Giant robot Gromit sculpture shipped to Bristol

The giant Gromit towers over visitors to The Mall - and artist Gavin Strange

A huge Gromit sculpture, inspired by the giant robots of Japanese anime, has been shipped to Bristol from Hong Kong.

"GRMT02" was the 13ft (4m) star of an exhibition in Hong Kong in 2014, designed in Bristol by Aardman artist Gavin Strange but built at the show.

Mr Strange finally got to see GRMT02 on Sunday, after the 63-stone (400kg) sculpture arrived at Cribbs Causeway for a fund-raising exhibition.

"It's lovely to have him here in Bristol," said the artist.

"Actually standing next to him and having to go on tip toes to touch the underside of his face was incredible."

The steel and fibreglass sculpture was inspired by Mr Strange's love of the giant "mecha" robots of Japanese anime - which helped to inspire him to get into animation.

"I just like to imagine that it was a regular sized Gromit who would be piloting the giant four-metre robotic," he said.

Smaller Gromits from the show arrived days ago but Storm Imogen delayed GRMT02's arrival.

There are 15 other, 5ft Gromits from the Hong Kong show inside The Mall

It is the biggest of all the Gromit and Shaun the Sheep sculptures which formed art trails in Bristol - where creators Aardman Animations are based - and London.

In the 2014 Gromit Unleashed exhibition in Hong Kong, it towered over 70 smaller sculptures.

A smaller, 5ft version, joins 15 other smaller Gromits which went on display inside The Mall last week, designed by artists and designers. The show is raising money for Bristol Children's Hospital.

Last year, 120 Shaun sculptures which were on display in London and Bristol raised more than £1m at auction for children's charities supported by the Grand Appeal.

The colourful sculptures have not been seen in the UK before