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AKB48 CD Single Cover Recreated with Gundam Models

For last year's 14th All-Japan Ora-Zaku Contest, a team from the Real Robot Modelers collective recreated the all-female idol group AKB48's "Iiwake Maybe" CD single cover — with Gundams. The team customized each Gundam to match each AKB48 member, from hair style down to shoes.

Atsuko Maeda

Tomomi Itano

Minami Takahashi

Mayu Watanabe

Tomomi Kasai

Amina Satō

Seven of the nine model team members hail from Fukushima, one of the prefectures hardest hit by the March 11 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster. While all of the members and their families survived, the damage to their homes, the ripple effects on their jobs, and the everpresent threat of radioactivity from the nuclear power plant accident have altered their lives.

Nevertheless, the team members took heart and encouragement from all the people around the world who donated and volunteered, including AKB48. The team decided to take 12 1/144 Nobel Gundam models to recreate the "Iiwake Maybe" CD. To give each figure an individual look, the team modified the models' exteriors and built the ties, ribbons, shoe laces, and other accessories from scratch.

[Via Hachima Kikō]