The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has no shortage of die-hard fans who can identify its mobile suits, weapons, and assorted props at a glance. Even a tiny piece of armor is often enough for seasoned Gundam devotees to pinpoint exactly where it came from.
But a recent post on Japanese X left the fandom facing a rare unsolved mystery. After winning the Heritage Box, Prize B from “Ichiban Kuji Mobile Suit Gundam UNIVERSAL CENTURY SAGA 2,” one user found themselves baffled by a mysterious rock included in the set. They called on fellow Gundam fans to track down its on-screen origin, only for the investigation to become a puzzle that even the internet's collective brainpower could not crack.
It all began when X user @suit_mosuki shared photos of their Prize B win. They said they had never pulled a Prize B from an Ichiban Kuji before, making the win a particularly welcome surprise.
What truly left them scratching their head, however, was one oddly shaped object inside. At first glance, they could not tell whether it was supposed to be a stone, boulder, asteroid, or meteorite. It did not look like an ordinary rock, either, but rather something drifting through space. Two large circular depressions and a smaller rock attached to one side gave it a strikingly distinctive shape.
Since the other items in the Ichiban Kuji lineup appeared to feature deep-cut references from across the franchise, the user assumed the rock must also have some specific origin and turned to the internet for help.
Official promotional images show that the Prize B Heritage Box contains eight items modeled after props and objects from the series, including Kou Uraki's ID card and a pilot insignia.
Once the post began circulating, Gundam fans naturally piled in with theories. Suggestions included Fifth Luna, a fragment of Axis, something from the space fortress A Baoa Qu, and one of the rocks seen near the Braw Bro in Episode 33 of Mobile Suit Gundam.
After carefully checking the relevant scenes, the original poster noted that none of those rocks appeared to have the same distinctive depressions, making each theory seem unlikely.
Other users offered less serious answers, joking that it might be a kidney stone Kou Uraki passed while piloting Gundam Prototype Unit 3. Someone else immediately thought of Kars from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. As the guesses grew increasingly outlandish, the search for a canon reference gradually turned into one massive Gundam fandom guessing game.
As the discussion continued, the original poster compiled the leading theories so far:
An ordinary piece of space debris
The moon-rock charm Kou received from Nina Purpleton
Fifth Luna, the resource asteroid used in the opening phase of the asteroid-drop operation to freeze Earth in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
A fragment of Axis
A decoy asteroid
The rock Katz crashed into
A kidney stone
A piece of Zaku armor Ramba Ral moved with his bare hands
Debris created by the Zeknova in Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX
Some object from the space fortress A Baoa Qu
Yet none of the theories came with convincing evidence. Eventually, the original poster began to wonder whether the rock had any specific source material at all.
Based on how it appears in the official promotional video, they argued that the object may genuinely have been presented as nothing more than a rock floating through space. In other words, the prize might simply be trying to evoke the vastness of the Gundam universe by tossing an ordinary space rock into the box.
The original poster ultimately settled on the explanation that it was “a space rock included to make the set feel like the Gundam universe.” They joked that obsessing over it any longer would keep them awake at night, so accepting that answer was probably the healthier option.
The impromptu “Gundam Ichiban Kuji Mystery Rock Identification Summit” soon drew plenty of reactions. Fans joked that veteran Gundam enthusiasts can normally identify the origin of even the tiniest Gunpla part, yet this one object had somehow defeated everyone.
Others found it almost unsettling that such a large group of dedicated Gundam fans could examine the rock this closely and still have absolutely no idea what it was.
One user remarked that this was the first time they had ever seen “the collective intelligence of X lose” to a Gundam question.
Making the situation even funnier, this completely unidentifiable object is not some minor lower-tier extra—it is part of Prize B. Some users said they could accept it being ordinary space debris if it had come with Prize E or another smaller reward, but its inclusion in Prize B makes it difficult not to assume there is some deeper meaning behind it.
The mystery rock still has no definitive identity. It could be an impossibly obscure prop that appeared for only a few seconds somewhere in the franchise—or the creators may genuinely have turned “an ordinary rock in space” into part of Prize B. Either way, it has become the Ichiban Kuji lineup's most unexpected talking point.
For longtime Gundam fans, the fact that “nobody knows what this rock is” may ultimately be the most memorable thing about the entire prize. At this point, only the official team may have the answer...
via： X@低音眼鏡好きの人