) April 29, 2017
But the toy’s not actually what we’re interested in. Bandai’s reveal of the figure was actually surrounded by art depicting Gipsy Danger’s replacement in Uprising: Say hello to the Gipsy Avenger.
Gypsy Avenger – Mark VI #Jaeger. #PacificRim #PacificRimUprising pic.twitter.com/2Pv3fzMHPa
— GMAN (@GMANonScified) April 29, 2017
The look of the robot matches up to some early promo art leaked back in February, but this is the best look yet at what is presumably the film’s primary new mecha. I stand by my previous description of it looking like a cross between Gipsy Danger and Overwatch‘s Reinhardt, by which I mean to say it looks awesome. The name’s pretty cool too, considering it’s the next generation of Jaegers designed to finish the fight their predecessors started. And it makes even more sense if it ends up being piloted by John Boyega’s character, who we know is playing the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first film, the spectacularly named Stacker Pentecost.
Looks like Pacific Rim is getting the #tamashii_nyc treatment with a Gipsy Avenger figure. pic.twitter.com/ZZElG3PjGg
— Luke Brown (@MLukeBrown) April 29, 2017
A closer look at the image also reveals some of the features of the Gipsy Avenger, revealing it’s pretty much a bigger, better version of its predecessor. Its abilities are much the same — it has the “2.0” versions of Danger’s chain sword and its “elbow rocket”, all the better for punching the bejesus out of a giant monster. But it also has an “airborne launch system”, which makes me desperately hope that Pacific Rim: Uprising is going to have flying giant robots at some point. Robots are just cooler when they can fly, that’s scientific fact.
Pacific Rim: Uprising is current expected to hit theatres 22 February 2018.