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Woman fears dick pic when man suddenly sends picture of “his Gundam,” love story ensues instead

Casey Baseel Nov 29, 2017
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Expecting an image of an unwanted member, she instead found the partner she desired.

Long ago, I had plans to meet up with a girl in Tokyo’s Odaiba neighborhood, which has plenty of fancy restaurants with nice views of the bay and skyline. But when we met at the station, before heading to the restaurant, she suddenly asked, “Would it be OK if we went to see the giant Gundam statue first?”

I ended up marrying that girl, and so I’ve always felt that Gundam should be admired not just for its awesome beam saber and head-mounted vulcan machine guns, but for its ability to bring couples together. As further proof of the anime mecha’s matchmaking skills, consider the case of Elle Howley and John Grasso.

Howley and Grasso attended the same high school, and after graduation ran into each other on dating app Tinder. After they’d exchanged a few messages, Howley deleted her account, having decided that the app wasn’t for her, but Grasso wanted to keep their conversations going, and approached Howley through her Instagram account. He also announced that he was going to send her “a pick [sic] of my gundam.”

Now it should be noted that there’s not any precedent of “Gundam” being a euphemism for “penis,” either in Japanese or among English-speaking anime fan communities. But honestly, anytime a guy suddenly, without prompting, says “I’m gonna send you a pic of my …”, you should brace yourself for a dick pic, regardless of how he ended the sentence, and so Howley expected just that.

random instagram dude: im gonna dm u a pick of my gundam
me: pic.twitter.com/nGKou3GtWF

— elle (@nevermindsonia) March 24, 2016

Shockingly, though, it turned out to really be a picture of a Gundam, specifically a plastic model that Grasso had put together and painted in his free time. And since Howley is a Gundam fan herself, with a soft spot for TV series Gundam Wing in particular, she was impressed with Grasso’s passion and craftsmanship.

our love story in four pictures pic.twitter.com/5qtH00JYUL

— elle (@nevermindsonia) November 22, 2017

The two continued chatting online, met up in-person in April of 2016, and began dating, with Howley regularly referring to her boyfriend as “Gundam Guy.” This month, they took a trip to Boston, where on November 22 Grasso once again showed Howley something unexpected…

TONIGHT HAS BEEN UNREAL 😭💖💍 pic.twitter.com/pblMvt6jqB

— elle (@nevermindsonia) November 22, 2017

…an engagement ring!

So yes, from Grasso’s questionably worded, though innocent, offer to share a glimpse at his love of anime robots, a real-life love story has blossomed, one that will hopefully have the same longevity as the long-running animated franchise that served as its catalyst.