Hobby shops all across Japan will be offering free Gundam model building lessons to children in middle school or younger beginning on August 6 as part of a new promotional event. Participating children will learn how to build their own RX-78-2 Gundam and will be able to take their completed model home free of charge.

The RX-78-2 is the robot piloted by Amuro Ray in Yoshiyuki Tomino's original Mobile Suit Gundam anime, which first aired in 1979. An ambitious 1:1 scale statue of the RX-78-2 was completed in 2009 and currently stands in the DiverCity Tokyo Plaza in Odaiba, Tokyo.

The Gundam franchise includes anime, OAVs, films, manga, novels, video games, and an extensive toy line. It was credited with revolutionizing the giant robot, or mecha, genre of anime, and has enjoyed long-term success.

Gundam was even ranked #7 in the list of top-selling media franchises in Japan for 2015, despite a recent poll suggesting that 68% of Japanese teenagers have never seen the series.

A complete list of dates and locations for the Gundam model building lessons is available on the Bandai Hobby website.

Source: Gundam website