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Japan has an interesting relationship with moss. From the “Moss Covered Forest” that inspired Princess Mononoke, to the marimo “moss balls” found in Hokkaido, to MOS Burger that has tragically deterred foreigners for decades by its name alone.

But it’s one man’s quest to use moss in a new way that has recently piqued the interest of the internet. In the hopes of creating realistic figurines that look like they’ve been abandoned for centuries, he wants to get them covered in moss the old fashioned way: by waiting for years.

Twitter user nanai_komusai posted the following tweet on January 17:

▼ “I’m trying to make moss-covered Gundam figures. In order for the moss to naturally spread to them, I made their surfaces rough and uneven by covering them in a stone-like spray and rust paint. Now all I have to do it wait. Since the moss is the real thing, it make take a few years to complete!”

For anyone wondering how on earth this would even work, it is actually possible. Moss reproduces through spores in the air, so it will spread as long as there is a hospitable surface nearby, such as the rusty/stony figurines that are porous and hold water well.

Still, even under ideal conditions with lots of wind and rain, spores can still take years to blossom into fully-formed moss. We hope our moss-loving Gundam fan has other plans besides just sitting around staring at his figurines, waiting for them to bloom.

▼ Oh! I think I see a bit of moss right- oh. No, it was just the light. Why did I quit my job to do this again?

But waiting around for spores isn’t the only way to get that mossy, abandoned look. He’s also tried sticking the moss right onto some figurines, to see what that looks like:

▼ “The tanks were the first to be tested on. I tried sticking on some moss just to see if it would work. Even though it’s not bad and completed the task pretty much instantly, I’d still like to see what it looks like with the natural approach.”

The “natural approach” of course being the one that potentially takes forever.

Still, we have to applaud nanai_komusai’s effort. He’s clearly done a lot of research, collecting different types of moss from his neighborhood, and he’s anxious to try a bunch of different methods to see what works best for creating his post-apocalyptic mossy models.

▼ Look at all this moss! Everywhere! I bet they didn’t even spray any of those rocks or trees with rust paint. #jealous

So what do you think of this one man’s attempt to create mossy masterpieces? Is he a fun-gi, or is it all just in spore taste? En-lichen us in the comments!

Source: Togech, Wikipedia
Featured/top image: Twitter