Sandbox / Gundam Narm

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

• From the original Mobile Suit Gundam series: Ryu's Heroic Sacrifice is turned into Narm when the whole crew is awkwardly crying over how it's all their fault he had to die.
  • Rectified in the compilation trilogy, where this is replaced by Amuro & Hayato savagely beating each other because each blames the other for Ryu's death. Very dramatic.
    "My own father never hit me like that."
  • In the English dub of the movies, nobody quite got the pronunciation of some names, so Amuro is the pilot of the Gundamn Also, "Sha Znable".
  • The subplot from Sayla's Agony where the White Base is dangerously low on SALT! The chef is clearly worried about the loss of salt, and Frau tells Amuro that salt is as important to the human body as water.
  • In the first episode, Amuro drops everything he's doing to lie down and read the Gundam's operating manual... in the middle of a battlefield.
  • At the end of episode 33, as the White Base departs from Side 6, we're shown a distant shot of Mirai apparently Flipping the Bird.
  • The 1979 airing also had quite a few Off-Model moments that can look downright hilarious for all the wrong reasons, such as the infamous "wide" Gundam.
• The Newtype effects tend to ruin the drama of scenes as it make it look like Amuro is taking drugs rather than being sad.
• The obscure FMV game Gundam 0079: The War for Earth is so much of this its a wonder it tends to get passed over for G-Saviour. One particularly silly aspect that even gets mocked by Japanese fans is the actor playing Char Aznable- sorry, Shar Aznabull having a very prominent chin, but those who watch the game all the way through get to bear witness to the Gundam Tank (Gundam with Guntank's treads) and the Gundam now being so weak it could easily be taken out by proximity mines or a few bursts from a Zaku- sorry, ZACK machine gun. The best part, though, is the English voice track's noteworthy pronunciation of "Zeon" as "John". Sure its in line with the Japanese audio track but lets face it, everyone's saying "john." The game becomes arguably funnier with the Japanese audio track, as almost every VA from the anime reprise their roles here, so even the dopey, big-chinned version of Char seen here still has Shūichi Ikeda's butter-smooth voice coming out of his mouth.
  • Char's mask looks particularly laughable. It looks less like equipment designed to protect his eyes, and more like he cut a piece of gray paper to put over his face. Rerez compared it to “a mask made out of cereal boxes”, and mocked the hell out of it in their review of the game.
  • “FOR THE FREEDOM OF JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHNNNN!” Really, Garma?
• Gundam 0083 has Kou Uraki's infamous cries of "GATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
  • Honestly? Gato's surname. The word "gato" means "cat" in Spanish, and Gundam has fans in Spanish-speaking countries...
    • And then there is the fact that Gato not only ALSO means cat in portuguese, but is a slang used for attractive man in Brazil.
  • The game Encounters in Space had another voice actor do that cry and manage to make it sound awesome as well as Narmy.
  • "IT'S A WISHBONE!"
  • Burning's death. Specifically how his mech explodes semi-randomly right before he can explain what Operation Stardust is.
• Katz's death in Zeta Gundam: death by asteroid pinball.
  • Kamille crying... can anybody watch this with a straight face?
  • 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.
  • The sheer number of times people start spontaneously beating each other in this show. Seriously, it's like punching people replaced a simple "hello" somewhere along the line.
    BRIGHTO SLAPPU!
  • Kamille for almost no reason (Jerid was surprised that Kamille was a boy because of his name) decides to take on about five Titans, screams "I'M A MAN", proceeds to get his ass kicked, and ends up unconscious when Jerid lightly taps Kamille's forehead with a kick. And this ends up kickstarting a conflict between the two that sees each killing the other's friends and love interests. You could almost be forgiven for thinking Jerid started the whole war just by commenting on Kamille's name.
  • Another exaggerated scene involves Kamille punching Quattro while screaming about his adultophobia. The focus changes to a extreme close up of Quattro's face with the hair blowing, shedding tears and waxing philosophical on the meaning of youth.
  • Kai Shiden's letter revealing Char's true identity would have been a lot more poignant if not for this infamous phrase: Captain Quattro. He is a CHAR.
  • Bask Om looks like he wears Swimming Goggles at all times.
  • Kamille's idea of snapping Emma out of her Heroic BSoD after Katz, Captain Heinken and the Radish crew are killed involves opening his helmet while in outer space.
  • 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. Interestingly, in all of these Scirocco is still talking and remembers he has the power to mindrape Kamille at the last second.
• Char is into little girls. At least that's what the English dub of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack tells us.
• The name Full Frontal in the generally more serious UC setting. Try not to chuckle at the name: it's supposed to signify his favorite kind of attack... no, not that kind!
  • The hero's name is Banagher Links, which would make an awesome name for a golf course.
  • Full Frontal also sports a curled mullet, which looks ridiculous in a sci-fi setting. How were we supposed to take this character seriously?
    • The show gives '80s Hair to everyone. Given how some scenes have a sense of weightlessness to them, this can get crazy for those bearing a massive 'do. Micott Bartsch has quickly risen to meme status due to this.
  • The English cast's difficulty in pronouncing Mobile Suit names is back in Unicorn, with such gems as "JAY-GAN" (Jegan), "RESEL" ([ReZEL]), and "SEE-NANE-JUU" (Sinanju).
• Because this show is Darker and Edgier, the unintentional humor in Victory Gundam is even funnier. Cronicle's death can be pretty funny, especially due to the camera angle. "Maria..." *THUD*
  • Values Dissonance causes another big narm as well. The Zanscare military meetings become freaking ridiculous when you see either grunts or commanders wearing these ridiculous old-fashioned wigs. We know, it's The Empire, and some also know it's a Shout-Out to formal professions like English judges and their wigs... but for some, it's still funny.
• G-Saviour is already an awful movie, but check out the battle of Side 8. Even without the "awful non-action scenes", it's still pretty narmy.
  • You'll either react with laughter or a Flat "What" upon learning that the mook CONSENT Mobile Suit is named "Bugu". No, really.
  • The voice acting in the PS2 game is either this or So Bad, It's Good. At least it's much better than House of the Dead 2 or Mega Man X4.
  • The G-Saviour's Origin Mode◊.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam

• G Gundam generally runs on Narm Charm with its character designs and dialogue, but if the finale doesn't come off as as an awesome and heartwarming moment of epic proportions, then the fact that the Big Bad is killed by having The Power of Love drive a heart-shaped hole through their chest will come off as completely ridiculous and hilarious.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

• General Septem from Gundam Wing has a hilariously awful dub voice that is scratchy and poorly acted.
  • ...or perhaps one would wonder why someone would shoot a man after throwing him out of a plane.
  • Here's a sample of the greatness that is General Septem. One of the commentors put it best when they described it as the type of voice you would see in an Abridged Series.
  "ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME, DAMN IT?!!"
• Also from the English dub:
  "NOOOO IT'S A GUNNNNNDAAAAAM!"
• Really, it's the random characters in the background who get the best lines:
  Peacemillion is about to crash into Libra "Engines one and three damaged! Now we don't have to turn them off! Alright, HOW ABOUT SOME EXCITEMEEEEENNNT!"
  As the ship's bridge is being rocked by explosions "Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une! Gundam still attacking on the ship!"
• One character is named Dr. J. It's nearly impossible to keep from chuckling through any conversation involving him.
• 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.
• The name "Mobile Doll". The military invents A.I.-controlled giant robots and they decided to name them after toys instead of anything else.
• In one of the earlier episodes, it seems like almost every character adds 'in space' to almost everything they say.
• Duke Dermail looks like the bastard child of George Washington and Colonel Sanders. Everyone else from the Romefeller Foundation looks like they just came from a Society for Creative Anachronisms convention.
• "GET HIM WITH THE CANCER!" (It's the name of a mobile suit named after the zodiac sign, but...)
• Episode 4 has Treize enjoying a nice rose bath like the Man of Wealth and Taste he is...except the water itself is drawn so Off-Model and bubbly that it instead looks as if he's bathing in popcorn. What a guy.
• The Endless Waltz version of Wing Zero. If you don't consider it to be one of the coolest looking mobile suits to ever come out of the Gundam franchise then the fact that it has literal shining white angel wings that flap in flight and molt feathers will put it in Narm territory instead.

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.
• Just try saying the name Mu La Flaga with a straight face. You will utterly fail!
• 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.
• 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 currently, 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..."
• 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 It might work if her name was something like Amelia New Returner, and she was using the first name's initial. But it's not, and she's not. Although they could be treating it as a code name like Lasse Aeon or Lockon Stratos.
    • 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, not to mention cries of Unfortunate Implications... 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 Lelouch^note Don't see it? Ultraman Zero introduces himself to Ultraman Belial by saying "Zero! Ore no na ha Zero!". 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.

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