History Anime / MobileSuitGundam

''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' was a direct sequel and continuation of a new conflict after the One Year War, with ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' and eventually ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' concluding the overall stories of characters introduced in this series. There are several {{OVA}}s and one [[WebAnimation ONA]] set in the same time period during the One Year War: ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam The 08th MS Team]]'', ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]'', ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamMSIGLOO MS IGLOO]]'', and ''[[Manga/MobileSuitGundamThunderbolt Gundam Thunderbolt]]''. More details can be found on the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise page.

The original RealRobot series, ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' literally [[TropeMaker created a genre]], and eventually spawned an entire franchise. There an accompanying {{novelization}} and the first post-series production was three {{compilation movie}}s. ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'' is a manga reimagining. ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCucuruzDoansIsland'' is a movie remake of episode 15 of the series, but set in the ''Origin'' continiuty.

The original RealRobot series, ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' literally [[TropeMaker created a genre]], and eventually spawned an entire franchise. There an accompanying {{novelization}} and the first post-series production was three {{compilation movie}}s. ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'' is a manga reimagining. ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCucuruzDoansIsland'' is a movie remake of episode 15 of the series, but set in the''Origin'' continiuty.

The original RealRobot series, ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' literally [[TropeMaker created a genre]], and eventually spawned an entire franchise. There an accompanying {{novelization}} and the first post-series production was three {{compilation movie}}s. ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'' is a manga reimagining.

* IHaveNoSon: Though Amuro's mother makes a show of seeing him off when he returns to the White Base at the end of the North America arc, it's clear she can't bring herself to love him anymore after watching him kill a Zeon soldier and the two of them have no further contact for the remainder of their lives.

** Amuro is not only introduced when he's not dressed, stays in his undershirt when he rebels, and tends to not be fully dressed whenever he works on something mechanical, he spends the vast majority of the episode "The Island of Cucuruz Doan" wandering around in his initial undershirt and underpants, as well as swimming with only the latter on.

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: The infamous Bright Slap, delivered by Noah Bright to Amuro, was the original TropeNamer. We also have Sleggar and Ryu mastering this technique. Somewhat humorously, for how famous the original incident's become it actually ''didn't'' work as intended, with Amuro going AWOL within minutes.

* HeroicSacrifice: From both throwaway and major characters. [[spoiler: Poor Matilda, poor Ryu, poor Michelle, poor Woody, poor Lalah...]]

** Near the beginning of the series Char got a shower scene. In [[Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin YAS' The Origin]], that scene was a lot longer and left a lot less to the imagination.

* SmokingIsCool: In the original series, during Gihren's speech Char is seen in a bar, drinking. In the equivalent scene in The Origin, Char is shown drinking AND smoking. Keep in mind that he's an ace pilot who probably couldn't afford to risk his lung health.

*** Ghiren firing a superweapon too early just to kill his own father, also wiping out ''thousands'' of Zeon's troops. Then a pissed off Kycillia executes Ghiren for patricide, leading to the powerful Delaz Fleet (that Gato is a part of) to bail. And to think, they had spent 9 months at that point in a stalemate and were really close to winning...

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Lots of 'em, including the Principality/Duchy/Archduchy/Grand Duchy of Zeon/Zion/Jion. Also Kycilia/Kashiria, Gihren/Ghiren/Giren, and Mineva/Minerva Zabi. Amuro's last name also frequently shows up as "Rei" instead of the official "Ray".
** Fun fact : Char Aznable is what happens when [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous your translation of]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Aznavour Charles Aznavour]] goes horribly wrong.

** The use of jetpacks under gravity is something that only really appeared in this show and pretty much never appeared again. All other works set in the same or other timeline's omits them outside of zero gravity settings.

* CreatorProvincialism: The design standard of the Earth Federation Force's uniforms is based on the Imperial Japanese Army.

* DubPronunciationChange: The 80's English dub pronounced the title Gundam with an emphatic "Gun-Damn", while most works pronounce it with a more relaxed "Gundumb".

[[caption-width-right:350:''I pray, pray to bring on the new day'']]

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'': A slight exception is the popular spinoff ''[[Manga/MobileSuitGundamSeedAstray Gundam SEED Astray]]'', which was intended from the beginning to tie into the anime, occasionally patching up plot holes, and just barely misses being included in the anime itself.

*** Most famously the effects of the devastating One Year War reverberate throughout the decades of the Universal Century. Part of this is due to the sheer loss of life (5.8 billion people lost their lives, over half the entire population of the entire Earth Sphere), part of this is due to the horrific destruction unleashed (many of the destroyed colonies and Sides are simply left as haunted ruins, with little interest and attempts at rebuilding and recolonising them), and partly due to the LensmanArmsRace begun by the creation of the titular Gundam as well as the development of Psyco (Psychic Communication) technology. There are still stubborn Zeon remnants from the One Year War active as late as [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn 0094]], almost 20 years after the war ended. Worse, many of these remnants have raised families and their children have inherited their hatred of the Earth Federation, despite not even being born when the War took place.
*** The ideas (and assassination) of Zeon Zum Deikun likewise haunt the Universal Century for decades. Zeon developed the ideas of Ere-ism (i.e. Earth is sacred as the origin of mankind, and mankind ought to leave it to recover and take to the stars) and Side-ism (i.e. the space colonies have the right to be independent of the Earth Federation rather than be second class citizens), and also put forth the theory of Newtypes (i.e. by expanding into space, humanity would evolve into a "new type" of mankind). His ideas continue to be utilised by various factions as justification for all sorts of atrocities, such as [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam the Titans accusing anyone sympathetic to his ideas as rebels to be killed on sight]], to numerous Spacenoid organisations invoking his name, to his own son [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Casval Rem Deikun]] (aka [[RedBaron Red Comet]] Char Aznable) attempting to drop the asteroid Axis on Earth to cause a nuclear winter and force humanity to leave Earth for good. Even as late as [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam UC0149]], almost 70 years after Zeon's death, the Zanscare Empire adopt part of his ideals during their own brutal grab for power.
*** The Zabi Family, who ruled Side 3 and the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War era, likewise cast a long shadow. Several antagonist factions continued to fight on in their name [[note]] In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'', both Admiral Delaz and Anavel Gato continue to believe in Gihren Zabi's ideals, while Glemy Toto of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' claimed to be his successor or cloned son [[/note]]. SoleSurvivor Mineva Lao Zabi, daughter of Dozle Zabi, is painfully aware of the power of her family name, as she was propped up as the figurehead of Axis Zeon during both the [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Gryps]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ First Neo Zeon]] Wars. When she becomes involved in the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Laplace Box incident]], simply the fact she was being held aboard a Federation ship was enough to cause the Zeon loyalists to retreat rather than risk her being harmed. She eventually resolves to use her family name to actually do some good but also laments that she would've much rather been allowed to be a normal girl.

* RedShirtArmy: In most games, both the Zaku II, Gouf, GM and Ball qualify for this. In Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2, this is increased to ''every'' One Year War-era suit except for the Gundam, Char's Zaku and Gelgoog, and the Zeong.

* ReportingNames: The White Base is codenamed "the Trojan Horse" by the Zeon forces.

* WhipItGood: The 'heat rod' of Zeon's Gouf mobile suit, which Ramba Ral in particular uses to devastating effect.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e8zUqP8yu4 "We're jumping onto White Base - AAAAAAAHHH!"]]

''Mobile Suit Gundam'' (''Kidou Senshi Gundam'', lit. "Mobile Soldier Gundam") is the original Franchise/{{Gundam}} show, created by Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. It started in 1979 as a planned 52-episode series, but it was cut down to 43 due to the show pulling in horrible ratings.[[note]]Actually cut down to 39, but the producers managed to bargain for a one-month extension to actually finish the story.[[/note]] However, the [[MerchandiseDriven merchandise]] for the show sold rather well, allowing the series to go straight into syndication, where it found its audience. A largely reanimated CompilationMovie trilogy successfully convinced the people with the money to further develop the series, and ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' eventually spawned a massive franchise.

** M'Quve is just ArmchairMilitary in this version and his mechs, the Adzam and Gyan, were AdaptedOut. His command accomplishments are roughly the same, but him shooting down the White Base was also removed.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Zeon's approach to Mobile Suit design. Zeon made a lot of cool looking suits, easily more than the Federation, but while the Federation suits were well rounded, Zeon design often had a ton of issues. Zeon's Mobile Suit production was heavily privatized with different companies pumping out different designs each eating up resources in a desperate attempt to build more impressive weapons. The Gouf and Gyan were good as one off designs, but never saw major production because they were too specialized for dueling. The Dom succeeded in every way to the Zaku II, but the innovation paled in comparison to the leaps that the Federation made developing the GM's. Super weapon after super weapon was developed, mobile armors cycled in and out, and the entire production line of aquatic mobile suits was rendered useless when Zeon lost their foothold on earth. The fighting to get the next model out delayed the production of the much more practical Gelgoog (a Zeon MS that finally came standard with beam weaponry, armor, and mobility to rival the Gundam) up until the end of the war and by that point it was too late.

* {{BFG}}: The signature beam rifles of the Federation forces are effectively a portable version of what are usually ''cannons'' aboard ships. This is highlighted in the second episode when Amuro lands a shot on a Zaku's cockpit and blows the whole thing from residual core damage, [[OhCrap making Char bug out of there after seeing its power.]]

** This ran rampant throughout the series[[note]]animation teams included a few in-house teams at Sunrise, Studio Z (who would go [[UncreditedRole uncredited]] after episode 4, with animator Shigenobu Nagasaki being a particular offender of the "Wide Gundam" error), {{Creator/Artland}}, Creator/NakamuraProductions, and Anime Friend, who would become infamous for their work on ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' a few years later[[/note]], resulting in some absolutely wonky drawings that affected fight scenes and the overall appearance of a given episode. In some cases, this was for the worse, as this helped to result in one episode -- Cucuruz Doan's Island -- to be taken out of circulation and be treated like a black mark on the franchise[[note]]The aforementioned Anime Friend, the episode's animators, were also dropped from rotation after this[[/note]].

* NamesToRunAwayFromVeryFast: The Elmeth, while originally a mistranslation of "Hermes", [[LuckyTranslation rather fortuitously]] also resembles "El-Maeth", which is (grammatically dodgy) Hebrew for "God of Death".

* DependingOnTheArtist: Nobody can seem to decide if the Gouf's left hand has functional fingers with small guns mounted at the ends or if it's simply a (more technically realistic but silly) five barreled machine gun stylized to look like a hand. Its debut episode further muddies things by having the right hand also alternate between both.

* OffModel: Ran rampant throughout the series[[note]]animation teams included a few in-house teams at Sunrise, Studio Z (who would go [[UncreditedRole uncredited]] after episode 4, with animator Shigenobu Nagasaki being a particular offender of the "Wide Gundam" error), {{Creator/Artland}}, Creator/NakamuraProductions, and Anime Friend, who would become infamous for their work on ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' a few years later[[/note]], resulting in some absolutely wonky drawings that affected fight scenes; and helped to result in one episode, Cucuruz Doan's Island, to be taken out of circulation[[note]]The aforementioned Anime Friend, the episode's animators, were also dropped from rotation after this[[/note]].

** Personnel rifles behaved like beam rifles, something that would never appear again in the series as the metaphysics got more established. All future installments would use standard kinetic weaponry for human combatants instead.

** The show is largely a WarIsHell drama, but it has some broader comedy and slapstick that is really out of place and more in line with other 70's era animated comedies. This mostly centers around a trio of orphans running around the White Base, sometimes cheering on Amuro and the Gundam like it is a sports game. While other Gundam shows may be a bit lighter and funny, it is usually more naturally integrated into the tone of the show.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After spending a year fighting a war into which he was conscripted against his will, and running the gauntlet against Dozle and Char in a series of increasingly physically and mentally draining battles that climax with him getting stabbed in the shoulder and coming close to giving up on life altogether, the story ends with Amuro [[spoiler: floating in space towards the surviving White Base crew, who joyfully welcome him home with open arms.]]
* EliteMooks: The Zeon's foot soldiers and Zaku II suits are the regular mooks, and several elite groups and newer mechs show up to give the heroes a harder time.

** Ramba Ral's soldiers pose quite a challenge when compared to Char or Garma's men. Though they're largely with the same resources (only 4 Zaku's were under Ral's command for his entire tenure as a villain) they prove to be very powerful and skilled adversaries with Ral's final attack costing a lot of White Base's personnel [[spoiler:and Hamon's final attack leaving Ryu dead]].

** This is explicit with the Gelgoog: on paper, it matches or exceeds the Gundam and in the hands of an AcePilot could be a terror...but unfortunately for Zeon, those don't grow on trees and they've lost a ''lot'' of those. Thus they have to make due with inexperienced pilots, resulting in the Gelgoogs having a far worse performance than expected. Some sources even point out the Gelgoogs were actually ''too good'' in the sense their inexperienced pilots couldn't actually keep up with them.

* RedplicaBaron: Char is based partially on the RedBaron, nicknamed the Red Comet. Both are aces famous for their striking red vehicles. For extension, a character who's a CharClone is an expy of an expy of the Red Baron.

* HateSink: [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Gihren Zabi]], [[BigBad the de-facto dictator]] of Zeon, is the first main villain of the franchise and one of the most despicable. [[SmugSnake A cold man that underestimates his enemies]], Gihren is the main responsible for the One Year War, leading to the death of the half of humanity. Turning his brother's funeral into a militarist speech, Gihren kills his own father alongside the General Revil to avoid an armistice. Confronted by his sister, Gihren is apathetic at her rage at the death of their father. A megalomaniac that uses a hypocrital rhetoric about liberating the Colonies while murdering their population, Gihren had plans to reduce the population of Earth to less than one billion [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans to ensure his complete control over the Earth]] Sphere. The biggest mass murderer of the Universal Century, Gihren's tyrannical legacy haunted the Earth Sphere even beyond his death.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Nobody can seem to decide if the Gouf's left hand has functional fingers with small guns mounted at the ends or if it's simply a (more technically realistic but silly) five barreled machine gun stylized to look like a hand.

** The Char ShowerScene for female viewers.

* WhipItGood: The 'heat rod', WeaponOfChoice of Zeon's Gouf mobile suit, which Ramba Ral in particular uses to devastating effect.