History YMMV / MobileSuitGundamUnicorn

** The Stark Jegan pilot puts up a surprisingly good fight with Marida Cruz's Kshatriya and [[AllThereInTheManual is apparently a veteran of the Second Neo Zeon War]], but he dies in the aforementioned fight with no flashbacks or posthumous mentions for us to learn anything about him, even his name.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: For all the CanonImmigrant mobile suit cameos in the OVA, many of them don't actually get to do much aside from be on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle after several seconds of screentime. Examples include the GM II Semi-Striker, Zeta Plus, and Gustav Karl.
** It's been said that the Stark Jegan pilot could have survived the battle between Marida Cruz's Kshatriya.
** Many fans thought that Bright Noa should've have pulled his trademark Bright Slap since his returning appearance.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: T
** he novel's portrayal of Zeon and the Federation have been construed as metaphors for Imperial Japan and the Allied Forces, respectively. A more justified instance, considering the author's outspoken rightwing views.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Some have felt that, for all the CanonImmigrant mobile suit cameos in the OVA, many of them don't actually get to do much aside from be on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle after several seconds of screentime. Examples include the GM II Semi-Striker, Zeta Plus, and Gustav Karl.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The novel's portrayal of Zeon and the Federation have been construed as metaphors for Imperial Japan and the Allied Forces, respectively. A more justified instance, considering the author's outspoken rightwing views.

** To a certain extent, the whole OVA series. Since the OVA is based on the novel instead of original work, a number fans aren't pleased to see some important (and some awesome) contents were cut out, making the OVA series seem like [[MerchandiseDriven a long Gunpla promotion video]], which becomes worse as the OVA goes on. [[spoiler:For example, Marida is supposed to have a ''much larger role'' during the fight against Full Frontal in Episode 7, has a proper HeroicSacrifice, and Riddhe's change of heart is less odd as it's shown]]. Let's not get into the issue of [[spoiler:the superpowered Unicorn in the last Episode; it's significantly ''more powerful'' than its novel counterpart.]] Others enjoy the OVA for its own merits and embrace the added mobile suits.

** The Stark Jegan from the first episode gets less than 5 minutes of screentime and exists to be destroyed by the Kshatriya, but its pilot puts up such a good fight that many fans have praised him as one of the best grunts in the franchise.

** Everything surrounding the contents of Laplace's Box: [[spoiler:The original Federation charter that granted more rights to spacenoids as well as confirming the idea of newtypes. However it was stopped by a terrorist attack instigated by more extreme Federation elements who re-wrote the charter to give the Federation more control over the colonies. Some people see this as adding even more to the general GrayAndGrayMorality of the Universal Century while others see it as a case of trying to canonize the general [[MisaimedFandom Zeon Is Right]] mentality thereby dismissing it (and the series in general) as "fanwank"]].
** [[spoiler:However, the series tries to elaborate on this more by saying that the charter was made completely independent of Zeon's motives, since it was drafted decades before the rise of the movement. Also, Zeon's rise actually made the situation ''worse'', since what started out a simple coverup turned into something that could potentially legitimize Zeon, causing the Federation to clamp down even harder on the Box. Also, when Mineva reveals the original charter to the world, she specifically says she is not seeking to legitimize Zeon's ideals.]]
** To a certain extent, the whole OVA series. Since the OVA is based on the novel instead of original work, a number fans aren't pleased to see some important (and some awesome) contents were cut out, making the OVA series seem like [[MerchandiseDriven a long Gunpla promotion video]], which becomes worse as the OVA goes on. [[spoiler:For example, Marida is supposed to have a ''much larger role'' during the fight against Full Frontal in Episode 7, has a literal (and better) HeroicSacrifice, and Riddhe's change of heart is less odd as it's shown]]. Let's not get into the issue of [[spoiler:the superpowered Unicorn in the last Episode; it's significantly ''more powerful'' than its novel counterpart.]]

* CatharsisFactor: After seeing Martha Vist Carbine use her influence to boss around Federation military and official for most of the series, it is highly satisfying when Bright Noa tells her she has no say anymore and arrests her in Episode 7

* TheUntwist: From the moment the first details about the novel came out, people already knew that Audrey was [[spoiler:a teenaged Mineva Zabi]], thanks to factors like her appearance, her age matching up with [[spoiler:Mineva]]'s, the latter's [[spoiler:mysterious disappearance at the end of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'']], and the [[ShoutOut obvious]] [[Creator/AudreyHepburn alias]].
** Another contributing factor is that the score playing when Audrey escapes the Sleeves ship in the first episode is titled "[[spoiler:Mineva]]".

* WinBackTheCrowd: The reception of the first half of the series was... good, in contrast to the views on ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE AGE]]''.
** Though some have snarkily suggested that this is solely due to it being a Universal Century work, and that [[DoubleStandard were it set in a different continuity those same fans would be railing against it]].
** By the time the second half aired however, it falls back to the BrokenBase territory.

* CatharsisFator: After seeing Martha Vist Carbine use her influence to boss around Federation military and official for most of the series, it is highly satisfying when Bright Noa tells her she has no say anymore and arrests her in Episode 7

* MemeticMutation: What may be a record, an image from the fourth episode's trailer shows Bright [[StrokeTheBeard stroking his chin]], which is ripe ImagineSpot fodder.

** NT-'''R''' System [[labelnote:explaination]]Several fans replaces the name of the New-Type Destroyer's "D" into "R" to represent Netorare moments in the Gundam franchise, notably to Riddhe's failed relationship with Audrey (or even ''0083 Stardust Memory's'' Kou losing Nina to Gato). The full name is sometimes read as "NeTo-Rare System". [[/labelnote]]

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The animation in ''Unicorn'' is really, really nice.

** The [[OnlySixFaces uncanny]] [[{{Expy}} resemblance]] that Zinnerman has to Captain from ''Anime/GiantGorg'' didn't go unnoticed by the fans of that series. Then, both of their respective series were confirmed to appear in ''SuperRobotWarsBX''.

* TheWoobie: Marida Cruz needs so many hugs. ''So many hugs''. [[HatesBeingTouched Assuming, of course, that she's OK with that.]]

** Played differently in the more left-leaning anime and manga continuity, which still contains many parrallels between Side 3 and Japan, but portrays Zeon as, at best, an ideology that's outlived its time. Though many Zeon characters and their motivations are treated sympathetically, the destruction caused by Zeon in the One Year War and subsequent Neo-Zeon conflicts still looms large over the story. Their own princess is disillusioned with what they've become and the only people who really, truly want to see Zeon revived are either motivated by the desire for revenge against the Federation or cold-hearted ideologues with no care for the human cost of the conflict they're perpetuating. It's interesting to note that the Side 3 of the UC 0100s depicted in ''Manga/CrossboneGundam Ghost'', where most people have forgotten the name "Zeon", is not only heavily based on modern Japan, but (in contrast to the political violence-ridden mess depicted in ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'''s flashback arc or the fascist police state of ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamThePlotToAssassinateGihrenZabi'') is depicted as a place people might actually want to live in.

* ''[[https://youtu.be/YqFHIU4qc-k Into the Sky]]'' featuring Tielle, the opening music for RE:0096 version.

* ItsPopularNowItSucks: On the Gunpla side: A small number of people are tired of Bandai continuously milking the [=HGUC=]/[=MG=] Unicorn Gundam molds.

** NT-'''R''' System [[labelnote:explaination]]Several fans replaces the name of the New-Type Destroyer's "D" into "R" to represent Netorare moments in the Gundam franchise, notably to Riddhe's failed relationship with Audrey (or even ''0083 Stardust Memory's'' Kou losing Nina to Gato), although the full name of this short form is pretty much meaningless. [[/labelnote]]

** NT-'''R''' System [[labelnote:explaination]]Several fans replaces the Newtype Destroyer's "D" into "R" to represent cuckery in the Gundam franchise, notably to Riddhe's failed relationship with Audrey (or even ''0083 Stardust Memory's'' Kou losing Nina to Gato), although the full name of this short form is pretty much meaningless. [[/labelnote]]

** [[SuperDeformed BB Senshi]] [[spoiler:[[MetaMecha Neo Zeong]]]] [=GunPla=] model caused a lot of modelers to start [[http://gundamguy.blogspot.com.br/2014/06/gundam-funnies-fun-with-neo-zeong.html replacing Sinanju with another things....]]

* WinBackTheCrowd: The reception of the first half of the series was... good, in contrast to the views on ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE]]''.

* WinBackTheCrowd: The reception of the first half of the series was... good, in contrast to the views on ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED SEED]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 00]]''. We're [[BrokenBase not even mentioning]] ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny SEED Destiny]]''.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: ''Gundam Unicorn'' currently has a lot of acclaim, and it's one of the darkest works in the franchise so far.

*** The fact that [[spoiler:the Puru clone in question is now an adult and thus have a somewhat different voice]] may have something to do with it.

* {{Narm}}: Okay... seriously, Full Frontal?
** The name, though extremely narmy, likely has some kind of ironic and fairly witty symbolism. Full Frontal implies being "bare naked" or "fully exposed" ([[MaleFrontalNudity *COUGH*]] ...Which really doesn't help the Narm factor) while in reality the character wears a mask and is very mysterious.
** Also, Full Frontal, "full frontal assault,"[[note]][[FullFrontalAssault ...Not that dammit]][[/note]] as in a full-on, all-out assault, so it also doubles as a shout out to the missing-in-action Char Aznable's combat style.
** On the other hand, he ''is'' aping a guy who spent a couple years going by the name Quattro [[note]]Vagina[[/note]] Bajeena.
** Let's face it, ''Gundam'' has a history of...[[AerithAndBob eccentric naming conventions]]. You could really mistake some of them for names of ''StarWars'' characters.
** A rare few moments in the surprisingly competent English dub sounded somewhat phoned in, particularly Marida Cruz's VA's reading of the line "So heavy." being utterly narm-tastic. (Although that might have to do with the line being an awkward one in-and-of itself, being a direct translation of the Japanese audio.)