The Gundam multiverse has been running for many years, with many, many series. And it deals with serious themes of philosophy and politics, all with animated mechas. There's also plenty of failed dramatic moments that just come off as funny.
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Universal Century
- When Kamille and Katz were away from their mobile suits during a fight in a city, Katz gets knocked over by a nearby explosion during the fight. The scream he makes while falling is so hilarious that it's hard to take the scene seriously.
- Paptimus Scirocco's death involves him being pierced by Zeta Gundam in the chest making a huge derp face as blue fire surrounds him. This scene has been remade several times in Japanese
giving us instances in which it appears the actor was victim of a Groin Attack. - Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack has Char claiming that Lalah Sune "could have been a mother to me" as the reason for why he hates Amuro for killing her. This abrupt, whiny confession of weird Oedipal issues, combined with Amuro's utterly baffled reaction, can result in a lot of unintentional giggles in an otherwise very serious scene—not helped by the fact that these are Char's last words. The modern prevalence of the "mommy GF" joke really doesn't help.
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
- General Septem's death is incredibly over the top to the point of absolute hilarity. The plane's cargo door opens up underneath General Septem to drop him and, instead of being sucked out of the plane like he was, Lady Une stands at the edge of the door to shoot Septem in the head as he falls as if falling out a plane wasn't enough to kill him, and she needed to make sure.
- In the very first episode, Zechs orders "No machine-gun for him!"... only for the soldier to fire with a machine gun. It's supposed to be military speak that translates to "no warning shot for him", but it's still pretty laughable.
- The next episode introduces another translating gaffe. Word of advice - never use "move your butts" in a tense situation.
After War Gundam X
- After War Gundam X brings us Garrod Ran, the boy who says, "TIFFA! I BELIEVE IN GOD!" Not a bad line, given the context; but the voice acting is so hilariously over-exuberant that it inspires laughter.
- Also, when firing off his BFG (pick either version of the Satellite Cannon), he screams the word "HA SHAAAAA!!!!!" in a hilariously high-pitched voice.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED & Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
- Applicable to the original Japanese-language versions of both Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny: Kira Yamato's soul-rending attempts at crying, which produce a sound that words cannot describe, though the top-rated YouTube comment on that video has best described it (to the best of mankind's ability, anyways) as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants. It's seriously wince-inducing. Tom Kenny crying impressions seem to be a problem with Soichiro Hoshi in general, since it's also present in his work as Keiichi in Higurashi: When They Cry. There's also the movie version, also by Hoshi, for comparison.
- There's a considerable difference with the crying from the Gundam Vs Series, he has less of a gargling pitch. It's toned down, but it's still hard to take seriously, and to avoid wincing over something that can easily be mistaken for gargling, gagging, and choking. It is especially jarring when he breaks down after a WIN.
- Sai's despair once his attempt to hijack the Strike fails and he realizes that his chances with Flay are over is sad. His big "WHYYYYYYYYYY????" on the other hand is hilarious.
- In the HD Remaster version, Nicol Amalfi's death was changed to an accident, where he runs into Strike's blade and dies, unlike the original, where Kira swings at Nicol in self-defense. It doesn't help that the Blitz's leg movement appears to stall for a moment in the new animation, which makes it look like the suit tripped.
- Every scene Stellar is in after she meets Shinn in Destiny. The most hilarious is when she dances right off a cliff. When did it seem like a good idea to keep putting a Psychopathic Manchild into a powerful giant robot?
- Speaking of which, this Youtube gem exposes just how narmtastic Shinn is, especially during Stella's demise.
- Speaking of which, this Youtube gem
- Shinn and Lunamaria's hooking up, which takes place one episode after Shinn blew up a mecha with Athrun and Luna's sister still in it. Accepting or forgiving a man for killing your sister, when you know that she's a traitor, is one thing. Jumping into his arms is another.
- As someone else on this very wiki said:
"Shinn, you killed my sis and boyfriend... HOLD ME!"- What makes this part even funnier, is that Kenichi Suzumura and Maaya Sakamoto, Shinn's and Luna's VAs, respectively, have married in real life in 2011.
- Any scene with Shinn screaming for extended periods of time, including the mental breakdown scene where you basically go inside Shinn's head and see how screwed up he is, especially the Mayu message.
- A bit of dub-specific Narm. During the fight between Shinn and Kira, Shinn is charging the Freedom Gundam with a BFS. In the Japanese, Kira makes a noise that, while difficult to describe, could be called a verbal flinch (the subtitles translate it as "What!?" but it's hard to say if he's saying "nani" or just making a similar noise). In the dub, however...
- Kira: "NOOO!!!"
- Djibril getting vaporized should be horrifying (if very well-deserved), but then he has an expression where his eyes are bulging out of his head in an-almost cartoony fashion with his mouth wide open that's hard not to laugh at.
- While Meer's Heroic Sacrifice for Lacus is a Tear Jerker for the most part, the first does this... weird sort-of mix between a pirouette and a spin right between Taking the Bullet for the latter and then collapsing on the ground. It makes the scene quite funnier than it should be.
- The Mexican Standoff during Destiny's finale. It starts with Kira and Durandal arguing at gunpoint and escalates to five characters pointing their guns at each other before Rey finally shoots Durandal.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00
- Gundam 00. To begin with, 00 has its characters state a person's full name when talking to or about them in a serious fashion. In the development of the Allelujah/Marie relationship, Al says to her:"Marie... Marie... MARIE... MARIE PARFACY!!!"
- Here you go.
- Made even better by Soma telling Allelujah multiple times, in very clear terms, that her name is not Marie, only to be answered with "Marie..."
- Here you go
- The subplots between Tieria and Veda are narm. There is an entire subplot in which Tieria tries to become more human; a second subplot is Tieria treating the supercomputer like a lost lover who's been kidnapped. Imagine if Sunrise made a subplot in Code Geass between Nina and the Table.
- "You have control desu!" from episode six of the second season made a fairly serious Gundam launch hilarious. Allelujah's follow-up, 'I HAVE CONTROL,' didn't help.
- Ironically, a real pilot would say "I have control" or words to that effect to confirm that catapult control belonged to them. Then again, it's usually in their own language, and Allelujah spoke in Gratuitous English....
- Ribbons and his group are Serious Business, yeah. But their fashion sense? Not so much. Come ON, you guys... pastels and chest windows? And what was Ribbons wearing in the party? Nice frills! And then there's Hilling Care in a tux...
- With names like the ones the Innovators possess, it becomes that much harder to take them seriously (try saying "FUCKING RIBBONS!" with a straight face).
- Revive Revival is a particular offender. You'd really think they had someone on the production team who spoke English, because their names are, for the most, part real words.
- Bring Stabity.
- Anew Returner. Seriously, is there anyone, anyone named Anew?!note
- Speaking of Anew, Lockon's "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight against her in Episode 45. There are quite a few perfectly reasonable, acceptable ways to try to save your Brainwashed and Crazy girl. Tearing off her mobile suit's chest armor while screaming "I'LL MAKE YOU MY WOMAN AGAIN!"? Yeah, that's only going to spark unintentional laughter. A simple but heartfelt "You're coming back home with me" would have been good enough, dude!
- Episode 14 has visual narm. After Setsuna is shot by Ali and tries to fight him off while wounded, the attempts to make him look like he's in pain only make Setsuna look like he's tripping balls.
- The clone army of Bring Stability and the other guy, because there's nothing funnier than a clone army of jobbers all standing around.
- The very Off-Model and even smiley face Ribbons makes after getting a bullet to the head. Not the kind of expression you would expect from someone being shot.
- In episode 23 of the first season, the little robot's repeated cries of "Lockon! LOCKON! Lockon! LOCKON!" can be Narm Charm because it shows that even Haro is sad. Otherwise, his squeaky voice makes things funny instead of tragic.
- Near the end of season two, several of the characters solve their mental problems through the usage of what is essentially magic dust.
- Graham Aker's transformation into Mr. Bushido, in which he wears a ridiculous samurai outfit that wouldn't be out-of-place in G Gundam.
- At the end of episode 18 of the second season, everyone is calling out people important to them. Then we get Tieria's and Setsuna's calls...
- Speaking of dear Setsuna... He would like you to know that "He is Gundam." except when "He is not Gundam."
- Worse is when in the dub he says "I am... Gundam." The problem is that he's voiced by Brad Swalie, so most likely what you'll be hearing in your mind instead is "I am... Kira!"
- Which is doubly ironic, given that he's voiced by Mamoru Miyano in Japanese as well...
- Which also makes any scene in both languages where Setsuna claims there is no god hilarious considering that the last person their VA's played never stopped proclaiming themselves god.
- Although if you were introduced to Mamoru as a VA through different means, you're probably gonna think Setsuna is claiming that he's Lelouchnote . Although given that Awakening of the Trailblazer seems to be a mainstay in the Super Robot Wars games, this could actually happen in a future game if they include Code Geass in another game and recreate the "I Am Spartacus" scene from the latter series.
- It should be noted that in-universe, Lockon at least thinks it qualifies as Narm Charm, as seen in episode 19.
- Daryl is full of unintentional humor in the English dub because Scott McNeil (his English VA, who also voices Ali-Al Sacheez) gives him a hilariously bad stereotypical black guy voice.
- Allelujah's transformation into Hallelujah during episode 5, complete with his hair flipping sides by itself and over-the-top screaming.
- One fansub translated Alle's warning around this time as "Never come inside me without permission!". Yeah.
- Honestly, it's kind of hard to take a lot of scenes seriously when suddenly the female characters' breasts take up the whole screen. Especially Sumeragi and her, um, "outfits."
- Wait, we haven't mentioned the memorable second season scene in which Allelujah is shown in a straitjacket and with a face mask on? Hannibal Lector vibes, people?
- And what about Marina's song? It was supposed to be very dramatic and heart warming, but its Anvilicious lyrics and obnoxious singing from children just made most people laugh at the song and/or turn down the volume.
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
- The reasoning behind Yurin's forced Face–Heel Turn and death in Gundam AGE. She allows herself to be captured by the Vagan, who strap her into a remote-controlled Mobile Suit acting as an amplifier for Desil's Psychic Powers. She does this knowing full well that the Vagan will likely use her to kill Flit, the boy she loves. Her reason for doing this? They told her she'd never see him again. Depending on who you ask, this flimsy, stupid reasoning can be responsible for turning her resulting death scene into... well, this.
- We shall not forget that the Mobile Suit in which Yurin gets stashed and then sent off to her death is... pink. "Hello kittymare", anyone?
- The Strider mode of the AGE-2. It's hardly the first time a Gundam has been able to transform into a fighter, but, unlike previous transformable Gundams, the AGE-2's head sticks out right on top. Way to be subtle, Asemu.
- The reunion of Asemu, Zeheart and Romary in episode 24 thanks to bad writing. When Zeheart offers to continue their friendship on the condition of Asemu abandoning the Earth Federal Forces, he rejects because he has nothing else in his life. Zeheart then pulls out his gun and says "If you're in the battlefield, I can't be myself." Add Asemu looking like he's about to go Super Saiyan and Romary cranking a Nina Purpleton, and you got one of the franchise's most unintentionally hilarious scenes yet.
- Zanald's and Ezelcant's pilot's suits make any moment involving them in mobile suits hard to take seriously.
- Heck, any suit for Vagan MS pilots can spark unintentional laughter. Their bubble-shaped helmets and pants with codpieces define Fashion-Victim Villain.
- At one point during the fight between the AGE-3 and the Gundam Legilis, Ezelcant gives off a face that makes it look like he was on drugs. It doesn't help that he fiddly shakes the controls at that point.
- Girard's death. It would have been a lot better, since she had all the Attack Drones of the characters, if she was not shot down by the AGE-1, OF ALL THINGS.
- The destruction of Leil's green Ghiranga and Fram's Fawnfarsia from Obright. Yeah, the fact that a mook unit takes out two Ace Customs in roughly 2 minutes can turn a serious fight to a laughable one.
- Can we count the Gundam Legilis's destruction too? A NEW AND ORIGINAL GUNDAM GETS RIPPED TO SHREDS 40 SECONDS INTO THE BATTLE BY A 20-40ish? MOBILE SUIT.
- Zeheart's Villainous Breakdown. Considering who voices him, one may have expected him to yell the following: "I'M IN DESPAIR! THE FACT THAT MY OWN INCOMPETENT SUBORDINATES WERE KILLED BY MY STUPID ORDERS HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!"
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
- Mikazuki's unemotional "Ohhhhhh" upon seeing the lost Mobile Armor awaken at the start of Episode 36 sounds like he's either having an orgasm or about to sing about Green Eggs and Ham.
- Orga's death is a sad thing as it's meant to be, but it becomes drawn out and even comical with how it's presented. He takes a hail of bullets, then has enough breath and time to make a speech, then falls to the ground in a symbolic pose (it didn't help that said pose ended up resembling the Saturday Night Fever pose). Some viewers also felt similarly about Masahiro's death in season 1, in that the tragedy would've been more efficiently conveyed had the character in question died quickly. This gave birth to the "Don't you ever stop" meme.
- Speaking of being a Bulletproof Human Shield, Kudelia having two people consecutively cover her in Season 1.
- The name Chad Chadan. It either makes you remember the "Giga Chad" meme or just sounds lazy. His comrades like Biscuit were not out of the league either, and makes you wonder how their parents are thinking when they named their children.
