History Trivia / MobileSuitGundam

* LateExportForYou: One of the more infamous cases, as it caused its entire franchise to struggle to get a footing in America. After the success of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' on Creator/{{Toonami}}, Sunrise pushed for them to air the original series next as part of an effort to get the fledgling American ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' fanbase to treat its Universal Century setting as the "center" of the series the way the Japanese fandom does. The problem with this was that the original series aired in 1979, and this was more than twenty years later in 2001 (compare to ''Wing'' having only been five years old when it got dubbed), so on top of being [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks too different]] for the tastes of ''Wing''[='=]s fans it also had to deal with being [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny noticeably dated]], and Creator/CartoonNetwork ultimately used the September 11th attacks as an excuse to pull it off the air, despite that there were only four episodes left at that point.

** The more goofy, MerchandiseDriven designs from the original TV version (such as the G-Fighter) were not popular with the staff, as they rightly felt they didn't fit within the more realistic world they were going for. However, they had to concede that it was a NecessaryEvil in order to keep the show going. Once the movies were greenlit, most of these were removed in favor of more realistic designs.

* MissingEpisode: Episode 15, "Kukuruz Doan's Island", was removed from the US release and all other foreign releases except for the original 80s Italian dub by request of Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. While most rumors claim it's due to the horrendous OffModel animation, Tomino himself said it was due to an issue [[YouKnowWhatYouDid between himself and a certain member of the staff]], but he's not willing to elaborate any further as long as that other person is still alive (it also served as the only episode of the series to be handled by Anime Friend, who retreated back to Creator/TatsunokoProduction until their closure). Note that this doesn't stop Doan from popping up in video games like ''G Generation'' and ''Extreme Vs.'', and even having his own spin-off to the ''Origin'' manga. There would even be a ''movie'' adaptation of the episode in 2022!

* MissingEpisode: Episode 15, "Kukuruz Doan's Island", was removed from the US release and all other foreign releases except for the original 80s Italian dub by request of Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. While most rumors claim it's due to the horrendous OffModel animation, Tomino himself said it was due to an issue [[YouKnowWhatYouDid between himself and a certain member of the staff]], but he's not willing to elaborate any further as long as that other person is still alive. Note that this doesn't stop Doan from popping up in video games like ''G Generation'' and ''Extreme Vs.'', and even having his own spin-off to the ''Origin'' manga. There would even be a ''movie'' adaptation of the episode in 2022!

** A character named [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C390BFGUcAAGFu6?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Hachijou Shima]] was supposed to appear and was instead retooled to Sayla Mass. Amuro's name was also different, originally named Azuma Hongo.

*** Even after the Gundam's design was finalized its paintjob went through numerous revisions. The Zeon characters constantly referring to it as "The White Mobile Suit", despite it being equal parts blue and red, this is an artifact of Tomino's earlier production plans where the Gundam would be primarily white with more subtle color highlights to better reflect it as a military project (the idea would seem to be resurrected in the far future with the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Unicorn Gundam]]). There were also plans for an olive drab version known as the "Real Type" colors before pressure from the sponsors cemented for the more {{Toyetic}} bright, primary colors of the finished product (which later sourcebooks explain away as "Demo" or "Parade Colors" intended to ensure maximum visibility when showing the new prototype's capabilities off to the brass).

** A character named [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C390BFGUcAAGFu6?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Hachijou Shima]] is supposed to appear, was retooled to Sayla Mass. Amuro's name was also different, originally named Azuma Hongo.

** The battle of A Baoa Qu went quite a bit differently, featuring numerous new mobile suits that were eventually rolled into the MSV model kit line ''MSX'' (which at one point was going to become the basis for a proposed sequel before ''Zeta'' got made). The stand-out moment has to be when the Gundam is destroyed not in a final duel with Char, but by the [[http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/ms-x/ms-12.htm MS-12 Gigan]], Zeon's goofy response to the Guntank -- and it wasn't even in the hands of a named character, to boot.
*** One major part of this would have included Degwin Zabi (who doesn't get killed by the Solar Ray in this version) breaking down in front of Sayla and begging her forgiveness for killing her father. The final version leaves the question of whether Zeon Deikun was assassinated or died of a heart attack [[RiddleForTheAges more open-ended]].

** Another massive AbortedArc from the original 52 episode outline of the series, was the Newtypes. Originally, they would have dominated the last 1/3rd of the series and given a more complete introduction as far as being mentioned early on in the series as opposed to just being mentioned in the last seven episodes of the series. In particular, there would be multiple Zeon Newtypes and one of which would end up being responsible for Layah's death; as she would be executed once her friendship with Amuro was discovered and setting Char up for his roaring rampage of revenge during the battle of A Baoa Qu.

** Creator/ShuichiIkeda, Char's voice actor, actually auditioned for Amuro but felt he's unsuited for the role because Amuro is young. But after seeing Char's character design, he auditioned for him instead and the rest is history.

** The more goofy, MerchandiseDriven designs from the original TV version (such as the G-Fighter) were not popular with the staff, as they rightly felt they didn't fit within the more realistic world they were going for. However, they had to concede that it was a NecessaryEvil in order to keep the show going. Once the movies were greenlit, all of these were removed in favor of more realistic designs.

* FountainOfExpies: Char Aznable has been [[CharClone oft-imitated]], both in the ''Gundam'' franchise itself and in other shows.

* MissingEpisode: Episode 15, "Kukuruz Doan's Island", was removed from the US release and all other foreign releases except for the original 80s Italian dub by request of Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. While most rumors claim it's due to the horrendous OffModel animation, Tomino himself said it was due to an issue [[YouKnowWhatYouDid between himself and a certain member of the staff]], but he's not willing to elaborate any further as long as that other person is still alive. Note that this doesn't stop Doan from popping up in video games like ''G Generation'' and ''Extreme Vs.'', and even having his own spin-off to the ''Origin'' manga.

** Bandai of America has had fun with this: the movie compilations are only available in Japanese with subtitles. Meanwhile, due to Bandai of Japan not wanting the US [=DVDs=] imported into Japan (where Mobile Suit Gundam had not come out yet on DVD) refusing to give Bandai of America the Japanese audio tracks, resulting in a English dub only release in the states. Only later did the series is get a bilingual release, though are now out-of-print.

** The TV series was dubbed by the Vancouver-based [[Creator/TheOceanGroup Ocean Studios]] whilst the movies were dubbed in California (under the direction of Doug Stone, who also voiced Gihren in the movie dub). The TV series in this case, are the replacement voices as the films were dubbed a few years before. In particular: to date, Char has been portrayed by four different actors in English, Michael Kopsa being the only one to ever reprise the role (in ''Anime.MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack''). Oddly appropriate for a guy who changes identities so often.

** In America, it didn't do too much better on Toonami. Low ratings (and 9/11) also led to early cancellation. It would later be shown on Creator/AdultSwim's Action block back in 2002 (when it was mostly comprised of former ''Creator/{{Toonami}}'' shows and shows meant to air on ''Toonami''), but they skipped an episode and pulled it before it could finish its run.

* FanNickname:
** The BrightSlap for the one-two that Bright gave Amuro to snap him out of his {{Wangst}} funk. Ironically for all its claims to make "men of destiny", the very first one...didn't work out.
** "Last Shooting" - The [[StabTheSky final shot]] that a headless and left armless Gundam fired at Char's Zeong at the end of the anime which quickly became its most iconic moment and spawned many tributes and imitators.

** The Gundam was originally going to be a somewhat less flashy-looking red and black robot with a blank, GM-like face called the Gunboy, but this was changed at Clover's request into the more {{Toyetic}} samurai-like design we all know and love. The Guntank, by contrast, was much sillier looking, with its cannons sticking out of its chest and big, pipe-like arms with humanoid hands. Oddly enough, the Guncannon's early designs look about the same, except that it was supposed to be painted white.
*** Even after the Gundam's design was finalized its paintjob went through numerous revisions. The Zeon characters constantly referring to it as "The White Mobile Suit", despite a large portion of it being blue is an artifact of earlier script drafts that assumed Tomino's preferred color scheme of white with red highlights (the idea would seem to be resurrected in the far future with the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Unicorn Gundam]]). There were also plans for an olive drab version known as the "Real Type" colors before pressure from the sponsors cemented the bright, primary colors of the finished product (which later sourcebooks explain away as "Demo" or "Parade Colors" intended to ensure maximum visibility when showing the new prototype's capabilities off to the brass).

* CreatorBacklash: The more goofy, MerchandiseDriven designs from the original TV version (such as the G-Fighter) were not popular with the staff, as they rightly felt they didn't fit within the more realistic world they were going for. However, they had to concede that it was a NecessaryEvil in order to keep the show going. Once the movies were greenlit, all of these were removed in favor of more realistic designs.

** In it's original run in Japan, low ratings got the show's episode numbers cut from 52 to 43 episodes. And the production staff was lucky to get four more episodes to close up the series.

* MissingEpisode: Episode 15, "Kukuruz Doan's Island", was removed from the US release by request of Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. While most rumors claim it's due to the horrendous OffModel animation, Tomino himself said it was due to an issue [[YouKnowWhatYouDid between himself and a certain member of the staff]], but he's not willing to elaborate any further as long as that other person is still alive. Note that this doesn't stop Doan from popping up in video games like ''G Generation'' and ''Extreme Vs.'', and even having his own spin-off to the ''Origin'' manga.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Many of the creative team involved in the original ''Gundam'' have since passed away, including Takeo Watanabe and Noriyoshi Matsuura, along with several principal cast members, including Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki, Creator/FuyumiShiraishi, Creator/YouInoue and Creator/KanetoShiozawa. Thus, for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', Bright Noa and Haro are voiced by new actors (Creator/KenNarita and Creator/RyoHirohashi, respectively).

** What would become the character of Sayla was originally named [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C390BFGUcAAGFu6?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Hachijou Shima]] and has a different character design and personality. Amuro's name was also different, originally named Azuma Hongo.

** Sayla was originally named Hachijou Shima and has a slightly different character design. Amuro's name was also different, originally named Azuma Hongo.

* HeAlsoDid: While working on this show, Yoshiyuki Tomino was also working as a storyboard artist on a show that couldn't have been more different: the ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheatre'' adaptation of ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'', directed by Creator/IsaoTakahata. Yes, he'd done shows like ''Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps'' in the past, but that was also before he did ''Anime/Zambot3'' and ''Anime/Daitarn3''.

* HeAlsoDid: While working on this show, Yoshiyuki Tomino was also working as a storyboard artist on a show that couldn't have been more different - [[Creator/IsaoTakahata Isao Takahata's]] ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables''. Yes, he'd done shows like ''Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps'' in the past, but that was also before he did ''Anime/Zambot3'' and ''Anime/Daitarn3''.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Many of the creative team involved in the original ''Gundam'' have since passed away, including Takeo Watanabe, Noriyoshi Matsuura, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama and Yu Yamamoto, along with several principal cast members, including Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki, Creator/FuyumiShiraishi, Creator/YouInoue and Creator/KanetoShiozawa. Thus, for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', Bright Noa and Haro are voiced by new actors (Creator/KenNarita and Creator/RyoHirohashi, respectively).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Many of the creative team involved in the original ''Gundam'' have since passed away, including Takeo Watanabe, Noriyoshi Matsuura, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama and Yu Yamamoto, along with several principal cast members, including Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki, Creator/FuyumiShiraishi, Creator/YouInoue and Creator/KanetoShiozawa. Thus, for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', Bright Noa is voiced by a new actor (Creator/KenNarita).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Many of the creative team involved in the original ''Gundam'' have since passed away, including Takeo Watanabe, Noriyoshi Matsuura, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama and Yu Yamamoto, along with several cast members, including Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki, Creator/FuyumiShiraishi, Creator/YouInoue and Creator/KanetoShiozawa. Thus, for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', Bright Noa is voiced by a new actor (Creator/KenNarita).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Many of the creative team involved in ''Gundam'' have since passed away, including Takeo Watanabe, Noriyoshi Matsuura, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama and Yu Yamamoto, along with several cast members, including Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki, Creator/FuyumiShiraishi, Creator/YouInoue and Creator/KanetoShiozawa. Thus, for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', Bright Noa is voiced by a new actor (Creator/KenNarita).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Many of the creative team involved in ''Gundam'' have since passed away, including Takeo Watanabe, Noriyoshi Matsuura, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama and Yu Yamamoto, along with several cast members, including Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki, Creator/YouInoue and Creator/KanetoShiozawa. Thus, for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', Bright Noa is voiced by a new actor (Creator/KenNarita).