It's a Gundam thread!

Chibodee Crocket: <salutes while shedding Manly Tears>

Moving back slightly to the music topic, I just love this particular track:

So, anyone else have alt versions of particular Gundam tracks they love?

Orchestra is always the best. Not that rock's any worse.

But nobody, NOBODY, can beat the Master himself.

edited 30th Sep '14 8:39:25 AM by amitakartok

Andrew WK did an English album of First Gundam songs in honor of the franchise's 30th anniversary.

It's pretty amazing, particularly his versions of Here Comes Char! and Ai Senshi.

The first Zeta opening is so 80s that it's amazing. (I love the 80s to pieces) But as a song, I prefer this one. It's one of my favorite Gundam O Ps. That and "Winner", the only good thing to come out of Stardust Memory in my opinion.

Did you know that Masaaki Endoh did a cover of The Winner?

Yep, I got linked to that not too long ago. I think I prefer the original but I like this one too. It's just such an awesome song.

Myself, I actually prefer this version of The Winner.

Up to episode 22 and... I can't help but notice that the women fall into a pattern of shouting at whatever man is most important to them. There are several competent women but I'm losing track of them because they seem to fill the same role. Also their deaths are the only ones given attention; named men are the lasting characters, and the deaths end up being their story, unnamed men just die unnoticed. Normally I could take without problem Fa talking of her emotions running wild, but in this context it is looking bad.

Though I feel nobody is really driving their own story here. Kamille and Amuro have personality but don't take big decisions. Bright just seems the spokesman for the AEUG as a faction. Quattro is talked up but hardly does anything.

The Titans take Von Braun city and... it's important? It was not built up as this and the whole thing has no impact.

I'm also puzzled by why the Titans are using Zeon designs. Doylistic level it's to have Gundams against Zakus, but is the Watsonian reason the reuse of captured machines? And where does the transforming Gundam come from?

Basically, it's another World War II reference. You remember how America's space/missile program was based on the technological innovations of Nazi Germany, courtesy of documents and scientists they captured after the war? It's the same with the Federation, Zeon, and mobile suit tech. Zeon was better at mobile suits than the Feddies, so the latest generation of suits owes a lot to Zeon designs.

As for the Transforming Mecha, you may have heard them talking about 'movable frames'. Early mobile suits were made of big blocks of metal attached to each other by joints - tough as hell, but heavy and inflexible. Then beam weapons came along, and suddenly Armour Is Useless. In the Zeta era, if you want to survive, you need to be agile. Thus, the new 'movable frame' mobile suit design, a lightweight skeleton covered by a segmented, armour-plated skin. It was much more flexible, allowing for more lifelike movements and greater manoeuvrability, and since the suit could now be reshaped and contorted beneath its armour, Transforming Mecha became an option.

Cyber Newtypes are another thing they stole from Zeon. Well, the concept.

I don't think Zeon actually had any cyber newtypes during the One Year War. You can probably give the Titans credit for stealing the idea of a research lab dedicated to investigating the newtype phenomenon, but all of Zeon's pre-Gryps-era newtypes were natural as far as I know.

Yeah, the Flannigan Institute was just studying children that naturally exhibited Newtype abilities.

I can't really defend Endless Waltz's ending other then it was a clear that it was made to prevent continuation -thats me being probably the biggest Wing fan here- Yes it makes no sense in the context of the constant talk of cycles and how humans never really learn.

but 'Wings of the boy who killed Adolescence' is still one of my favorite tracks

edited 30th Sep '14 10:06:34 PM by FrozenWolf2

Wing's soundtrack was fantastic. My favorite along with Zeta's.

Ah, fair enough. I thought Zeon wanted to weaponize Newtypes as well. My bad.

Well, that IS what Zeon was doing. Studying Newtype powers to see if they could be put to use in war. But at the time, very little was known about them.

It was the Titans who came up with the brainwashing and cyber-enhancement process that lead to Cyber-Newtypes. It's the difference between training a soldier with a special skill to use it in combat, and making mind-controlled supersoldiers that have that skill.

The second part of Signs of Conciousness, from 1:05 to the end. (So of course it's only played once that I can remember.) From Uncertainty to Impatience is up there too.

Although if I were to score purely as compositional working for Wing, then I'm going to reach outside to the Endless Duel fighting game and Heavyarms' Theme. 8-bit amazing right there. Tallgeese's Theme is also worth checking out. Actually, I think most of the game's music is.

In regards to the Flanagan Institute, would Flanagan himself be a stand in for Josef Mengele?

Even after all I've done... You still call me Master?

Manly Tears.

edited 1st Oct '14 7:36:09 AM by Nitramy

I'll take your (admittedly beautiful,) Leit Motif, and raise you a souped-up ending version of the same.

Words cannot do justice...

edited 1st Oct '14 9:34:14 AM by kkhohoho

Probably not. Flanagan actually significantly advanced human knowledge and understanding, and there's no indication his methods were as morally bankrupt.

One thing you have to remember about Mengele is that he did not actually contribute much to science. His experimental procedure was awful, and I don't mean that in a moral sense, and his test subjects frequently already so far off of human norms that even if he'd had a rigorous experimental methodology he wouldn't have been gathering much useful data. Josef Mengele was practicing his need for sadism with medical implements, not doing science.

:D He is just soo happy in the moment!

Heero is awesome.

@Night

I think you could probably say the same about most of the other Nazi camp doctors, and a good number of the Japanese ones too. I've heard people try and argue that Ishii Shiro's work was somehow worth studying, but to say the least, I don't buy that. Generally speaking the various fascist powers seem to have just recruited every wannabe Serial Killer they could find and handed them an MD.

Of course, given that the Nazis have this public reputation as having been at the forefront of science, the possibility that Flanagan is modeled off Mengele—or at least the public perception of him—still exists. There's a lot of people out there who think that the Nazis were better at everything than the Allies, and that therefore any work they did must have some merit, however terrible the methodology. I suppose the existence of guys like Werner von Braun, confuses them.

To lighten everybody's mood after this cheerful post, a little song about Werner von Braun.