'Pacific Rim Uprising' Has One Giant Robot-Sized Easter Egg

The first Pacific Rim revealed that Kaiju give birth to live young, but there’s at least one egg in the sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising. The newly released movie contains a big Easter egg (literally) that pays homage to one of the most iconic giant robot franchises that no doubt inspired Pacific Rim’s Jaegers.

This post contains mild Pacific Rim Uprising spoilers.

During the final battle in Tokyo, as three Kaiju make their way towards Mount Fuji, the four remaining Jaegers leap into action. However, they begin to fall one by one against the combined might of the three Kaiju. Bracer Phoenix, the Jaeger with the giant mace hand that’s co-piloted by one of the main characters, Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), is heavily damaged, forcing Amara to eject to safety.

Her escape pod lands at the feet of another giant robot, but it’s not a Jaeger. Amara’s in front of a giant white statue of a Gundam, from the long-running and classic anime franchise.

In real life, there is a giant Gundam statue in Japan. A classic, life-sized Gundam stood in Tokyo until 2017, but it was taken down and replaced with a newer mech, the Unicorn Gundam. It doesn’t appear as though the Gundam in Uprising is either of those promotional statues — this one appears to be part of a Kaiju museum.

Still, the Easter egg does seem to confirm that the Gundam franchise exists in the Pacific Rim universe, meaning that there was definitely a moment after the first Kaiju attacked when some anime fan was like “oh shit, I know exactly what we need to do.”

Pacific Rim Uprising is now in theaters.