In a sure sign that the future is indeed now, the second round of applications has opened for the Gundam Global Challenge, a project dedicated to creating a life-size walking RX-78-2 Gundam replica by 2019.

Yes, you read that correctly: a 59-foot walking Gundam, within four years. That's not just some random date, either; it's the 40th anniversary of the Mobile Suit Gundam television series.

Launched last year, the Gundam Global Challenge includes among its board members engineers, educators, robotics experts and Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino.

To offer an idea of the sheer scale, if not necessarily the mechanics, of their task, Operation Rainfall notes that the massive RX-78-2 statue at Gundam Front Tokyo in Odaiba is a full-scale replica, but only its head moves. Which, considering that it could squash the countless tourists who swarm around it, is probably a good thing.