History Headscratchers / GUNDAM

* The IdiotPlot that starts off ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Stardust Memory]]''. Who THE HELL equips a live nuclear warhead to a prototype that hasn't been evaluated yet and for that matter is done practically ''out in the open''?

** That's because Zeon has a weird approach to weapon designing : basically, they create a crapton of prototypes, send them on the battlefield and mass produce the ones getting actual results. In fact, that's how they noticed the awesomeness of mobile suits in the first place! What's more, they also have a tendency to create overly specialized mechs, which effectively means they need a lot of different models running around (the Gundam's JackOfAllTrades skillset was revolutionary for the time period).

** It is, it's called a "[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam correction]]".[[/folder]]

* The only reason why most of the time the Federation didn't retaliate by dropping bomb or toxic gas is not that they didn't want to but because they can't and they want to appear to have the moral high ground. Remember, GP02A was approved the use of nuclear warhead by the Federation and in Unicorn, they approved of the Vist using Colony Laser to destroy Side 7. So they totally intend to use extreme method, it's just that most of the time, they don't have enough resource to do so.

** The only reason why most of the time the Federation didn't retaliate by dropping bomb or toxic gas is not that they didn't want to but because they can't and they want to appear to have the moral high ground. Remember, GP02A was approved the use of nuclear warhead by the Federation and in Unicorn, they approved of the Vist using Colony Laser to destroy Side 7. So they totally intend to use extreme method, it's just that most of the time, they don't have enough resource to do so.

[[/folder]]

** It's very likely there's a good reason (like it has to be on the outside with the majority of it inside) but it's an artistic choice for the series in-universe as well as out mostly. As the novelization of the original Gundam series says, there's no reason to put legs on space mobile suits but they do anyway.[[/folder]]

** Keep in mind too that mobile suits were a new technology at the start of the war which means there was lots of room to grow. The Zaku II could be a big step up from the Zaku I just be incorporating what pilots told them was important and discarding what they learned wasn't. The Gouf could be better still by focusing on performance over ease of piloting. More tellingly, the Zaku I is not so totally outclassed that a skilled Zaku I pilot couldn't put up a fight against a novice Gundam pilot. In fact, the Gundam's performance, while impressive, was not quantum leaps above the Zaku II. It was better of course, in almost every way. But it's main advantage was the incorporation of compact beam weaponry. Later series introduce far more modbile suit variants, but they appear over a longer time span. They're concurrent projects. And many of them are explicitly built on a previous chassis.

** This is also one of the main reasons the Federation won the war: Zeon's production facilities were wasting time and resources trying to come up with the next super-awesome mobile suit that they forgot about mass production. The Federation, on the other hand, mass produces the highly versatile Gundam design in the form of the GM, which leads to a much better utilization of resources. It's basically AwesomeButImpractical vs BoringButPractical in action.[[/folder]]

*** It's pretty clear too that the Federation was entertaining the idea that they didn't need to abide by the Anti-Arctic treaty with Zeon essentially defunct. Unit-2 was, after all, explicitly built as a nuclear delivery platform.

A few might disagree, but they can easily be silenced or scapegoated. Plus, promises of power. Military leaders get promised a plush job in the new counterrevolutionary group and all the power that entails, while manufacturers get the promise of lucrative new contracts. [[/folder]]

** It's a {{Handwave}} for why they use Mobile Suits to begin with. Just go with it.[[/folder]]

* Why is it always G, Wing and Seed that get the {{Hatedom}} and NEVER UC?
** HypeBacklash at American fans who only know about Gundam from Toonami, not that there isn't an equal HypeBacklash [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Backlash]] at UC fanboys who refuse to accept anything that newer fans [[AssociationFallacy also happen to like]].
** Nostalgia. Although ZZ does get some.
*** 0083 and CCA do have their detractors.
*** Says you. In this troper's opinion, Zeta was a travesty that I can only forgive because of Double Zeta, the rest of UC still rocks.
*** Yeah, nostalgia goggles definitely as many of the problems they list with those anime exist in UC and then some.[[/folder]]

*** So one leader with an agenda can apparently convince an entire military to put nuclear warheads on a prototype? And none of the main characters think to question this rather poor decision?[[/folder]]